Brian Wren (1936-;) has given us here a unique hymn, titled “A Song of Love and Living,” for the celebration of the many experiences of life, some of which have never been sung about in hymns. The second stanza asks us to rejoice in the middle of “hardship, grief or disillusion,” pointing out that all is well if we have the love and comfort of someone. In the third, we celebrate the love that pervades our whole lifespan – from the tender moments of courtship through to old age! Stanza 4 is drawn from 1 Corinthians 13, and the final stanza sums it all up by singing about the element that surrounds everyone, the love of Christ, “that loving, living Man!” Wren says he wrote the hymn in 1970 especially for a youth service “to which no young people came!”

The first few notes of the tune LITHEROP by Peter Cutts (1937- ; see Biographies) are very similar to the Scottish folk song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” But from there it goes its own creative way, giving us a melody that is rather challenging with its octave leaps, and introducing rests on a couple of down beats.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.