‘Tis Almost Time for the Lord to Come

Tis Almost Time for the Lord to Come is one of those hymns I used to sing a lot in my childhood. It has a catchy tune and a nice driving rhythm to it. I remember my friends and I would always look forward to sing that pause “Oh…” at the beginning of the refrain,…

Lo! He Comes: A Hymn That Took Nine Years to Revise

This hymn was really interesting to write about in that its words spanned nine years of revision by three (maybe four) different ministers who are all connected to each other. The general happenstance was this though — that after a conversion experience, this hymn was borne. Interestingly, the first one who originated this hymn was…

It May Be At Morn

It is a natural human tendency to ask, “How long?” when they have no idea what to expect of time. This question comes in all varieties, depending on the context we ask it. “How long do I have?” a patient on the brink of dying might ask. “How much longer will this take?” an annoyed…

Gleams of the Golden Morning

This hymn is one of those oldie but goody kind of hymn. Whenever I hear this sung in church, I can’t deny the fervor and excitement that people usually sing it with. Musically speaking, I think one thing that contributes to that is the quick dotted rhythms at the beginning and end of every phrase…

This is the Threefold Truth

My first introduction to this hymn was in the Philippines. The music coordinators of the Adventist university church where I regularly attended chose it as the regular hymn of response to close the service, right before the postlude. It seemed like an appropriate choice for a hymn for it outlines what Seventh-day Adventists and other…

Henry de Fluiter: One of Adventist’s Prolific Hymn Writers

The year 1916 was full of tumultuous wars, particularly World War I. A lot of uncertainty and fear was in the air. Yet, it was against this backdrop that Henry de Fluiter’s hymn, “Hail Him the King of Glory” was set. From the title alone, we see that the hymn writer’s main descriptor for God…