Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Hymn as literature


This old hymn “Blessed Redeemer” is a favorite of mine and is one of the most powerful hymns for the Easter season. One definition of a hymn is "...a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life.” The hymn is the most popular kind of English poetry and there are people who read or go over at least three or more hymns in the ordinary course of a week. Oddly the tune for this hymn was written before the words. Harry Dixon Loes was so inspired by a sermon he heard entitled “Blessed Redeemer” that he wrote a melody and asked his friend Avis Christiansen to write the text.




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