Gathering Song/Response: Precious Lord, Take My Hand
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” is a song borne out of tragedy. Thomas Dorsey was living in Chicago in 1932 with his wife Nettie, as they expected their first child. Dorsey traveled to St. Louis to sing at a revival meeting for several nights; the day after he arrived, a Western Union messenger boy delivered a telegram bearing the news that Nettie had just died. When he returned to Chicago, Dorsey was told that his wife had given birth to a boy, but that the child had also died. Stricken by grief, Dorsey was carried away by a friend to a quiet place. Dorsey’s account follows:
“I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I’d never heard or played before, and the words that came into my head—they just seemed to fall into place.”
The words were “Precious Lord, take my hand.”
Hymn: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
Isaac Watts wrote this hymn as a metrical version of Psalm 90:1-5, and had it published under the title “Man Frail, and God Eternal.” John Julian, a famous musicologist, once wrote that the hymn is “undoubtedly one of [Watts’] finest compositions and his best paraphrase.” It serves to remind us of the strength and assurance God has provided to us in the past, and that which God will provide in the future.
Hymn: Lord, When I Came Into This Life
Dr. Fred Kaan wrote this hymn in 1976 for the confirmation of his son, Peter. The hymn was written to represent Dr. Kaan at the confirmation service since he was unable to attend the service. The present form of the hymn uses the alternative stanza 1. The original first stanza read, “You called me, Father, by my name/when I had still no say;/today you call me to confirm/the vows my parents made.”
Anthem: Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy
Originally in seven, six-line stanzas, this hymn from Joseph Hart’s 1759 collection was entitled "Come, and Welcome, to Jesus Christ," beginning with the words, "Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched." The hymn has autobiographical overtones. Raised in a Christian home, Joseph Hart left the faith and for a time lived a life he described as "carnal and spiritual wickedness, irreligious and profane." He was converted in 1757 at a Moravian chapel in London. From 1759 until his death he served as pastor of the independent chapel on Jewin Street, London, where he preached staunchly Calvinistic sermons to large crowds. Hart's approximately two hundred hymns were published as Hymns composed on Various Subjects; for a time his hymns were as popular as those of Isaac Watts.
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