Thursday, May 16, 2013

April 21, 2013: The Fourth Sunday of Easter




Hymn: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
LindaJo McKim writes, “This hymn text is one of two paraphrases of Psalm 103 by Henry Francis Lyte in Spirit of the Psalms (1834). The original hymn had five stanzas. The fourth has been omitted from Presbyterian hymnals since the turn of the [twentieth] century. It reads: Frail as summer’s flower we flourish;/Blows the wind and it is gone; But, while mortals rise and perish,/God endures unchanging on: Praise Him! praise Him! Praise Him! praise Him! Praise the high eternal One!”

Hymn: Just As I Am, Without One Plea
The Englishwoman Charlotte Elliott wrote “Just as I Am, Without One Plea” in 1834. She became a permanent invalid in 1821 when she fell seriously ill. Upon writing the hymn, Elliott had it published in the second edition of The Invalid’s Hymn Book (1836). Her inspiration came from a remark made by a Genevan evangelist, Cesar Malan, who said to her, “Come as you are, a sinner, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.”

Hymn: Hear the Good News of Salvation
LindaJo McKim writes, “John B. Renville was a Native American Dakota, the first to be ordained to the Presbyterian ministry. He thrived in the latter half of the nineteenth century after being licensed and ordained in 1865. This hymn first appeared in the 1879 edition of Dakota Odowan (The Dakota Hymnal), which was edited by Renville and continues in popular use among Native Americans today.”

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