Hymn of the Week: Lord, When I Came into This Life
Glory to God #691

Lord, When I Came into This Life

Text Fred Kaan, 1929-2009
Text written 1976
Music American Folk Melody

Lord, when I came into this life
you called me by my name;
today I come, commit myself,
responding to your claim.

Within the circle of the faith,
as member of your cast,
I take my place with all the saints
of future, present, past.

In all the tensions of my life,
between my faith and doubt,
let your great Spirit give me hope,
sustain me, lead me out.

So help me in my unbelief
and let my life be true:
feet firmly planted on the earth,
my sights set high on you.

Today’s hymn has many different settings set to a much-loved American folk tune! Enjoy reading about this stirring text by Fred Kaan.

Fred Kaan Hymn Writer
His hymns include both original work and translations. He sought to address issues of peace and justice. He was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands in July 1929. He was baptized in St Bavo Cathedral but his family did not attend church regularly. He lived through the Nazi occupation, saw three of his grandparents die of starvation, and witnessed his parent's deep involvement in the resistance movement. They took in a number of refugees. He became a pacifist and began attending church in his teens.

Having become interested in British Congregationalism (later to become the United Reformed Church) through a friendship, he attended Western College in Bristol. He was ordained in 1955 at the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, Glamorgan.

In 1963 he was called to be the minister of the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth. It was in this congregation that he began to write hymns. The first edition of Pilgrim Praise was published in 1968, going into second and third editions in 1972 and 1975. He continued writing many more hymns throughout his life.

Dianne Shapiro, from an obituary written by Keith Forecast in Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/fred-kaan-minister-and-celebrated-hymn-writer-1809481.html)

Here is some background on the beloved folk tune!

LAND OF REST is an American folk tune with roots in the ballads of northern England and Scotland. It was known throughout the Appalachians; a shape-note version of the tune was published in The Sacred Harp (1844) and titled NEW PROSPECT as the setting for "O land of rest! for thee I sigh." The tune was published again with that same text in J. R. Graves's Little Seraph (Memphis, 1873). The name LAND OF REST derives from the tune's association with that text.

The tune was known to Annabel M. Buchanan (b. Groesbeck, TX, 1888; d. Paducah KY, 1983), whose grandmother sang it to her as a child. She harmonized the tune and published it in her Folk Hymns of America (1938), noting similarities between this tune and the tune for "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (616).

Known especially as a musicologist of American folk music, Buchanan was educated at the Landon Conservatory, Dallas, Texas, and the Guilmant Organ School, New York City. She taught at several colleges, including Stonewall Jackson College, Abingdoll, Virginia. Buchanan published numerous articles on folk traditions of the Appalachian area of the United States. She also lectured widely on this topic and gave recitals of folk music. Her own compositions also show the influence of folk music.

Like many other folk tunes, LAND OF REST should be sung rather lightly and energetically with two pulses per measure, and faster in a small group. Sing stanzas 1 and 2 in unison (or using a soloist) and stanzas 3 through 5 in harmony.

Hymn of the Week: July 18, 2022