Hymn of the Week: May 17, 2024
Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us
Glory To God: 280
Text: Janie Alford, 1979
Music: EBENEZER
Come, O Spirit, dwell among us;
come with Pentecostal power;
give the church a stronger vision;
help us face each crucial hour.
Built upon a firm foundation,
Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone,
still the church is called to mission
that God's love shall be made known.
We would raise our alleluias
for the grace of yesteryears;
for tomorrow's unknown pathway,
hear, O Lord, our humble prayers.
In the church's pilgrim journey
you have led us all the way;
still in presence move before us,
fire by night and cloud by day.
Come, O Spirit, dwell among us;
give us words of fire and flame.
Help our feeble lips to praise you,
glorify your holy name.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Three in One: what mystery!
We would sing our loud hosannas
now and through eternity.
During this new season…
of Pentecost which celebrates the birthday of the church, we will be singing today’s Hymn of the Week. As you can see from the dates of text and music, the text comes to us from the pen of Janie Alford in 1979 while the tune, known as EBENEZER, comes to us from Wales in the 1890s. Enjoy the great stories about both the poet and musician.
JANIE ALFORD (1887-1986)
Janeie was born and lived all of her life in Nashville, TN. She attended the University of Tennessee in Nashville for one semester and studied library science. At the age of eighteen, she went to work to support her family (her mother and sister).
She was able to put her nephews through school by working as a medical secretary to a doctor. Janie never married and worked at this job for forty years. She grew up in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but transferred to Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church, which later became Nashville's Westminster Presbyterian Church. She was a charter member there and started the church's library. She wrote poetry all of her life and at the suggestion of Hal Hopson, the Minister of Music at her church at the time, she was encouraged to write hymns. In 1979 she published a small collection entitled "NINE HYMNS FOR THE CHURCH YEAR." "Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us" was one of these hymns, and it appears as #329 in Hope's new hymnal WORSHIP & REJOICE (2001).
The tune was first published in 1897 in the periodical Yr Athraw ('The Teacher'), vol. 71, in tonic sol-fa notation, and its first appearance in a hymnal was in 1900, in The Baptist Book of Praise.
The famed English composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) referred to this as one of the greatest hymn tunes. As the musical editor Vaughan Williams included it in The English Hymnal in 1906.
It is now published in 195 hymnals worldwide, including The New English Hymnal. It alternates phrases of 8 and 7 notes.
Ebenezer means "Stone of Help" in the Bible.
The tune is named after Ebenezer Chapel in Rhos near Pontardawe, South Wales, which T. J. Willams attended while composing the tune.
T. J. Williams was born in Llangiwg, Ynysmeudwy, near Pontardawe, and lived in Llanelli, South Wales, from 1903. He served as organist and choir director at Mount Elim Baptist Chapel, Ynysmeudwy near Pontardawe, for fifteen years, Zion Baptist Chapel, Llanelli, (1903–1911) and Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Llanelli (1913–1931).
He is buried in Llanelli District Cemetery (Box Cemetery).
The myth that the tune was discovered in a bottle on a Llyn Peninsula beach in North Wales was published in the Daily Mail in 1902. It has affectionately been known as Ton-y-Botel ever since and is even referred to as "Ebenezer, Ton-y-Botel" on his grave headstone, this also includes the first music phrase and below it the text "Dyma Gariad Fel Y Moroedd"
