Harriet Starr Cannon
Religious, 1896
Today the Church commemorates the life and ministry of Harriet Starr Cannon. Orphaned at the age of one by the yellow fever, she took orders as a young woman and entered the Sisters of the Holy Communion who were heavily involved in the operation of clinics and care facilities that would later become St. Luke’s Hospital in the City of New York. Cannon went on to become a founder of the Community of St. Mary which played a critical role in response to the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis in the 1870’s. (We commemorate the “Martyrs of Memphis” on September 9 each year.) Confronting the scourge of yellow fever throughout her life, one wonders how this nun might have prayed in the midst of the great health crisis of her time.
For millennia, the People of God – through their difficulties, hardships, and insecurities – have called upon God with a voice of supplication. The Hebrew people were often to be found questioning where God was and why God had deserted them in their times of tribulation. The Psalter (or Book of Psalms, the hymnal of the Jews and of the early Christian Church) abounds with cries of despair and despondency, questioning the whereabouts of God.
Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble;
incline thine ear unto me when I call; O hear me, and that right soon.
Psalm 102:2
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord; for ever?
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psalm 13:1
Now, in the midst of our own vulnerability, we may well echo the thoughts expressed by the psalmist and wonder, “Where is God in the Covid-19 pandemic?” When I consider that question, I am inevitably drawn to one of our primary devotional resources:
The Hymnal 1982.
The enormous wealth of heartening scripture and poetry contained in this book is astonishing. Everyone should have a copy of
The Hymnal 1982
on their bedside table for devotional reading.
Today, though, I want to consider just one hymn to which I turn again and again to be fed in these trying times. The hymn is found at #665 in
The Hymnal 1982
:
All my hope on God is founded.
It is a beautiful hymn written by Robert Bridges (after Joachim Neander) and set to music by Herbert Howells.
Joachim Neander was a German Reformed Calvinist theologian and hymn writer best known for his hymn
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation (#390),
judged by John Julian, in his magisterial
Dictionary of Hymnology,
as one of the finest hymns of all time. Neander lived just thirty years but it was ample time for him to produce numerous texts rich in theology and deep in meaning. It was to one of Neander’s texts,
Meine Hoffnung stehet feste (My hope is firm)
that Robert Bridges turned when he penned
All my hope on God is founded.
Robert Seymour Bridges OM (Order of Merit – one of Britain’s highest honors bestowed by the Sovereign) was named Britain’s Poet Laureate in 1913 and held the office for seventeen years. A physician by training, Bridges achieved literary fame late in his life for his poetry which reflects a deep spiritual and Christian conviction. At the time he wrote
All my hope on God is founded
he was serving as choirmaster (obviously a man of many talents!) of the Yattendon parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Berkshire, England. There he produced a hymnal – appropriately titled
The Yattendon Hymnal
– for use in the parish church as he was deeply disappointed with the quality of hymn texts then in use in the Church of England.
The Yattendon Hymnal
was assembled between 1894-1899 and Bridges included his text
All my hope on God is founded
in this collection of hymns, though at that time it was still set to the old German tune to which Neander’s parallel text was sung.
In 1930 the music director at the Charterhouse School (located in Surrey, it is one of England’s nine great original public schools) sent the Bridges text to his friend Herbert Howells requesting that Howells produce a new musical setting of the hymn text for use at the school. Howells himself related the story: he received the request by morning post while he was eating his breakfast. Upon reading the hymn text a tune presented itself in his mind almost immediately “while I was chewing bacon and sausage.”
Howells acceded to the request and his new hymn tune, paired with Bridges’ text, was sung regularly in the Charterhouse School chapel. In 1936 the hymn was included in a new hymnal, the
Clarendon Hymn Book.
When asked to give his tune a name (all hymn tunes are given names) for the
Clarendon Hymn Book
Howells chose
Michael
to honor his son who had died of polio the previous year at the tender age of nine. Indeed, Michael’s death was to make a profound impact on Howells’ writing going forward; his music is filled with brooding and melancholy.
The auspicious marriage of Bridges’ text and Howells’ tune has moved far beyond the walls of the Charterhouse School and has become a universally popular hymn now found in the hymnals of most denominations across the English-speaking world.
All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew,
me through change and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
God unknown,
he alone
calls my heart to be his own.
Mortal pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray our trust;
though with care and toil we build them,
tower and temple fall to dust.
But God’s power,
hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.
God’s great goodness e’er endureth,
deep his wisdom, passing thought:
splendor, light, and life attend him,
beauty springeth out of nought.
Evermore
from his store
newborn worlds rise and adore.
Daily doth the almighty Giver
bounteous gifts on us bestow;
his desire our soul delighteth,
pleasure leads us where we go.
Love doth stand
at his hand;
joy doth wait on his command.
Still from earth to God eternal
sacrifice of praise be done,
high above all praises praising
for the gift of Christ, his Son.
Christ doth call
one and all:
ye who follow shall not fall.
Words: Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930), alt., after Joachim Neander (1650-1680)
Music:
Michael;
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Could ever a hymn text be more percipient or more acutely address our current pandemic situation? Like the ancient Hebrew people, we wonder where God is in the midst of our current crisis. We look for leadership from those who consistently make poor decisions – or no decision at all – and feel helpless as “sword and crown betray our trust.” We wonder who is in charge and who will lead us out of this mess. We can trace a lineage through Neander – a German Reformed theologian, who was an influence on Bridges – an English Christian physician, poet, and choirmaster, who wrote a poetic text set to music by Howells – a brilliant composer but non-believer, to find our answer. God
does
work in mysterious ways.
Just like Harriet Starr Cannon, we are faced with a health crisis that continues to take its toll on our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. And, like the psalmist, we plead with God to take control and deliver us from the misery and suffering brought upon us by this disease. We cling to faith. We live in hope. We proceed with love. Take heart! This great hymn,
All my hope on God is founded,
reminds us that God
is
in control of all things and his
will
be the victory. “Love doth stand at his hand; joy doth wait on his command.”
Rob Lehman
Organist and Choirmaster
NOTE:
When Pope Benedict joined the Archbishop of Canterbury for worship in Westminster Abbey some years ago, this profound text coupled with its noble and stirring tune was chosen for the occasion. You can see and hear that
here.
