I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is How Great Thou Art
The hymn began as a Swedish poem written in 1885 by Carl Boberg. It was later set to a traditional Swedish folk melody. It was translated to German, then to Russian. The most widely used English version was created by Stuart K. Hine, a British missionary who expanded and adapted the text while working in Ukraine. The hymn became globally famous after George Beverly Shea and the Billy Graham Crusades began using it in the 1950s.
I first heard it back in 1972 when I began listening to pop music on Irish radio. There was a showband called Kelly and the Nevada who released it as a single. It was quite fascinating to hear a hymn in the pop charts. I’d like to know the background to its release. The singer, Eileen Kelley came from Cork, my own hometown, though I only discovered that this morning 😀.
Then, in later years, when I started attending evangelical churches, we sang it regularly, though it wasn’t always easy to to play or sing as a congregation. It’s hard to keep everyone in time 😀. Lyrically, it’s a wonderful hymn. It begins in nature, considering all the works of God. Then it proceeds to considering how God sent his one and only Son into the world to die for us. And it closes with the future. So many hymns, ancient and modern are delightful to sing, but I confess, while I sing them, I don’t always keep track of the words. But it’s easy with this one. Everything just seems very clear. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why it migrated out of the churches and into secular music.
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Chorus:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Repeat Chorus
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Repeat Chorus
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Here are a few interesting versions:
Hibernia Gospel 