One of my favourite hymns is a hymn I’ve never sung! Sometimes hymns become meaningful and touch the heart not when you sing them, but when you listen to them. When you let it soak into your soul. When it just washes over you.
What wondrous love is this is one of those. I first came across a Bluegrass version of it by the group Blue Highway at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. I did a search on YouTube and came across the version by Chelsea Moon with the Franz Brothers and this has become my favourite.
To discover more about this hymn I did a Google search and was amazed to discover all this:
What Wondrous Love Is This (often just referred to as "Wondrous Love") is a Christian folk hymn from the American South. The hymn's lyrics were first published in Lynchburg, Virginia in the c. 1811 camp meeting songbook A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use.
In most early printings, the hymn's text was attributed to an anonymous author, though the 1848 hymnal The Hesperian Harp attributes the text to a Methodist pastor from Oxford, Georgia named Alexander Means.
Most sources attribute the hymn's melody to the 1701 English song "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which describes the exploits of pirate William Kidd. The melody itself predates the Kidd usage, however, possibly by more than a century. The text and melody were first published together in the appendix of the 1840 edition of The Southern Harmony, a three-part harmony arranged by James Christopher of Spartanburg, South Carolina.
In 1958, American composer Samuel Barber composed Wondrous Love: Variations on a Shape Note Hymn (Op. 34), a work for organ, for Christ Episcopal Church in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; the church's organist, an associate of Barber's, had requested a piece for the dedication ceremony of the church's new organ.
The song's lyrics express awe at the love of God and are reminiscent of the text of John 3:16.
The hymn is published in mostly American Hymnals, including the wonderfully named Beloved Beer and Hymns: A Hymnal for the Thirsty (not sure who to ask, Janet Wootton or Mark Taylor, if they have seen this one!).
Take a moment to listen to this wonderful hymn and discover What wondrous love is this.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;
to God and to the Lamb I will sing;
to God and to the Lamb, who is the great I AM,
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
while millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing his love for me,
and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity I’ll sing on.
Neil Chappell
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