"Hymn Stories #1"

As a kid growing up in the country I always enjoyed singing because I was raised in a singing family. My grandfather Sid Darnall taught me to sing bass in church at a very young age and two of my uncles, brothers of my grandmother Lottye Darnall, taught me to sight read shape notes and sing tenor before I was even a teenager. I taught myself to play guitar, sang in a quartet and chorus all through high school and was involved in just about every play and musical that was presented by South Marshall High School. In my early college years I also sang in a rock 'n roll band called The Sweepers. It was all great fun. As I grew older my love for gospel music really became a passion and has continued throughout my adult life.

All of that is to explain why I have decided to use this medium as a forum to share some of my most cherished Hymn Stories. For many years I collected old hymnals and devotional type song books because I just loved the sincere ways that older hymn composers laid their heartfelt prayers out there for the world to read and sing, just like King David of old. Behind nearly every one is a moving story of faith, just like in David's Psalms. So, I want to share some of those great stories with my readers with the prayer that they will inspire you to greater faith too.

ETERNAL FATHER STRONG TO SAVE

Until my service in the US Navy, I had never heard of this hymn, but soon became quite familiar with it's great power to move the human spirit. Written by a Londoner named William Whiting, it seems to have been intended as a poem Whiting composed for a friend who was about to embark on a long sea voyage and had expressed his fear of the sea. I have found no clear trail of how it became such an institution both in Great Britain and America, only bits and pieces that are virtually impossible to verify. However it does seem fairly certain that the melody was composed by John B. Dykes who gave it the original title MELITA, an ancient rendering of MALTA, the island near where Paul was shipwrecked as found at Acts 27.

Commonly known today as the Navy Hymn, it has been performed in many different ways for important events in our nation's history i.e., the funerals of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and many others including fallen warriors. The Hymn was one thing I was taught in boot camp because there are certain occasions when Navy protocol requires the performance of the Hymn on every ship and shorebased installation and all hands are expected to join in when no formal band or choir is available for its presentation. Today, there are also very specific versions of the Hymn that are performed by all branches of the armed forces for their own commemorative occasions.

If you have never sung or heard this powerful hymn, I suggest that you GOOGLE it as you may not find it in your church's current hymnal. As you read the words, try to visualize William Whiting writing it as a portable means of fortifying the faith of his friend.

In my next post, I will tie this beautiful hymn to some powerful words from God.