Category: The Midweek Hymn

THIS hymn originated in the 12th century when a French Benedictine monk known as Bernard of Cluny (who apparently had English parents) wrote De contemptu mundi (On Contempt for the World), … Continue readingJerusalem the Golden

THIS week’s choice is a request from our reader ‘Starshiptrooper’. It is based on one of the saddest stories of the Bible, yet it is one of the most hopeful … Continue readingGreat is Thy Faithfulness

I WAS saving this hymn for Harvest Festival but other things intervened and I missed the date, which was September 22. I didn’t realise until I looked it up that … Continue readingWe Plough the Fields and Scatter

I FELT that in these troubled times a patriotic hymn would be a comfort, reminding us of what makes us proud of our country and why most of us want … Continue readingI Vow to Thee My Country

THIS hymn is inextricably linked with the 1912 Titanic disaster, when the liner hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, and sank with the loss of 1,517 … Continue readingNearer, My God, To Thee

A FEW days ago I had an email which made me realise how powerful our much-loved hymns can be even today, and although I repeated this one not long ago, … Continue readingO Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

BACK to Charles Wesley for this week’s hymn, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, which is often written and sung as Jesu, Lover of My Soul. Wesley wrote it as a poem in … Continue readingJesus, Lover of My Soul

THIS hymn is often dismissed as being just for children, and indeed it was intended for children, but I love its celebration of creation and I have asked for it … Continue readingAll Things Bright and Beautiful

ONE of the great Victorian hymns was so popular in its day that reportedly the Church of England’s bishops got sick of it and begged the clergy to stop using … Continue readingO Jesus I have promised

THE Thirty Years War was the most destructive conflict in history until the First World War, enveloping most of Europe from 1618 to 1648. It started as a religious conflict … Continue readingNow Thank We All Our God