For the past seven months I’ve had lots of quiet time at home – the perfect environment for writing. I’ve set aside this blog, mostly, to concentrate on my latest book – Talking with God through Music: Seasonal Hymns. Right now I’m on page 186 of the first draft. I think I have about 50 pages left to go. I’ve had quite a productive few days of writing, so I decided to take a quick break from the book today to blog about how much fun I had this week while working on the book.
Right now I’m on the last page of the chapter devoted to reflections on hymns about Pentecost. Compared to other major church holidays, like Christmas and Easter, not many hymns have been written for Pentecost – the day the Holy Spirit came to fill Jesus’ followers with God’s presence – the day often considered the birthday of the church. I came up with a list of twelve hymns I wanted to include in this chapter. After doing my research, I ended up with nine hymns in the chapter.
My process for researching a hymn to determine if there is a special story associated with the hymn is:
- Find the hymn in multiple hymnals, and compare versions.
- Google the hymn title along with the words “hymn history” and other relevant key words.
- Match up the “Internet facts” with my personal associations with the hymn.
- Put together a story about how the hymn helps us “talk with God,” or I decide not to include the hymn in the book.
One of the hymns I wanted to include in the Pentecost chapter was “Where the Spirit of the Lord Is.” Even though some people may call it just a “chorus” rather than a “hymn” because it has only one verse and is rather short, I think of it as a very meaningful hymn.
When I was part-time organist at the Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, there was a small choir that sang once or twice a month. I usually selected a short hymn for the choir to sing at the opening of the service to draw the congregation into an atmosphere of quietness, to sense that we were all together in the presence of God. The choir often sang this hymn.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is peace;
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is love.
There is comfort in life’s darkest hour;
There is light and life,
there is help and power
In the Spirit, in the Spirit of the Lord.
I did my usual research to find some story about the hymn that would be inspirational to write about for my book. I googled “Where the Spirit of the Lord Is hymn history,” but the only information that popped up was the name of the composer, Stephen R. Adams. I googled his name along with several other words, but found nothing. I really wanted to include this hymn, but I was coming up with nothing. After a few hours of searching, I was just about ready to give up. I googled one last combination of his name and some words – I don’t remember exactly what they were – and I scrolled down a few pages and found a story written by Adams’ son, Craig Adams, about his father and another hymn he had written, “Peace in the Midst of the Storm.” That was it! The perfect story to illustrate how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, just as described in a song Adams had written the year before, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is.” Here’s the page I wrote about this hymn for my book.
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STEPHEN R. ADAMS GREW UP IN NEW ENGLAND, the son of a Nazarene pastor. He started to study music when he was seven. Ten years later he became the organist of his father’s church. Shortly afterwards, his family moved to the Midwest. He continued to serve as a church organist while he went to college at Indiana University, where he studied Greek philosophy and English literature. He later settled in Ohio and served as a church organist, choir director, and hymn writer.
Adams’ most popular hymn is “Where the Spirit of the Lord Is.” It has just one verse, but the words tell us a lot about what the Holy Spirit does for us. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is –
… there is peace … there is love.
There is comfort in life’s darkest hour;
There is light and life,
There is help and power …
Adams wrote this hymn in 1973. The next year, Adams was serving as the worship pastor for Xenia First Church of the Nazarene in Xenia, Ohio. About mid-morning on April 3, 1974, one of the largest tornadoes in history charged through the town of Xenia, carving out a mile-wide path of destruction. Adams happened to be inside a furniture store, just down the street from the church, when it happened. He was buried alive beneath the rubble of the furniture store. Adams’ son, Craig Adams, described what happened:
Trapped in a pitch-black cavern of panic and isolation, Dad cried out to God, fearing death. He recounts that, miraculously, God met him in a supernatural way and brought the most unthinkable and powerful peace he had ever known. His darkest moment was filled with the brightest hope.
Adams didn’t have the strength to lift up the concrete and steel surrounding him, but he was able to pull chunks of rubble toward him until he was able to create a hole large enough for him to escape. Once outside, Adams walked up the street to see what remained of the church where he had been just moments before the tornado hit. Only a few partial walls remained standing. A few days later, Adams and his pastor walked over to the former furniture store and learned that everyone else that had been in the store during the tornado had died. His pastor told him, “God doesn’t promise to take us out of the storms of life. He does promise, however, that he will be right in the middle of them with us.”
That’s what this hymn tells us – “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is peace… love… comfort… light and life… help and power…”
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Even during a pandemic, the Spirit of the Lord is with us. And, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is peace… love… comfort… light and life… help and power…”
