When we were rounding out the record at the end of the process Jeff mentioned this hymn written Frederick Whitfield in 1855 and recorded it as a short interlude to go after “Come Away With Me.” Jeff on piano, and myself on guitar. It’s a fitting melody after the thoughts of God’s love to us in “Come Away With Me.” It’s a short bit, only a chorus, because it’s meant as a response, but below are the lyrics in entirety.
One of the things I love about many of the old hymns is how they speak of who God is and what he has done. When a modern worship song or an old hymn goes on too much about what we should be doing for Jesus, we’re not being fed with the very thing that stirs and empowers us to do: faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. This hymn, which sounds at first as if it’s all about how much I love Jesus, is really about who God is and what he has done; we love him “because he first loved me.”
“O, How I Love Jesus”
from Ron Block and Jeff Taylor’s Trouble Go Down (available here)
There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth; it sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth.
Refrain: O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, because he first loved me!
It tells me of a Savior’s love, who died to set me free; it tells me of his precious blood, the sinner’s perfect plea.
[Refrain]
It tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest woe; who in each sorrow bears a part that none can bear below.
[Refrain]