HymnSite.com's Suggested Hymns for the 18th Sunday After Pentecost

September 21, 1997 18th Sunday After Pentecost Unifying Themes and Hymns: Live According to God's Wisdom Featured Hymn 395 Take Time to Be Holy Christians Live Differently 560 Help Us Accept Each Other Proper 20[25] (Sunday between Sept. 18 & 24 Inclusive)
Scripture	Theme	Hymns
Proverbs 31:10-31 -or- Jeremiah 11:18-20	Embodied Wisdom, Woman of Worth *** Vengence/Retribution belongs to God,	430 O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee 438 Forth in Thy Name 399 Take My Life and Let it Be *** 110 A Mighty Fortress is Our God 389 Freely, Freely Additional Suggestions
Psalm 1 -or- Psalm 54	Delight in God's Law, The Righteous Way *** A Plea for God's Vindication	441 What Does the Lord Require Psalter 738, response 1 128 He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought 600 Wonderful Words of Life *** See Jeremiah suggestions above Additional Suggestions
Mark 9:30-37	True Greatness, Welcoming the Least Among Us	548 In Christ There is No East or West 419 I Am Thine, O Lord 712 I Sing a Song of the Saints of God 402 Lord, I Want to Be a Christian 344 Tu Has Venido a la Orilla Additional Suggestions
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a	God's Wisdom vs. Earthly Ways, How to obtain God's Wisdom	465 Holy Spirit, Truth Divine 391 O Happy Day that Fixed My Choice 552 Here, O Lord, Your Servants Gather 506 Wellspring of Wisdom Additional Suggestions

Featured Hymn
395 Take Time to Be Holy

For many years the only information known about this gospel song was what Ira D. Sankey wrote in his autobiography. Sankey (1840-1908) was the well-known gospel singer and hymn writer who accompanied Dwight L. Moody in the late 1800's as the two of them traveled all over the world holding camp meetings and revivals.

And because the tune of this song was written specifically for this text and then sent to Sankey for his use, it is appropriate to take a detour into a consideration of Sankey's considerable influence on American church music. It is largely Sankey that Christianity has to thank for the introduction and preservation of the type of evangelistic, revival music known as gospel songs that is still in existence from this period.

He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in his home in Newcastle, Pa.. There he was a Sunday School superintendent and choir leader. He was also a leader in the Y.M.C.A. and as a delegate to one of their meetings in 1870, he met Mr. Moody. Six months later he joined him as his music leader. He led the singing (in a style seldom seen before that time but is familiar now), sang gospel solos (another innovation in church music), accompanying himself on a small reed organ called a harmonium. What is notable about him, however, was his ability to demonstrate the power of music as a religious force. He wrote: "I never touch a song that does not speak to me in every word and phrase. Before I sing I must feel, and the hymn must be of such a kind that I know I can send home what I feel into the hearts of those who listen."

In 1873, Sankey first published a collection of the gospel songs he sang in the revivals. Someone has said that in 1875 more people read or sang from Sankey's song collection than all the people who heard or performed Bach in the whole 19th century. Many gospel songs still in common use today became popular by inclusion in his collections. One of his collections is still in use in England today. And his autobiography is the source work of information about gospel songs.

"Take Time to Be Holy," Sankey says, was written by William Dunn Longstaff (1822-1894)after hearing a sermon on I Peter 1:16. However, many years later the composer of the tune, George C. Stebbins, said that Longstaff wrote the hymn after hearing a missionary to China being quoted as saying, "Take time and be holy" at a meeting he attended. Whatever the origin (and both elements may be equally true, when you think about it), Stebbins had received the poem from a friend in 1890, who had clipped it from a periodical. Later, while Stebbins was spending a winter in India assisting Dr. George F. Pentecost and Bishop Thoburn in evangelistic and conference work, he recalled that he had the slip of paper with him. He promptly set music to the words and sent it off to Sankey in New York. Part of the reason Sankey probably accepted it was on the basis of his long-time friendship with Longstaff.

Sankey published it first in 1890. The hymn entered the Methodist Protestant hymnal in 1901 and in 1935.

Return to top of page

Lection at HymnSite.com

Contributed by Rev. Linda K. Morgan-Clark

Proverbs: See Index listing, "Daily Work" p.954; "Commitment" p.939; see also Hymns 126-143 (Providence)
Jeremiah: See Index listing, "Judgment" p.946; "Providence" p.950; see also Hymns 126-143 (Providence); also Hymn 389 can be performed by handbells

Psalm 1: See Index listing, "Guidance" p.942

See Index listing, "Jesus Christ: Example" p.945

See Index listing, "Aspiration and Resolve" p.934; see also Hymns 382-394 (Rebirth and New Creation)