The One Year Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns

This review spotlights a unique hymn-a-day devotional, The One Year® Book of Hymns—and my short-lived attempt to write another book. (LOL.)

Imagine singing an “awesome” hymn, led by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, with 10,000 others. The One Year® Book of Hymns and YouTube will enrich your mornings.

One Day. One Page. One Hymn.

Beginning late last fall, on most mornings while enjoying a period of quiet reflection with my Bible and other books, I often lingered in my favorite chair until a hymn came to mind. Then with earbuds in, I searched YouTube for a suitable version of the hymn.

I listened to the hymn and then emailed the YouTube link to myself. I would often sing or hum that hymn throughout the day.Most mornings, though sleepy-eyed, my first thought would be, “I wonder what my hymn of the day will be?” Sometimes, I’d visit Hymnary to learn more about the hymn writer. Often fascinating!

I was loving this new daily practice and wanted to share it with others. Maybe it was the nostalgia and good memories of singing bass in school and church choirs. My hymn repertoire grew exponentially through required church attendance Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights. During college, I was our church’s choir director.

After collecting several months’ worth of YouTube hymns, I thought: “Hymmmn. Maybe there’s a market for a book of hymns—just the stanzas of old hymns (without the music). I could research hymns in the public domain (no copyright issues), plus a bit of history about the hymn writer. What a great book idea!”

As I was planning this new book, then found out Oops! Good idea, John—but Tyndale published this book in 2017! LOL! I may be six years late and a dollar short (the royalties would have been nice), but I do know when to throw in the towel. Besides, Tyndale’s book is wonderful:

The One Year® Book of Hymns:
365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns

So now, most mornings, I turn to the hymn for the day’s date and enjoy reading:
• All four verses of the daily hymn
• A brief bio/inside story of the hymn writer (sometimes a devotional thought)
• A related Scripture verse

ONE DAY, ONE PAGE, ONE HYMN—and then I find a suitable hymn version on YouTube. For example, today is July 19 and today’s hymn is “Rock of Ages,” written by Augustus Toplady (1740-1778), and the Scripture is Psalm 62:5-7. (This morning, I listened to The Oak Ridge Boys.)

Augustus Toplady was converted under a Methodist evangelist during his university years, but “Though impressed with the spirit of Methodism, he strongly disagreed with the Wesleys’ Arminian theology and waged a running battle with them through tracts, sermons, and even hymns.”

We read further that Toplady “…died of tuberculosis and overwork at the age of thirty-eight, two years after he published his own hymnal, in which ‘Rock of Ages’ and Charles Wesley’s ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul’(July 17) were placed side by side.” (Listen to The Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne.)

Browse the hymns and the short devotional readings and you’ll deeply appreciate those hymn writers who have already crossed the finish line—and enriched our journeys.
• “Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment” (Feb. 26) profiles Carolina Sandell Berg (1832-1903), who at age 26, watched her father, a parish pastor, drown at sea. (Listen to Fountainview Academy.)
• “According to Thy Gracious Word” (March 3) notes that James Montgomery (1771-1854), a fearless London newspaper editor, “was imprisoned twice for his strong editorials” on the abolition of slavery. (Listen to New Scottish Hymns Band.)
• “Before Jehovah’s Awful [aka Awesome] Throne” (March 5), by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), includes a British Christian’s awesome experience in singing this hymn with nearly 10,000 others, while led in worship by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. (Listen to The Symphonials, Ghana.)

“TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS” (March 15), written by Helen Howarth Lemmel (1864-1961), sent me down a holy rabbit hole! In 1918, this noted Christian singer who lived her final days in Seattle, was given a tract written by a missionary, Lilias Trotter, who served in Algeria. The tract, “Focussed,” stopped Lemmel in her tracks (no pun intended). View the movie trailer to learn why Lilias Trotter gave up a promising art career in Britain to minister in Algeria for 40 years. For more, visit the Lilias Trotter Legacy website. (Listen to Selah’s version of the song.)
• View this 11-minute “story behind the story.”
• View the movie trailer.
• View the “Many Beautiful Things” documentary (70 min.) on Amazon Prime.

Learn more about Lilias Trotter, who inspired Helen Howarth Lemmel to write the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  View Many Beautiful Things: The Life and Vision of Lilias Trotter (movie trailer).

• “Amazing Grace” (March 17) notes John Newton’s response to suggestions that because of poor health and fading memory, he should retire at age 82! He said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great savior.” This former slave trader was born in 1725 and died in 1807 at age 82. (Listen to Andrea Bocelli and Alison Krauss.)
• “Jesus Paid It All” (March 19), was written by Elvina Mabel Hall (1820-1889) in the choir loft of her Baltimore church—due to “the pastor rambling on too long!” With no paper to write on, she penned the verses in the flyleaf of her hymnal! (Listen to Hymns of Grace.)
• Stunning! The background on the hymn, “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” (June 9), by George Duffield, Jr. (1818-1888), describes the 1858 Philadelphia citywide evangelistic morning and evening services. A 29-year-old Episcopalian preacher spoke to 5,000 men reaping 1,000 conversions, but four days later, Dudley Tyng died in an accident. His final words were “Tell them to stand up for Jesus,” so Duffield wrote the hymn. (Listen to the story and the hymn at Worship House Media.)

“JUST AS I AM” (June 22), was written by Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871), who wanted to clean up her act before becoming a Christ-follower. A minister, however, invited Elliott to “Come just as you are.” You’ll recognize this hymn, sung at hundreds of Billy Graham Crusades—except one. Listen to Cliff Barrow’s stunning story about the London crusade in 1967:

Sing along to “Just As I Am” with Cliff Barrows and others as Barrows describes an unusual absence of a hymn at the 1967 Billy Graham Crusade in London.

ENVELOPES & INK POTS:
• Charles Wesley (1707-1788) “wrote an average of two hymns a week for fifty years,” composing between 5,000 and 6,000 hymns in his lifetime.
• William R. Newell (1868-1956), enroute to teach his class at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, envisioned the words to a hymn. He “scribbled the words on the back of any envelope” and gave them to Daniel B. Towner, MBI’s director of music. Within an hour, Towner returned with the hymn, “At Calvary” (March 25). (Listen to The Collinsworth Family.)
• Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), at age 30 and blind, heard a revival choir sing “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?”(April 14), written by Isaac Watts. She responded to her Savior’s call and went on to write more than 8,000 hymns, including “Blessed Assurance” (May 1). (Listen to Alan Jackson.)
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) “…once felt Satan’s oppressive presence so keenly that he threw an inkpot at him.” Some believe that an ink spot still decorates the wall of his room in Wartburg Castle!” He wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (Oct. 31). (Listen to the hymn led by Tommy Bailey at the Grand Ole Opry House as part of the Sing! Global Conference 2020.)

Hymmmn. I wonder what my hymn-of-the-day for tomorrow will be? I can hardly wait!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns, compiled and edited by Robert K. Brown and Mark R. Norton; devotions written by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen.