I wrote the words to be sung to the very familiar tune OLD 100TH, on June 23, 2005. So five years ago, this month. It is a hymn about living water, and the scriptural allusion most apt is from John Chapter Four. As is possible for anyone writing hymns, I posted the hymn text on The Hymn Society website, so that those who are interested in new hymns could see it and consider using it; this was on August 12, 2005. Permission for its one time use in worship was also given with that posting, which was to end at the end of 2006.
It was there that Dorothy found the words, and wrote beautiful music to go with them, setting the hymn as an anthem, very much the anthem that you see today in this new publication. While Dorothy had worked for a church in Pittsburgh at a time that coincided with my time of serving Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, there, we had never met.
The anthem was sung here at Wekiva and at Dorothy's church as well, by their respective choirs. Eventually, GIA Music in Chicago indicated an interest in the work as an anthem, and now, here it is, available for choir directors and congregations, wherever they may be.
There is more to the story of course, with lots of emails and conversations back and forth between author, composer and publisher, but this is the condensed version. Five years may seem a long time from conception to publication, but it seems to be pretty typical.
And as many of you know, Dorothy has set other of my works to music including a complete Christmas cantata and a complete Easter Cantata.
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