My Hymn "Praise God For Days Long Past!" Sung as Part of a 250th Anniversary Worship

Anne Fritts of the Schoeneck Moravian Church in Nazareth, PA, sent me the program from their congregation's 250th anniversary worship service and a note of thanks, because they included my hymn "Praise God for Days Long Past!" as part of the celebration.  Above and below are some photos.

I thought I might make some mention of the hymn that they selected...

"Praise God for Days Long Past!" is my 24th of well over 1000 hymn texts that I have written since 1983.  The hymn was written in 1991 for the hymn search for the 100th anniversary of the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights, Illinois.  It was not chosen by the judges of that search.  The text is based on a passage from II Timothy.

Even though it was not chosen then, the hymn did not get forgotten.

It was published the very next year in the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s 100th anniversary edition of "The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study".

Thereafter, it was distributed nationally to all PC(USA) congregations by the Presbyterian Historical Society, for the first annual "Presbyterian Heritage Sunday" on May 24, 1992, as the Presbyterian Heritage Sunday Hymn.

For some time I kept track of the requests that came my way for its use, and I see that it was published in the Foothills Presbytery Newsletter, Greenville SC and in the wonderful but no longer in print "Church Worship" magazine in April of 1992.  The hymn has been sung by numerous congregations in at least 13 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

“Praise God for Days Long Past” appears in my next book from Wayne Leupold Editions, called “God is the Singer’s Friend” (2013),  which had its debut at the Hymn Society Annual Conference in Richmond, in July 2013.  The publication of the hymn in that book means that the copyright is owned by Wayne Leupold Editions. If you would like to sing this hymn, please refer to that book.

Up until Schoeneck Moravian Church, I believe the longest / oldest anniversary of a church which it was a part was the Bicentennial celebration of First Presbyterian Church of St. Clairsville, OH on 5/26/98.

But to think... A 250^th anniversary (wow!).

I am excited that the hymn that the judges rejected has gone so many other places, and so pleased that it was part of the Shoeneck Moravian's anniversary service—and what an anniversary!