Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania 50th Anniversary Hymn

I should have shared this some time ago. In 2020 in fact....

In anticipation of the 50th Anniversary of their founding at Shadyside Presbyterian Church the Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania held a hymn search to help mark the occasion.  At the time, I was very much enjoying my time of serving as the Interim Senior Minister at Shadyside, and I decided to write something for the hymn search.  For two reasons.  First, I admire their work.  Second, the celebratory event was already on the calendar for the spring of 2020 to be held in the Parish Hall of Shadyside Presbyterian Church where it all began.  And it made me think how cool would that be if my song were selected and sung right there where I was currently serving. 

So that is what I did.  

I completed the hymn on December 20, 2019. As these hymn searches go, one sends in the submission in such a way that there is no indication on the submission who the author is.  Off it went, and then all I had to do was wait until the judges had made their decision.

As I waited, something else happened...  

The spring of 2020 will forever be remembered for it.  Covid-19.  The coronavirus pandemic.  When it hit, it hit hard, and churches were put in a tough position.  Do we stop having in person worship or not?  The US government did not give us any guidance in that matter.  I guess they were afraid of later church and state type lawsuits.  So each church in every community had to wrestle with the decision.  We at Shadyside reluctantly decided that out of the utmost concern for our members and guests, we would curtail in person worship, and do online worship only.  We also closed the building to all other activities.  As you can guess, in such a busy church, there were many many activities that were therefore scratched from the calendar in the months ahead.  

And yes, along with weddings, and concerts, and meetings, and classes, we had to cancel that 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania.

Then one fine day the phone rang.  

And it was the person charged with contacting the winner of the hymn search, to tell them that news...  Or I should day to tell me that news, that my submission had been selected by the judges.  Great news! But as you can imagine, I was disappointed that the convergence of the event at Shadyside, and the hymn by Shadyside's pastor, just couldn't occur.

Oh, by the way, the hymn is called: “May We Walk the Way of Jesus”, and it is sung to the familiar hymn tune: CROSS OF JESUS. Let me know if you would like to receive a copy of it.... since we are back to normal, and can gather as usual for worship now, in 2023.

As Your Dear Friend Once Welcomed You

As Shadyside Presbyterian Church's Director of Music Ministry, Mark A. Anderson, and I were planning worship during this Lenten Season, back on February 21, we were not finding a hymn that we were happy with, to conclude worship on Sunday April 7.  The Gospel lectionary reading for that morning was John 12:1-8, when Jesus shared a meal at Bethany with his treasured friends Martha, Lazarus, and Mary.  

I said to Mark, "Why don't we sing a hymn that you have written?"  His reply, "John, the other option for the first Sunday in April for a closing hymn would be for you to write a text and for me to write the tune. That might be too much, with everything else on your plate, but keep it in mind for future Sundays. It would be great fun to see what we could do."  

What a gracious and great idea!  

So, that is what we did.  I wrote the words; Mark wrote the music.  And the congregation sang our brand new hymn on Sunday, April 7th.  It was a joy to work on the hymn with Mark, and a joy to hear the congregation sing it.  Here's to more collaborations!

Please contact me regarding use in worship.