“How Great Thou Art”
How Great Thou Art" is the hymn I chose. It is very close to my heart because it has been special to my family for generations. My great-grandpa and great-grandma would sing this song frequently for special music. There was even a recording of them singing the hymn that was then played at my great grandpa’s funeral. My mom recalls this memory whenever the hymn is sung. I also enjoy it because music is the speech of angels and I believe this song is about everything God did for us. It captures the things He did for us in three verses and says how great He is. The beginning of the chorus is something I can relate to because it talks about singing from your soul. I love to sing and hearing those words is very easy to connect with in everyday life. The song says different things about God in every verse. The first one is about when He created the world, stars, and thunder. The second verse is about Him dying for us and taking away all our sins. The last verse is about when He will come back to us and how grateful we will all be. I think hymns are easy to connect to. The author’s words when put to music are often times my thoughts. There’s always been music in my family and hymns are a way for me to connect with my past. -Lauren Harstad
The Composer: Carl Gustav Boberg August 16, 1859--January 7, 1940
Carl Boberg was born on August 16 1859, in the tiny township of Mönsterås in the southeast of Sweden. He was a restless man who tried many professions. He was a great orator, and for many years, he was a preacher in the local Nonconformist Church. In his youth, he worked as a seaman, and later on as a woodwork teacher. He was also the editor of the town’s only newspaper, and in his spare time, he wrote poetry, of which some 200 of Boberg’s poems were set to music. In his later years, he was elected to be a member of the Swedish Upper House, where his radical opinions on drinking, pacifism and church matters made him a controversial figure. Carl died in January of 1940, more than a decade before the words to his poem became one of the most beloved hymns of all time.
The Hymn:
Carl Boberg wrote the words to “How Great Thou Art” on a hot, sultry summer day in 1885. While on his way home from a meeting, a violent storm broke, with lightning flashes and strong winds. Within an hour, the storm had passed over, and when he arrived home, he opened his window and filled with awesome wonder at what he saw. He heard the melancholy song of a blackbird from the nearby woodlands. In the far distance, the church bells were tolling for one parishioner who had been buried that day. The sun broke through the clouds and the rainbow appeared. Moved by the beauty of nature, he was inspired to write the words to the poem “O Store Gud”, translated to “Oh Mighty God”.
“O Store Gud” was first published in the local newspaper on March 13, 1886, and in 1894 it was included in the hymnbook of the Swedish Non- conformist Church. He did not write any music to his poem but suggested that the melody of an old Swedish folk song should be used. In 1907, it was translated into German, and fifteen years later, it was published by members of the American Bible Society in New York. English missionary, Stuart Hine heard the song (in Russian) and he became deeply moved by the song, he translated it into English, tweaked the musical arrangement, some of the wording, and took it home to England where it was given the English title of “How Great Thou Art”. In 1954, Dr Billy Graham heard the hymn and was so impressed that he decided to make it his signature tune. He first introduced it during a crusade at Toronto, Canada in 1955. At the New York City Crusade of 1957, this hymn was sung a total of 99 times by singer Bev Shea. Sadly, Carl Boberg would never realize the influence of his poem.
The last two stanzas of the poem not included in the hymn are as follows:
When burdens press, and seem beyond endurance,
Bowed down with grief, to Him I lift my face;
And then in love He brings me sweet assurance:
'My child! for thee sufficient is my grace'.
O when I see ungrateful man defiling
This bounteous earth, God's gifts so good and great;
In foolish pride, God's holy Name reviling,
And yet, in grace, His wrath and judgment wait.
In Carl Boberg’s own words about the inspiration behind his now, very famous poem:
“It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest colouring; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere. It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon there was thunder and lightning. We had to hurry to shelter. But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared. When I came home I opened my window toward the sea. There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of "When eternity's clock calls my saved soul to its Sabbath rest". That evening, I wrote the song, ‘O Store Gud’.”
