Writer, Elizabeth Sherrill, recalled one New Year’s Day many years ago when she was in constant worry over finances and undiagnosed illness. One of the Bible verses she chose as her theme for the new year was Psalm 96:1, “Sing to the Lord a new song….”
“Whenever I felt anxious,” she said, “I decided I’d learn a new hymn and replace the ‘what if’s’ with songs of faith.”
The hymn she picked to launch the experiment was “Another Year Is Dawning,” written by Frances R. Havergal. For Elizabeth, the song felt apropos not only for the day but, given the unknowns she faced, faintly annoying. How could the author be so sure it would be as the song says, “another year of gladness…of quiet, happy rest”? she wondered. She thought, When this was written, life in the nineteenth century must have been a lot more placid than it is today!
Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879)
Elizabeth said that several days later, as she perused through the books in her church library, she spotted a book on hymn writers. Curious about the woman whose words she was singing, she looked up the writer’s name. Then, Elizabeth discovered some interesting facts.
Frances Havergal’s life was far from placid. Elizabeth faced a potential serious illness; Frances was ill all her life, never able attend school, marry, have children. Elizabeth worried about paying bills; Frances’ father, an English clergyman, had scarcely started work in his first parish when he was thrown from a carriage and incapacitated. Then, when Frances was only eleven, her mother died. In her grief, the girl turned to writing hymns of faith. Until her own death at age fifty-three, this frail woman started composing verses that have given strength to others ever since.
Elizabeth recounts, “I did have surgery when cancer was diagnosed that long-ago year; our family did struggle to make ends meet. But I had before me the example of a woman who faced her own unknown future with a high heart.”
Elizabeth went on to say, “What will the new year bring? Frances Havergal knew only that when we turn to God with a song, it’s sure to be filled with his presence ‘all the days.'” (Elizabeth Sherrill, Daily Guideposts, 2004.)
Here are the words from Havergal’s hymn (1874) as printed in our Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs hymnal (Published by the Church of God General Conference, McDonough, Georgia):
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee;
Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.
Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness,
In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast,
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.
Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training
For a holier work of love,
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be,
On earth, and in your presence,
Another year for Thee.
Amen!
Click on the following link for the tune to this song (Aurelia) by Samuel S. Wesley, arr. by Jonathan Reed:
https://youtu.be/Ve9uWX0uSxQ
Good News to YOU!
And, may you have a most blessed New Year!
Pastor Michael