Songs for Sunday - "Heavenly Sunlight"

Today we got to sing "Heavenly Sunight" as part of our worship together at Tallowood.


As part of my research today I came across several interesting and compelling sources of information about the lyrisit and composer of this wonderful song. 

According to the blog
The lyrisist for "Heavenly Sunlight" was a Methodist minister who served 50 years in as a pastor as part of the New Jersey Methodist Conference.  The melody was brought to him by George Harrison Cook. 

According to the website called  wordwisehymns.com

"A gospel song on the theme of sunlight was written in 1899 by Henry jeffreys Zelley (1859-1942), Pastor Zeley faithfully served the Lord, during a ministry over fifty years long.  He was considered an exceptional Bible scholar, and his spare time was spent writing poetry. 

On one occassion a man named George Harrison Cook brought the pastor a tune, asking if the latter could write some appropriate words for it.  Cook was involved in a lifelong ministry of music, singing, playing, composing, and training other musicians.  It was not the only collaborations of Zelley and Cook, but the one produced 'Heavenly Sunlight'.  A scolar he may have been, but the simple truth of Henry Zelley's hymn is writhin the grasp of all. 

In 1942 Charles E. Fuller, who founded the Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio broadcast in 1925, adapted the song's refrain for use on its own.  'Heavenly Sunshine' became a widely popular little chorus four decades after the hymn was written." 


Did you notice that this song was the natural outcome of service in progress?  This pastor was walking in Sunlight as he ministered to others over his lifetime!  I love the testimony of service his life brings to these lyrics!

The blog called Heirlooms Reunited is really unique and a great resource of original source information.  I have linked to a post that contains photographs of the March 1947 issue of The Choir Herald which contains brief biographical information about Rev. Henry J. Zelley, D.D. and a transcript of the pertaining paragraphs. 

According to historicalhymnals.com the song Heavenly Sunlight was first published in the 1903 hymnal called Songs of Praise and Salvation.  Now a part of the public domain, the lyrics of the hymn as as follows:

Verse 1:
Walking in sunlight, all of my journey;
Over the mountains, thro' the deep vale;
Jesus has said "I'll never forsake thee;"
Promise divine that never can fail.

Chorus:
Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
Flooding my soul with glory divine;
Hallelujah! I am rejoicing,
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine. 

Verse 2
Shadows around me, shadows above me,
Never conceal my Saviour and Guide;
He is the light, in Him is no darkness,
Ever Im walking, close to His side.

Verse 3:
In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing,
Pressing my way to mansions above;
Singing His praises, gladly I'm walking,
Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.

This morning as the opening introduction was played, I realized  that it has literally been years since I've had the chance to sing this song.  I was so blessed to get to sing it today.  As soon as the first notes were played, my mind was immediately flooded with memories of the 4-5 years that my daddy, Bob McSpadden served our little church by leading the music on Sunday mornings.  I have vivid memories not just of the time that he spent leading the songs, but also the time he spent each week, choosing the hymns.  Apparently, "Heavenly Sunlight" was one of the hymns from the 1976 Baptist Hymnal that was on the short list of "Bob's Top 10" favorite hymns to sing because we sang it ALOT! 

My dad has a simply tuneful and uncomplicated voice.  His voice is pleasant to listen to, and like everyone else, he gets better at singing the more he practices.    However, beyond his breif membership in his father's barbershop chorus that he participated in as a young man,  he doesn't have any formal musical training beyond what he learned in high school band playing the baritone.  As a baritone player he is more comfortable reading the bass clef and since at the time I was enrolled in piano lessons, he would occassionally ask me to help him figure out how a melody went which as it turned out was about all the help I could give him. 

 His time as song leader didn't last forever and there have been other avenues of service that have been a better fit for his personality and expertise.   However, God used his service as song leader during those years to teach me about faithfulness.  Week in and week out, as weeks turned to months and months to years, He served faithfully and remained steadfast.  He met the need as long as it existed.  

I've noticed that sometimes there are times in life when we get to serve the Lord according to our gifts and areas of expertise, when our training and knowledge seem especially well placed to face any eventuality.  We walk confidently into a situation as we see God's hand moving to provide at every turn.  Sometimes God even gives us and those around us the eyes to see what He is doing and someone might say as Mordecai says to Ruth about her place as queen, in Ruth 4:14, " .....And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"   Ironicaly, we are sometimes blind to HOW we were equipped and prepared until we get to view a situation in the past.  As often as not we are asked to walk with a posture of obedience despite our lack of training or skill.  It's times like these when our feeble offering of willing service gives God the opportunity to be glorified in ways that we miss out on when we only serve where we are experts.   God uses ever experience great and small, both formal and informal to equip us for the days we live and HE has a perfect plan!   Therefore we can offer ALL of ourselves as living sacrifices to him. 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.  " Romans 12:1


The overarching theme of the hymn "Heavenly Sunlight" seems to me to be that we get to walk in fellowship with the Lord for all of our days. What better provision for however we are called to serve than this?


Here is a video of this song being sung - I love it!

minutes to hours, hours to days, days to years

One Life ..... in minutes.

I've only ever fully written a song start to finish, top to bottom in one sitting once in my life.   "One Life" was a song that I wrote for the funeral of a dear friend and colleague Eva Crespo.  I wrote the song on a Tuesday afternoon in about an hour.  I wouldn't have been able to finish it at all if not for the help of my friend Pablo.  He graciously transcribed what I came up with pretty much as I was singing and playing..... since then I've become much faster at music dictation, but back then I was super slow.... He also translated the chorus into Spanish so that it would be bilingual.  The very next day we rushed over to Tallowood where Gary helped us record it in the sanctuary so that we could give Eva's daughter a copy of the song.  I then pretty much played the song constantly as many times as I could before the memorial service.... I'm a rather poor accompanist and as Pablo was on his way out of town, I either had to play it for the memorial or it wouldn't be played..... of course, ever since I've been able to play it in my sleep.

The great irony is that since it's rather hurried and thrown together inception, I've spent hours editing it  because I've used the song for several different settings and since it was my prerogative to do so, I changed the words each time to better suit the occasion.  So far, in various forms this song has been sung at a memorial service, a missions benefit concert, a GA /Acteen recognition service and at a 5th grade graduation.  Each time with verses that fit the needs of the event.   Being able to tailor songs for specific events is my absolute favorite part of writing music.


"AWAKE!".... VERY slowly! 

AWAKE! is a song that I started right after graduating college in the spring of 1999. For all this time, I've had the basic harmonic structure in place, the lyrics were fully formed and I'd even notated what I had, but it didn't feel finished.... still doesn't really....Every few months since beginning this song, I've dragged it out of my journal, tweaked this adjusted that but the song remained virtually unchanged until this summer.   This past 2011 summer I was able to come up with a contrasting B section that feels right to me and now the song feels closer to being finished than ever before.    The biggest hurdle in the way of finishing the song at a this point is that I think it needs real orchestration rather than just piano.  So now I've got find time to re-learn and learn for the first time everything I need to know in order to try orchestrating.  Guess I know what I'll be doing summer 2012!

"More Than We Ask For".... song writing is like quilting, sometimes all you need is the right  little piece to pull the whole thing together.

2007 feels like a million years ago!

Sometime after 2000 and before 2007.... (meaning that I really don't remember when)..... I wrote a verse that sat in my music journal just waiting to be musically sewn to something that would tie it together.  Then one afternoon in  2007 when I was preparing for the Coffee with a Cause concert I composed a chorus that I REALLY REALLY liked.    I pieced it together with those verses that were getting dusty in my journal, added scraps of an accompaniment from an entirely different song written in 1999 whose accompaniment I'd recently reworked and voila! In one afternoon I was able to take a song fragment and a spare accompaniment, throw in a new chorus and suddenly I had what I would consider a song with a working title called "More than we ask for" One more song was ready to be heard.  I was pleased enough to include it in the Coffee With a Cause concert.... and THEN time passed.....

Since the Coffee with a Cause concert in 2007, I've become increasingly unhappy with that "More than we ask for" song.  It seemed to me as if the ideas in the chorus didn't tie the verses together as well as I would have liked after all. Plus when I had more time to dwell with the theology of what I'd written, I didn't think that I had really said what I meant to say.  Once you've got theological issues in your songs, they unravel and fray at edges to the point that they are unusable.......

So I pondered and waited.....practicing, writing other things, studying theory, and always reading and listening to more music.

Then lo and behold, last week right in the middle of an ordinarily exhausting week of school  I was able to write new verses which make the piece more directional and cohesive.   LOVE the words...... but  NOW  that I  like the verse words so much better I find that the melody although serviceable doesn't make me as happy as the rest of the song........I don't love it.... I think I can do better.

So I'm pondering and actively waiting...... practicing, writing other things, studying theory, and always reading and listening to more music.

Sometimes it's hard to remember why I write songs. At this point in my life both because I'm so busy being a teacher, and because I've had so many recent vocal health issues, no one is actually hearing the music I write.  Especially when writing music is so laborious and often such a frustrating process.  There is always one more detail that needs attention.  Then there are the times when in weakness I begin comparing my skills to those of other musicians. Huge mistake!

It's at times like this when the Lord is faithful to give me purpose.  He is faithful to remind me of His calling on my life.  He is faithful to remind me that His calling doesn't waver in light of my circumstance..... Whether any song is ever heard, I am ALWAYS called to obedience.  So I will write.   This week, he gave me these verses to remind me of who He is and therefore who I am.

Proverbs 16: 2-4
All a person's ways seem pure to them, 
but motive are weighed by the LORD. 
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, 
and He will establish your plans
The LORD works out everything to it's proper end
even the wicked for a day of disaster. 


Colossians 3:16-18
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  

Colossians 3:22-24
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.  Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

My prayer is that I will daily remember who I serve.