ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9607010003
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
They were people who had lost children at sea, who had gone from being perfectly healthy to being bedridden, and who had their faith tested amid the tragedy inflicted by deadly epidemics and wars.
Yet they would go on to write some of the most inspirational Christian hymns - songs such as ``Just As I Am,'' ``What a Friend We Have in Jesus'' and ``I Love To Tell the Story.''
For author Henry Gariepy, who researched stories behind popular hymns that originated during times of trial for their composers, the experience kept bringing to mind the observation of theologian C.S. Lewis: God whispers when all is well; God speaks with a microphone when people are in trouble.
``There is a dominant note of hope that resonates through these songs,'' said Gariepy, literary consultant for The Salvation Army in the U.S. ``All is not lost in the midst of our deepest despair.''
His new book - ``Songs in the Night: Inspiring Stories Behind 100 Hymns Born in Trial and Suffering,'' published by Eerdmans - takes readers from the biblical struggles of Job recounted in the traditional hymn, ``I Know That My Redeemer Liveth'' to more modern musicians such as Joni Eareckson Tada, whose ``Joni's Song'' was written after a diving accident paralyzed her.
Gariepy said he hopes the book will give contemporary churchgoers an appreciation of the faith on which the songs were created.
In story after story, Gariepy tells of songs of faith being composed in the crucible of tragedy and suffering.
In the late 19th century, Horatio Spafford lost his four daughters when their ship sank on a trans-Atlantic voyage.
Spafford took the next ship out, and when he arrived at the approximate spot where his daughters' ship had sunk, he composed ``It Is Well With My Soul.''
Retaining a sense of hope amid tragedy is a common theme of the hymns. ``In the midst of trial and suffering, when our faith is strong, the Lord does provide to us a sense of his presence,'' Gariepy said.
Thomas Dorsey, the blues entertainer who became a gospel singer, composed his most famous hymn after his wife died in childbirth and the baby died soon after. He buried his wife and son in the same casket.
In a state of despair, he began to sing the words that became ``Precious Lord, Take My Hand.''
"When darkness appears and night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand,
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home."
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB