In November, 1873, the Spafford family was supposed to set sail for Europe with their four daughters. Horatio Spafford had to stay behind to wrap up a business crisis that arose in Chicago, but he sent his wife, Anna, ahead with the girls, intending to join them soon. Four days into their journey across the Atlantic, the Spafford’s ship collided with another vessel, ultimately killing more than two thirds of the 300 passengers on board. Nine days after the accident, survivors disembarked in Wales and Anna sent her husband a wire with the message: “Saved alone, what shall I do?” They had lost all four of their daughters to the deep.  

Horatio Spafford set sail on the next ship to meet his wife. On the journey, his ship sailed the same route his family had sailed previously. The captain let him know when they had reached the approximate location of the disaster, no doubt a trying spiritual moment. It was on this journey that Spafford wrote out his grief with the words, “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.” This is the origin of the famous text that has become a beloved hymn. 

I had never heard the story behind this hymn until last night, when Glynn Academy’s Wind Ensemble offered their fall concert, and played a piece based on this hymn arranged by David R. Holsinger. The program notes shared the story of the Spafford family. They also told another story I didn’t know about Philip Bliss, who wrote the music to accompany Spafford’s text. Bliss and Spafford were both followers of D. L. Moody, and when his friend Horatio Spafford wrote the text for It is Well With my Soul, Bliss wrote the music for it. Shortly after that, following a holiday in Pennsylvania, Philip Bliss and his wife were killed in a train accident on the trip back home to Chicago. The trestle bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio collapsed after being weakened by flood waters. Eyewitness accounts say that Philip got out of the train and went back in to free his wife. As fire broke out, he refused to leave her, and both were consumed by the blaze. The concert notes also shared (and what I’ve read elsewhere) that the last hymn Bliss was working on (discovered in his trunk when it later arrived intact in Chicago) began with the text, “I know not what awaits me, God kindly veils my eyes…”  

So much tragedy and loss surrounding one hymn, a hymn that has meant so much to so many people. It is beautiful that such a powerful proclamation of God’s love and care could be born out of the loss of loved ones, and yet, that is the power of the faith of the resurrected Jesus. It was not lost on me that we were listening to this hymn (and its backstory) on All Saints Day.  Today is All Soul’s Day, and we remember all those we love but see no longer. Our faith doesn’t take away our grief, but it does temper it. Even in the midst of loss, we know our Redeemer lives, and that we shall stand at the last with him and those we love who stand with him already.  

Life is full of tragedy and grief, and maybe it is a kindness that God veils our eyes. Would we really want to know all that was coming our way, what losses await us? It’s enough to treasure each day, cherishing the gift of time spent with those we love, and trust that God will guide us through whatever comes, together. For those of us who remember those who have gone on before today, I hope we do so with joy and thanksgiving for the blessings they still offer us for having been a part of us. I hope we also give thanks that they are with God in the places that have been prepared for them through the love of Jesus Christ. May they rest in peace and rise in glory!

You can listen to the piece the band played last night, On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, by David Holsinger HERE.  It is NOT the Glynn Academy Band, but this is what they played equally as beautifully last night.  

Tom+

O God, the Maker and Redeemer of all believers: Grant to the faithful departed the unsearchable benefits of the passion of your Son; that on the day of his appearing they may be manifested as your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Photo Credits: Ship and Trestle via Dreamstime.com subscription.