Bulletin Blurb #3

for St. Jude's July 29 bulletin

How Can I Keep from Singing?
The song during the Preparation of the Gifts this weekend was written by Robert Wadsworth Lowry (1826-1899). Lowry was a 19th Century Baptist preacher who ministered at churches in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and served as chancellor of the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell University).
He wrote hundreds of Gospel hymns, including “How Can I Keep from Singing” and “Shall We Gather at the River”. Ironically, he’s still renowned today for his music, though he would have preferred to be remembered as a preacher, having once said, “Music, with me has been a side issue... I would rather preach a gospel sermon to an appreciative audience than write a hymn. I have always looked upon myself as a preacher and felt a sort of depreciation when I began to be known more as a composer."

Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadsworth_Lowry