“Good News of Salvation”
This month we continue our Hymn of the Month series in which one or more hymns drawn from collections published by The Leupold Foundation will be posted on the website for consideration by pastors and musicians who may wish to introduce the hymn to their congregations the following month, perhaps by having the choir introduce the hymn on the first Sunday of the month or season and then inviting the congregation to join with the choir in singing the hymn on each subsequent Sunday. Additional hymns will occasionally be suggested for a particular Sunday or festival in the church year; such hymns may only be appropriate on the designated day, or they might be used as a Hymn of the Month in anticipation of or in response to the particular day on the church calendar.
Hymn of the Month for September 2025 Text: “Good News of Salvation,” R. Frederick Crider, Jr., Extravagance Instead, p. 8. Tune: DANCING INSTEAD, Patrick Michaels, From Depths of Love, p. 18. Alternate Tune: GOOD NEWS, Iteke Prins, Hymns for the Faith Journey, p. 10.
Good News of Salvation by R. Frederick Crider, Jr. (b. 1941). The text focuses on sacred instrumental and vocal music, which Crider refers to as “a foretaste of heaven in churches on earth,” and would seem most appropriate for the month of September when many churches celebrate the beginning of a new program year for their various music ministries. For one-time use, the hymn might be sung to the familiar tune, ST DENIO. However, if introduced as a hymn to be sung every Sunday during the month of September, the congregation could readily learn a new tune through repetition in accordance with Crider’s declaration in Stanza 4 that “Jesus our Savior, in Spirit-led ways, will prompt us to service as new songs are raised.” Two possible new tunes composed especially for this text and published by The Leupold Foundation are DANCING INSTEAD by Patrick Michaels (b. 1954) and GOOD NEWS by Iteke Prins (b. 1937).
Frederick Crider, Jr., is a retired United Methodist pastor who holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College, United Theological Seminary, and Wesley Theological Seminary. He has long been writing occasional hymn texts for use in congregations he served, usually to accompany a certain biblical text or preaching theme. Retirement has given him more time to devote to what he believes is a “second calling.” His first collection of hymn texts Extravagance Instead was published by The Leupold Foundation in 2013. Patrick Michaels, who studied at the University of Minnesota, has served as Minister of Music for Saint James Episcopal Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 1983. The Leupold Foundation has published four of his collections of both hymn tunes and texts. Iteke Prins was born in Holland and immigrated to the United States in 1949. After achieving her career goal as a registered nurse, Prins later served as organist and music director for Blooming Grove Reformed Church in Rensselaer, New York, from 1969 until 2005. Prins has published eleven volumes of hymn tunes with The Leupold Foundation.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.