From favorite verse to favorite hymn
A contributor to this column’s “Favorite Bible Verses” poll would like to see a poll on the hymns we most like to sing.
Dear Reader: Been there. Done that.
In a poll I conducted for the Columbus Citizen-Journal, readers selected “How Great Thou Art” as their favorite hymn. “Amazing Grace” was No. 2, followed by “In the Garden,” “The Old Rugged Cross” and “A Mighty Fortress.”
It was George Beverly Shea, a soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades for many years, who first popularized “How Great Thou Art.” Shea was in England for Graham’s London Crusade in 1954 when he first came upon the hymn. It had recently been translated by Stuart K. Hine, an English missionary.
Written in 1885 in Sweden by a 26-year-old preacher, Carl Boberg, under the title “O Great God,” the hymn was translated into German in 1907 and into Russian in 1912. The first English translation was done in 1925 and was titled “O Mighty God.” In 1948 Hine made his translation. That version was called “How Great Thou Art.” A copy was given to Shea in 1954 and he recorded it. The first U.S. printing was in 1955. Shea’s picture appeared on the cover of the sheet music.
Shea has been singing with Graham since 1944 and the two are great friends. But they are opposites. Graham is electric and magnetic. Shea is quiet, folksy and modest. He seems genuinely surprised when you tell him you think he is a great Gospel singer.
In his hotel room in Cleveland during the crusade there in 1972, Shea, then 63 (he is now 94) gave me a private concert. He first sang “The King is Coming,” a moving and majestic number which Shea said could become as popular as “How Great Thou Art.” Then he sang “Blue Galilee.” He told me that while in Israel in the spring of 1971, he was asked by other members of his tour party to sing this gospel song about Jesus as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a sightseeing boat. The owner of the boat liked the song so much he asked if he could have a recording of it. Shea sent him a cassette. “Since then,” said Shea, “I’ve received letters from people who tell me they were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a sightseeing boat and heard me singing ‘Blue Galilee.'”
I listened to Shea sing several other gospel songs in the hotel room. Then we sang “Amazing Grace.” Yes, “we.” Shea started out singing it alone, with instrumental accompaniment on cassette, but then I joined in. I think I even drowned him out on the last verse, “When we’ve been there 10,000 years …” The experience has gone down in my memory as “The Day I Sang ‘Amazing Grace’ with George Beverly Shea.”
Shea hardly missed a crusade until these latter years. Once though, in Boston in 1964, he missed three performances in a row. “I never had tried lobster stew before,” said Shea, “but when I had some on this particular night in Boston, I liked it so much I had several more bowls of it.
“The next morning when I woke up, my tongue was all swollen. I called my doctor in Chicago who wasn’t in. I left word for him to call me back. The funny part of the story is that I had no idea what caused my tongue to swell. So, while waiting for my doctor to return my call, I ordered a bowl of lobster stew to be brought up to my room!”
The doctor immediately diagnosed Shea’s case as allergy to lobster stew. Bev was lost to the Boston Crusade for three nights.
(George Plagenz is a syndicated columnist.)