Score and Recording
Program Note and Lyrics
Written in 2014 for Bethel CRC in Waupun, WI, this setting includes two verses followed by the refrain. In the first verse, the fluid left hand accompaniment uplifts the soaring “heavenly” melody. But this accompaniment grows wilder and more chromatic to conjure up ideas from the text like “by waters calm, o’er troubled sea” from verse two and “e’en death’s cold wave” from verse four. The storm passes gently and we travel “through Jordan” on a mysterious rising Lydian scale. What follows is the emotional release of the chorus with poignant jazz-inspired harmonies that eventually lead back to the opening accompaniment.
1. He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
What e’er I do, where e’er I be,
still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
4. And when my task on earth is done,
when, by Thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.
Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
1. He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
What e’er I do, where e’er I be,
still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
4. And when my task on earth is done,
when, by Thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.
Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.