Jesus, I Come (iTunes)
Words by William Sleeper, Music by Greg Thompson
From the album For All the Saints: Indelible Grace III (Indelible Grace Music)
William Sleeper (1819-1904) was a native New Englander, born in Danbury, New Hampshire. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, The University of Vermont, and Andover Theological Seminary. Sleeper pastored churches in Maine and Massachusetts, spending 30 years of his career at Summer Street Congregational Church in Worcester. This week's hymn, originally known by the first line, "Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night," was published in 1887. The text acknowledges the depths from which we came and looks to Jesus as the true source of "freedom, gladness, and light."
The tune we sing was written by Greg Thompson, who began his pastoral career working for Reformed University Fellowship and now serves the congregation of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, VA.
+++