He had
what someone might say was a vision. And, there was lots of death about him
that summer of 1864, so was he getting a preview of Revelation? Robert Lowry
was a 38-year old minister who was doing what his profession required when he
felt overwhelmed, and as a result wrote a musical question,“Shall We Gather at
the River?” Was it the Jordan River, of biblical renown, that he envisioned
(and shown here)? He must have helped many grieving families cope with death at
that time in Brooklyn, New York, so he wouldn’t have been ridiculed for feeling
a bit apocalyptic. Was it just a coincidence what happened to Lowry, the confluence
of events that compelled his poetic spirit amidst the tragedy he was
witnessing? Was his God present? These and perhaps many other questions may
have occurred to this composer, and he had at least one question’s answer as he
wrote out the hymn’s words that day.
Robert
Lowry was, ironically, a composer who might have preferred to have not been,
compared to his other role as a minister. It is reported that Lowry once noted
he felt a sense of loss as he came to be more well-known for his hymns than for
his sermons. Nevertheless, he wrote some 500 texts over his lifetime, including
collaboratively with Fanny Crosby and Annie Hawks, two fellow hymnists in the
New York area. Lowry was ordained as a minister by 1854 upon his graduation
from Bucknell (central Pennsylvania), and his subsequent role in multiple
churches may in fact have played a part in what took place 10 years hence. He
was the lead pastor in two churches in the New York City area, as well as in
others in West Chester, Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. One can imagine that Robert
may have had plenty on his plate at any one time, given all these church
tentacles! Indeed, one sultry July 1864 day, Lowry was apparently very fatigued
as a result of overwhelming events related to his ministry to the people. A plague
was killing many in the region, including members of one church and a family to
whom he spoke one day. When Robert comforted them with images of Revelation and
the symbolic River of Life that the beloved apostle records in a vision, his
own words must have lingered in his thoughts later, as he lay collapsed on a
couch. It was there that the words to “Shall We Gather…” occupied his thoughts,
first as a question, and then as the answer ‘Yes…’ that he recorded in the hymn’s
refrain. It must have been exhilarating to hear the question and then the
answer in his mind’s eye as he lay, trying to physically and emotionally recover
from the day’s and the summer’s pestilential events. Maybe that episode was one
that spurred him to continue hymn-writing, seeing it as a worthy extension of
his ministry. His musical career did continue for some time, as he not only
wrote hundreds of hymns, but also co-edited dozens of songbooks in the subsequent
years.
Robert’s
experience is once again a testimony that death’s impact can nevertheless have
a silver lining for those listening to their insides. Robert apparently did not
try to avoid what he encountered. He embraced it. He must have advised and
comforted many people whose lament he heard, telling them what they needed to
hear. It’s reported that Lowry had thought about death and crossing the Jordan,
and perhaps therein lay his exhaustion, in the multitude of people he and
others thought of as lifeless. He said he’d wondered why more writers had not
focused instead on life in the crossing of Revelation’s river. The mental
anguish was real in his experience, as he asked ‘Shall we gather’ – in other
words will we all face death? But, in saying ‘Yes’, Robert was coaxing his
listeners and himself that it’s better to think about the reality of what else,
besides death, will accompany us and others in that experience. Try on a little
of Revelation. It’s more than somebody’s dream.
See information
on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns –
Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen
and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Then Sings My Soul –
150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 2003; and A Treasury of Hymn Stories – Brief Biographies of 120
Hymnwriters with Their Best Hymns, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House,
1945.
Also see this link, showing all five original verses:
See link here for biography of composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lowry_(hymn_writer)
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