Saturday, April 7, 2018

Won't It Be Wonderful There -- James Rowe


Was he in sight of the end of the terrestrial road? He’d moved in with one of his offspring in Vermont (see the area of Rutland County, on map here), typically something that an older person, including 65-year olds like James Rowe, might choose to do as they begin to think about what inevitably happens to every mortal. One can guess that James said “Won’t It Be Wonderful There” to himself and probably many others as he thought about that inevitability around 1930. Was there additional motivation for James’ mood when he penned the words of his three verses? Difficult times might befall a person, but perhaps people like James clung to the hope that light always appears after a time of darkness.

After a life of various jobs and several thousand hymns, James Rowe could have looked back upon his life with some satisfaction, with a testimony and a hope that potentially spoke keenly to others at the time. He was a native-born Englishman who had emigrated from the Old World (after working for the Irish government) to the New as a young man, and subsequently held a few jobs (as a railroad worker and Humane Society inspector in New York) before he pursued his true calling as a music publisher with three different Texas and Tennessee companies. By 1930 when he wrote “Won’t It Be…”, he had written the vast majority of the 9,000-plus hymn poems that would be attributed to him at the conclusion of his life. His daughter’s home in the small town of Wells, Vermont provided the background for his calling by that time, one to which he was well-suited – writing verses for greeting cards. Writing was instinctive for this 65-year old, and perhaps one or more of the cards he helped adorn with kind words were similar to the verses of “Won’t It Be…”, conceived in hope and trust. Since it was 1930, with the economic upheaval of the Great Depression invading and upending the lives of vast numbers of people, could James’ words have been intended to provide respite for that reason? While James mentions ‘troubles and cares’ (v.1), a ‘tempest’ (v.3), and ‘burdens’ (chorus), these are overcome by the nature of the home he expected to inhabit. A place he called ‘glory land’ and ‘wonderful’ would be quite a scene, with Christ centrally located and the source of all delight. No darkness inhabits heaven, just light, to which ancient believers like Peter says we are called (1 Peter 2:9), echoing others like the prophets (Isaiah 9:1-2).

The year 1930 passed, as James must have believed would indeed come true. Nevertheless, that year inaugurated a period that was one of the more notably dark eras in history, making light that much more precious. James Rowe died just three years later, at age 68, though he witnessed the mounting tempest in the U.S. as his next life dawned. Will the world be any different when you or I prepare to cross over? Dark corners, or maybe even entire neighborhoods, might try to haunt you and me. Just keep the light in sight, you can hear James recommend.      

Short biography of the composer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/r/o/w/rowe_j.htm

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