He was
over halfway there, and what he said in 1936 may have been something he shared
with his partner. John Melvin Henson most likely was somewhere in northern Georgia
(perhaps near or in Gordon County, where he was born) when he penned the words “I’ll
Live in Glory”, a belief he and his partner Homer Morris must have shared and
then co-published as a song they thought would resonate with other believers. The
49-year old John had been engaged in music-writing, teaching, and publishing
for many years when he wrote these words and music, one of the few hundred
songs attributed to him over his 84 years on earth. His thoughts suggest he was
an energetic, eager, life-loving servant, but also one who wasn’t afraid to
ponder his mortality and what life’s end would mean. In fact, one might surmise
that such thoughts were probably what galvanized his being, his purpose for
living.
John
Henson had been an avid music professional in various forums for at least 25
years by the time he wrote “I’ll Live in Glory”. In his early 20s, he started
teaching others to sing and later formed the music publishing enterprise,
Morris-Henson Company, with his friend Homer. Additionally, John was routinely
writing poems and sometimes the music, too, for new hymns like “I’ll Live…”. He
had much over which he could reminisce in 1936, so was he pondering how things
were going as he penned the first few words of his poem? He apparently enjoyed
life enough to want to stick around for a while, even if it had “…uneven ways”
(v.1), an intriguing reflection for someone in the midst of America’s Great
Depression. How was the Morris-Henson Company faring during this economic
upheaval? John makes no further asides to earthly life, except to say he wanted
to be useful in God’s kingdom – “…be of service along this pilgrim way…” (v. 2).
Looking forward to an unfathomably better existence would not have been unusual
for anyone during the mid-1930s, so John’s enthusiasm for the ‘glory by and by’
refrain he employs is rational. (He uses this phrase at the end of each verse,
as well as twice in the refrain that’s sung three times.) Who wouldn’t look
forward to ‘glory’ when circumstances, for himself or others he could observe, had
become depraved by comparison? This simple thought was one John must have
reasoned others about him would sing with gusto. It might be more common among
the elderly, whose health more likely makes life difficult or even grim, but the
daily drudgery can afflict people of all ages. Henson’s upbeat tune and verses must
have heartened more than a few who chose to look forward and upward as he did.
How soon’s
the ‘by and by’, anyway? For John Henson, it didn’t arrive for another 35
years. His song’s first few words tell us that he probably wasn’t disappointed
that ‘by and by’ didn’t arrive in 1937. At 49, one would expect he might have
thought ‘I don’t want to go just yet!’ Yet, he would have gone willingly (‘…but
if my savior calls me..’ v.1). One can imagine that John didn’t sit idly,
waiting to see what the answer was. Although what motivated him was thinking
about where he wasn’t at the moment, he didn’t waste his flesh-and-blood
moments. Draw others, the more the merrier. Make the ‘by and by’ that much sweeter,
with a multitude to join in a common hurrah. That’s the message of Revelation
(7:9; 19:1, 6). You think John Henson might have read the same thing, before he
wrote his poem?
See site here for very brief biography of the
author-composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/e/n/s/henson_jm.htm
See also here: https://hymnary.org/person/Henson_JM
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