No Tears in Heaven -- Robert Sterling Arnold

Take a look at this picture. Looks rather ordinary, right? Small-town, anywhere, America, though this one happens to be Coleman, Texas in 2009. It’s just about right in the center of that great state, and home of one Robert Sterling Arnold, the writer of “No Tears in Heaven” in the year 1935. Like the geographic position of his hometown, Robert’s words in ‘No Tears…’ are central to the faith that he must have adopted pretty early in his life from a family of like believers deep in the heart of what’s known as ‘the bible-belt’. His sentiments in the song have an upbeat quality, though one might be surprised to discover that this buoyant message is peppered with the word ‘no’. In this case, negativity is stood on its head. Isn’t that kind of how we feel our Creator behaves when mortal life is done – He outwits death for us!

Robert Arnold’s upbringing may have been small-town style, but what he would ultimately do with the music to which he attached himself would broaden his horizons, while coaxing others who’d sing his music to think even bigger. Robert was singing by the time he was a teenager, following lots of education at singing schools at the hands of multiple teachers. Part of his musical ability may also have been more or less familial, including via one cousin (Eddie Arnold, a well-known country-western music artist) with whom he shared the same last name. Robert was soon doing radio shows and involving himself in the publishing business, too. Writing at least a handful of hymns was just part of the terrain that Robert’s vocation and his faith directed him to walk. By the time he was 30 years old, Robert had married (Cora) someone who also loved music, and so she may have played a role in what he wrote just a few years after their union. The Arnolds were indeed a twosome that owned and operated the National Music Company and published various musical products throughout several decades of the 20^th Century. Robert would eventually be inducted into the Texas and Southern Gospel Music Halls of Fame in 1985 and 2005, respectively. Quite an honor for a kid from Coleman, huh? Perhaps Robert would have just thought that was icing, compared to the life he lived, doing what he obviously loved and pointing others upward. No tears, no sorrow, no sadness, (no) pain, and no pondering (or even brooding over) one’s life…that’s what gave Robert reason to write and celebrate about what lay ahead.   

Robert’s life sounds like a full one, even if he thought an eternity without some things was something to celebrate. Perhaps he’d had his share of some unhappy moments, pain (either physical or emotional), or some regrets. It’s not unusual for anyone to wish for those facets of mortal life to vanish for good in the afterlife. Even God Himself experienced them while here, and tells us his abode up there will be different (Revelation 21:4), as He concludes his written, revelatory letter to us. Robert Arnold is just reminding us that that guarantee still holds.  

A brief biography of the composer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/r/n/arnold_rs.htm

See here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sterling_Arnold

Biographical information on the composer also obtained from the book “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, 1980.

Mansion Over the Hilltop -- Ira F. Stanphill

A little poverty-stricken girl and a businessman, probably unaware that their chance encounter would motivate a songwriter, met in a rural area near Dallas, and that’s where this multi-pronged story began to take shape. Their names remain unrecorded, but what they said was unforgettable to Ira Stanphill’s ears, as he thought one morning about a “Mansion Over the Hilltop” that the child and the businessman had mentioned on two different levels. That this song’s genesis involved three different people, each from a different circumstance, illustrates yet again how much like a fingerprint a song can be. A songwriter like Ira may often hear a story that captures his imagination, but the path each song travels is unique, allowing us as to appreciate that each one is special, with twists and turns not unlike the loops, whorls, and arches (forensic terms in the science of fingerprint analysis) that whet the appetite of a musical detective. Yum!

The circumstances that coalesced one evening when Ira Stanphill attended a revival are the fingerprint of ‘Mansion Over a Hilltop’. Ira was in his early 30s in 1945 when he was doing what a preacher, musician, and songwriter in the Gospel genre like himself would consider normal: He was attending a conference that he probably expected would stimulate his passion, and hopefully that of many others, for God. A businessman who’d had a rough time, but who’d also had an epiphany, was speaking. Business had been bad, and this struggling entrepreneur had sought some relief in a drive through a rural area. He found more than he’d thought he would, and unexpectedly from a small child, too. Her appearance perhaps reminded him of his own situation – a poor waif, with a broken doll, standing next to a ramshackle house she called home. Yet, she smiled. Why? Because she had hope, with her father building a brand-new home not far away, over the nearby hill. What a gift hope is, the downtrodden man thought, not just for what we might attain in this world to overcome destitution, but especially how this world’s cruelties will be overcome by what awaits the believer in the afterlife. ‘My mansion is secure’, the businessman reassured himself when he thought of his future with God. That spoke to Ira similarly, and after sleeping on the message he’d heard, he quickly wrote “Mansion Over the Hilltop”.

From a little girl’s hopeful answer, through one discouraged adult’s heart, and into the soul of a poet-songwriter who could put a musical exclamation mark at the conclusion of this episode, this account reiterates for us that He’s at work. Is it just coincidental how things happen for good, even in difficult times? The businessman noted as he related his story to Ira and the assembled crowd, that his heart was pierced by the unsuspecting girl’s hope-filled words. Could that, in fact, be God nudging you and me, as if to say ‘I’m here…and I haven’t forgotten you’? I’ve had at least one life episode in which I thought I felt that nudge. Coincidentally, the first one that I remember, like the businessman’s situation, involved my professional/vocational life. ‘Will I be a failure?’, I remember calling out to Him in my angst one day. He answered ‘No, you won’t be’, not too soon thereafter, and I skipped like a deer, rejoicing that He’d touched me that way. I’ve never forgot that He sent me on my way, to live my vocational dream, and to experience life in a kind of mansion for the last three decades. You and I just need to remember that another hilltop’s view will reveal an altogether different edifice – words cannot do it justice. Climb that hill!      

The primary source for the story on this song is the book Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns, by Lindsay Terry, Baker Book House, 1990. Also, see The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

Hark! 'Tis the Shepherd's Voice -- Alexcenah Thomas

She was a teacher and must have felt she had some students that were like wandering sheep. Could it be that this 28-year old educator may have coaxed friends and other acquaintances to help redirect her students with the words “Hark! ‘Tis the Shepherd’s Voice I Hear”? Alexcenah Thomas  evidently taught or administered the education of youngsters in many places by the beginning of the 20^th Century, but seemed aware many years before then that waywardness was something she wanted to address. Not much else is known of Alexcenah, though she left some hymn poems, of which “Hark…” (also known as “Bring Them In”) is the most well-known. She also collaborated with a musical composer, William Ogden, who was a noted producer of children’s music. That common theme of children between Ogden and Thomas must have played a pivotal role in their partnership on ‘Hark…’.

Alexcenah Thomas was in various places over the last few decades of the 19^th Century when she pursued her career in children’s education, paired with writing a few dozen hymn poems. Though it is unknown where the paths of Alexcenah Thomas and William Ogden intersected, most likely it was their mutual Christian outlook and interest in musical endeavors that compelled their meeting. Alexcenah evidently was from Philadelphia and was educated in Chicago, followed by various stints as a teacher or principal in central Pennsylvania, Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, and New York. Meanwhile, Ogden was reportedly in Ohio and various other places to pursue his passion to educate children musically. It was the year 1885 when the two cooperated to produce “Hark…”. Alexcenah’s poetry doesn’t explicitly mention children, but adults in God’s world would be children too, so her address to an audience to search for sheep and assist the ‘Shepherd’ could have been intended for either kids or grownups. We might presume that since Ogden worked with Thomas to write the music for the song, that he felt it was useful for the younger generation. Had they both experienced errant children in their professional endeavors, and thereby found a mutually resonant issue they wanted to emphasize? It would be hard to imagine individuals so deeply engaged in the lives of children who had not had some heartaches. Personal anguish is frequently a motivator for music and poetry, as the creators seek out some therapeutic salve to ease pain. Just consider William’s and Alexcenah’s ancestor, the great Psalmist David. He wrote to express his inner struggle. Did it help?

David’s words, and Alexcenah’s words many centuries later say something that doesn’t wear out or grow old. We contact each other, an unavoidable fact of being born. And, along the way I choose to walk, I either move toward or away from others. It can happen quickly. Or, more often, I can drift, bit by bit. Perhaps that was what Alexcenah saw – people she could sense were drifting away, unable to bring themselves to reverse course. Do those people want to be drifters? Or, do they just want a hand to reach out? What’s the Shepherd telling you?

The following website has a soundtrack for the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/r/i/bringthe.htm

See more information on the song discussed above in Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.

See biography of hymn poetess here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/h/o/m/thomas_a.htm

See biography of her musical collaborator-composer here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/o/g/d/ogden_wa.htm