Shall We Gather at the River? -- Robert Lowry

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:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/w/g/swgatriv.htm   

See link here for biography of composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lowry_(hymn_writer)