Last Sunday we sang Holy, Holy, Holy together. Here are some facts to help you appreciate the history of this time honored hymn.

1. Written for Trinity Sunday. (The first Sunday after Pentecost)
2. Uses the word Trinity in the hymn (not many songs do) a concept explicitly conveyed in scripture although the word itself is not found.
3. Written by Englishman Reginald Heber born in 1783.
4. Heber had a deep thirst for knowledge beginning early in his life and a love for prose and poetry.
5. While at Oxford he won several awards for the descriptive grandeur of his language.
6. While accomplishing much in his life died of a stroke at the early age of 43.
7. Holy, Holy, Holy was only a poem when he died. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that the familiar tune was written by John Bacchus Dykes.
8. John Bacchus Dykes was an Englishman proficient with the organ at the age of 10.
9. Dykes wrote over 300 hymn melodies including Nicaea, written specifically for Holy, Holy, Holy.
10. The word Nicaea referenced the council of Nicaea convened in 325AD where the Nicene Creed reaffirmed God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.