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The Story Behind: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"
Our Head of School shared the remarkable story behind the beloved hymn, "What a Friend Have in Jesus" with the students during Opening Ceremony.
You have probably haven’t heard of Joseph M. Scriven, who was born in 1819 in Banbridge in County Down in Northern Ireland. And yet he lived a remarkable life! While he was growing up, Joseph had what looked like would be a happy, successful, but ordinary existence. Many things had gone well for him. He had grown up in a well-to-do family and had attended the best University in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin.
At the age of 25, he was in love with his fiancé, and they were to be soon married. However, the night before the wedding, she tragically drowned in a lake. Heartbroken, Joseph decided to radically change the direction of his life. He moved to Canada, which was still largely an uninhabited frontier. There he devoted his time to tutoring, teaching, and preaching. He gave all his money, time, and even the clothes off his back to help those less fortunate.
Ten years later, when Joseph was 35, he received word that his mother was very ill. In the 1830’s it took weeks to sail across the Atlantic Ocean and the trip was very expensive. So, Joseph could not go to see his mother, and she was about to pass away. Instead, he wrote her a poem that is now the hymn: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” In this poem, Joseph expresses how despite all the trials that happen to us in life, Jesus is a friend who helps us carry our burdens. The opening lines are, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.” We will sing this hymn together at the end of assembly, and you can hear the rest of the words.
While in Canada, Joseph fell in love again with another woman named Eliza Roche. Once again, he was engaged to be married. However, shortly before the marriage, Eliza got sick with pneumonia and died that winter before a wedding could take place.
Joseph knew what it was like to suffer. But instead of letting circumstances dictate his attitude towards life, Joseph looked to something beyond himself. His deep faith kept him looking upward and outwards, to a loving God and to a life of service. He spent the rest of his life helping people who were also hurting in their lives. He cut firewood for widows and gave food to those in need.
Even though Joseph had periods of deep depression, his hope and joy in Jesus never left him. His faith through trials touched thousands—not only those he had an immediate contact with, but those who were touched by his sermons, teaching, and hymns. When a neighbor asked him if was true that he composed the hymn, his reply was, “The Lord and I did it between us.”
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