Lina Sandell: Children of the Heavenly Father

Tryggare kan ingen vara,
Än Guds lilla barnaskara,
Stjärnan ej på himlafästet,
Fågeln ej i kända nästet.

Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.

To hear this, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h06eJrZrdHs

Famous Minnesotan Garrison Keillor has written "I once sang the bass line of Children of the Heavenly Father in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us, partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices."

Lina Sandell wrote this cherished Lutheran hymn under the oak tree in the backyard of her father's parsonage. She used the passage from 1 John 3:1 “Great is the love the Father has lavished on us…children of God.” She was born a Swedish Lutheran pastor's daughter at Fröderyd, Småland, Sweden in 1832, and is known as the Fanny Crosby of Sweden. Lina endured many setbacks and tragedies, but relied on her Lutheran faith and trust in God to carry her through the midst of darkness. She had health problems with paralysis as a child and at age 26, she witnessed her father's drowning when he fell off a boat on Lake Vättern. After she married Carl Berg, a wealthy Stockholm merchant, she lost her only child in childbirth.

Writing hymns was therapy for Sandell to mend her broken heart, as she found great joy in expressing her child-like trust in God to reach others. Her friend, Oskar Ahnfelt, was a musician, and supplied many songs to her texts. He sang Lina's hymns into the cold heart of the King of Sweden, who had tossed him into jail for singing pietistic hymns publicly outside the state-run Lutheran churches. Moved to tears after hearing Ahnfelt perform a Sandell hymn while on trial, the King released him and told him to sing wherever he wanted! Ahnfelt also sang them into the hearts of the Scandinavian people with his 10-string guitar.

Famous concert vocalist Jenny Lind was also inspired by these hymns, and she sang them all over the world. Sandell wrote over 650 hymn texts before she died in 1903 to which many English translations were given over the years in the Lutheran, Swedish Baptist and Ev. Covenant Church hymnals. Her other well-known hymns are Day by Day (ELW 790) and Thy Holy Wings (ELW 613), The Numberless Gifts of God’s Mercies (ELW 683) however, it is Children of the Heavenly Father (ELW 781) that is the most loved.

The original was translated as More Secure Is No One Ever, which means Trygarre Kan Ingen Vara in Svenska. However, the current translation by Augustana pastor Ernst Olson in 1925 was reworked from the beautiful lines in the texts to come up with what we love now. The tune is said to be of a Swedish folksong and is sung at funerals, healing services, weddings, baptisms and during the church year. Out of all the Lutheran hymns in our tradition, this one can make the most stoic, coldest Lutheran melt inside and weep right in church—including tough Viking men! The hymn touches the heart with gold with the promise and truth that God loves all his children and will never forsake us. If ever you are going through sorrow, doubting God, or on a bumpy road, look up this hymn and sing it, as it will bring great comfort to you with God’s love. Such is the love of God to us–guaranteed unconditionally!