I was looking for hymns about baptism to go along with today's church calendar, and there aren't very many. The words for this hymn were written in 1969 by John B. Geyer (b. 1932). The melody was written by Charles Stanford (1852-1924) as the music for "For All the Saints." Two years later, Ralph Vaughn Williams, wrote a different, and very effective, melody for "For All the Saints," which has prevailed to this day. Stanford's music was virtually forgotten until it was matched with Geyer's words.
As we study the baptism of our Lord by John at the River Jordan, we can understand more fully our own baptism into the family of faith. Although it's probably speaking of the resurrected Christ, verse three gives a symbolic picture of Jesus being in the presence of the other two persons of the trinity at His own baptism, and our relationship with the same.
The Father's splendor clothes the Son with life.
The Spirit's power shakes the Church of God.
Baptized we live with God the Three in One.
Alleluia!
The hymn is still under copyright, but this site published the words and a simple piano version of the music for "study" purposes.
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