What a Friend We Have in Jesus - Another Season's Promise

Farnum Family

A traditional hymn written by Joseph Scriven, a transplanted Irishman in Canada.

Scriven received word that his mother had become very ill. Because of his vow of poverty, Joseph did not have the money to go home to help care for her. Heartsick, and feeling a need to reach out to her, he wrote a comforting letter, enclosing the words of his newly

A traditional hymn written by Joseph Scriven, a transplanted Irishman in Canada.

Scriven received word that his mother had become very ill. Because of his vow of poverty, Joseph did not have the money to go home to help care for her. Heartsick, and feeling a need to reach out to her, he wrote a comforting letter, enclosing the words of his newly written poem, with the prayer that these brief lines would remind her of a never failing friend she had in Jesus.

Sometime later when Joseph Scriven himself became ill, a friend who came to call on him happened to see a copy of words scribbled on a scratch piece of paper near his bed. After reading the scribbled words the friend asked, “Who wrote these beautiful words?” Scriven’s reply: “The Lord and I did it between us.”

For the rest of the moving story, see: https://centerbarnsteadcc.org/the-story-behind-what-a-friend-we-have-in-jesus/

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