We have seen and do testify

that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

God abides in those who confess

that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God,

and God abides in them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

the Jesus we remember tonight is the Savior of the world.

In Christ we are forgiven.

And through him God abides with even us.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

—based on 1 John 4:14-16, NRSV

The story goes that the tune LOVE UNKNOWN was composed quickly during a lunch with Geoffrey Shaw, who requested a “lovely tune” for the hymn text “My Song Is Love Unknown” by Samuel Crossman, and John Ireland scribbled this tune on the menu. Shaw included that combination in The Public School Hymnal of 1919. That same combination has been found in several hymnals since, though the Crossman text has also often been set to the tune RHOSYMEDRE.  

Already in the 1970s Erik Routley considered Fred Pratt Green (b. Roby, Lancashire, England, September 2, 1903; d. October 22, 2000) to be the most important British hymn writer since Charles Wesley, and most commentators regard Green as the leader of the British "hymn explosion." Green was educated at Didsbury Theological College, Manchester, England, and in 1928 began forty years of ministry in the Methodist Church, serving churches mainly in the Yorkshire and London areas. A playwright and poet, he published his works in numerous periodicals. His poetry was also published collectively in three volumes, including The Skating Parson (1963) and The Old Couple (1976). Though he had written a few hymns earlier, Green started writing prolifically after 1966, when he joined a committee to prepare the Methodist hymnal supplement Hymns and Songs (1969) and was asked to submit hymn texts for subjects that were not well represented. His hymn texts, numbering over three hundred, have appeared in most recent hymnals and supplements and have been collected in 26 Hymns (1971), The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green (1982), and Later Hymns and Ballads (1989). In 1982, Green was honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

John Ireland (1979-1962) studied at Durham University in England and became a church organist, choirmaster, editor, and lecturer, eventually teaching at the Royal College of Church Music. He was a gifted composer of music for voice, piano, organ, chamber music, and orchestra that were recognized for their excellence during his lifetime; LOVE UNKNOWN was his only hymn tune, found today in numerous hymnals.