Jesus said:

Come to me, all you that are weary

and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

—from Matthew 11:28-30, NRSV

Gracious God, father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give you thanks that in trouble we may turn to you. Into your strong arms we may offload our sins and griefs. They are too much for us, too heavy for us, too enduring for us. We can barely carry them to you in prayer. But you take them to make us light. Gracious God, father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give you thanks that in trouble we may turn to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Joseph M. Scriven wrote "What a Friend" to comfort his sick mother in Dublin, possibly right after the death of his second fiancée. When asked by a neighbor about his writing of the text, Scriven modestly commented, “The Lord and I did it between us.” The text was published anonymously in Horace Hastings's Social Hymns, Original and Selected (1865), but Scriven was given proper credit in Hastings's Songs of Pilgrimage (1886). Ira D. Sankey included the text, set to the familiar tune by Charles C. Converse, in his various hymnals (from 1875 on).

 

British hymnals have set Scriven's text to various tunes, including BLAENWERN (416), a fine alternate choice. The choice of BEACH SPRING represents a change from the text's traditional association in North America with CONVERSE, a tune written in 1868 for "What a Friend" by Charles C. Converse.

 

BEACH SPRING was first published in The Sacred Harp (1844) as a setting for Joseph Hart's "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched." The tune appears in The Sacred Harp (1844) with note values almost identical to those in the Psalter Hymnal but barred in duple rather than triple meter.

 

Benjamin F. White, coeditor of The Sacred Harp (1844), was listed as the composer. The tune is named after the Beach Spring Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia, where White lived. 

Joseph M. Scriven (b. Seapatrick, County Down, Ireland, 1819; d. Bewdley, Rice Lake, ON, Canada, 1886), an Irish immigrant to Canada, wrote this text near Port Hope, Ontario, in 1855. Because his life was filled with grief and trials, Scriven often needed the solace of the Lord as described in his famous hymn.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, he enrolled in a military college to prepare for an army career. However, poor health forced him to give up that ambition. Soon after came a second blow–his fiancee died in a drowning accident on the eve of their wedding in 1844. Later that year he moved to Ontario, where he taught school in Woodstock and Brantford. His plans for marriage were dashed again when his new bride-to-be died after a short illness in 1855. Following this calamity Scriven seldom had a regular income, and he was forced to live in the homes of others. He also experienced mistrust from neighbors who did not appreciate his eccentricities or his work with the underprivileged. A member of the Plymouth Brethren, he tried to live according to the Sermon on the Mount as literally as possible, giving and sharing all he had and often doing menial tasks for the poor and physically disabled. Because Scriven suffered from depression, no one knew if his death by drowning in Rice Lake was suicide or an accident.