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Author: John L. Bell, b. 1949 Meter: Irregular Appears in 3 hymnals First Line: God it was who said to Abraham Topics: Journey Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 Used With Tune: JESUS CALLS US

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JESUS CALLS US

Meter: Irregular Appears in 20 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: John L. Bell, b. 1949 Tune Sources: Gaelic Air Tune Key: F Major Incipit: 55561 12345 43216 Used With Text: God It Was

Instances

Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

God It Was

Author: John L. Bell, b. 1949 Hymnal: RitualSong #818 (1996) Meter: Irregular First Line: God it was who said to Abraham Topics: 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A; 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C; Celebration; Challenge of Gospel; Commissioning; Communion of Saints; Discipleship; Discipleship; Evangelization; Freedom; Giving; Jesus Christ; Journey; Liberation; Ministry; Mission; People of God; Praise; Prayer; Trust; Vocation; Word of God Scripture: Exodus 3:9-10 Languages: English Tune Title: JESUS CALLS US

God It Was

Author: John L. Bell, b. 1949 Hymnal: Gather Comprehensive #701 (1994) Meter: Irregular First Line: God it was who said to Abraham Topics: Journey Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 Languages: English Tune Title: JESUS CALLS US

God it was who said to Abraham

Author: John L. Bell, b. 1949; Graham Maule, b. 1958 Hymnal: Singing the Faith #464 (2011) Topics: Our Journey With God; Calling and Commissioning Scripture: Exodus 3:1-12 Languages: English Tune Title: JESUS CALL US

People

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John L. Bell

b. 1949 Person Name: John L. Bell, b. 1949 Author of "God It Was" in Gather Comprehensive John Bell (b. 1949) was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, intending to be a music teacher when he felt the call to the ministry. But in frustration with his classes, he did volunteer work in a deprived neighborhood in London for a time and also served for two years as an associate pastor at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. After graduating he worked for five years as a youth pastor for the Church of Scotland, serving a large region that included about 500 churches. He then took a similar position with the Iona Community, and with his colleague Graham Maule, began to broaden the youth ministry to focus on renewal of the church’s worship. His approach soon turned to composing songs within the identifiable traditions of hymnody that began to address concerns missing from the current Scottish hymnal: "I discovered that seldom did our hymns represent the plight of poor people to God. There was nothing that dealt with unemployment, nothing that dealt with living in a multicultural society and feeling disenfranchised. There was nothing about child abuse…,that reflected concern for the developing world, nothing that helped see ourselves as brothers and sisters to those who are suffering from poverty or persecution." [from an interview in Reformed Worship (March 1993)] That concern not only led to writing many songs, but increasingly to introducing them internationally in many conferences, while also gathering songs from around the world. He was convener for the fourth edition of the Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary (2005), a very different collection from the previous 1973 edition. His books, The Singing Thing and The Singing Thing Too, as well as the many collections of songs and worship resources produced by John Bell—some together with other members of the Iona Community’s “Wild Goose Resource Group,” —are available in North America from GIA Publications. Emily Brink