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from Hymncharts arranger Don Chapman:
I’ve occasionally enjoyed rewriting the music to hymn lyrics but it wasn’t until recently when I started researching the lives of hymnwriters at Hymndex.com that I started exploring this more.
Wow – some of these stories are mind blowing! Many of our hymns have a dramatic origin behind them. I’ll get inspired and then try a rewrite. I’ve composed quite a few and will be releasing them over the coming months as I can get them recorded.
My first one is a rewrite of the classic It Is Well With My Soul. I think this is a hymn history familiar to many – Horatio Spafford wrote the lyrics at sea right over the spot where his four daughters drowned in a famous and tragic shipwreck. Only his wife, Anna, survived.
There is so much more to this story – the voice of the Lord that Anna heard after she was rescued (You are spared for a purpose, you have work to do), their pilgrimage to Jerusalem where they started the American Colony, and even their adopted son discovered a rare Biblical artifact.
My new melody is my way to pay homage to not only the hymn but to the legacy of the Spaffords (their children’s hospital in Jerusalem is still in operation to this day!) I’ve composed it specifically to fit with your modern worship sets. It follows that familiar modern worship form – minor chords, moody guitars and a triumphant bridge.
The wistful minor key opening captures an important truth: finding peace doesn’t erase our struggles. We’ve all weathered storms, yet somehow that river-like peace can still flow through our lives, attending our way forward.
Try using It Is Well (Peace Like a River) in your worship set with popular songs of a similar theme:
Blessed Be Your Name: Redman turns Spafford’s “whatever my lot” into a congregational vow: praise in bounty and in barren seasons. Like the hymn, it teaches the church to verbalize trust before feelings catch up.
In Christ Alone: Spafford’s “sin… nailed to the cross” meets Getty/Townend’s victory stanza, culminating in the same horizon: “Till He returns or calls me home.”
Living Hope: Phil Wickham zooms in on resurrection power as the ground for present peace – echoing Spafford’s assurance that Christ “regarded my helpless estate.”
Cornerstone: Hillsong’s rewrite of the 19th-century hymn “My Hope Is Built” mirrors exactly the same confidence Spafford expressed: an unshakeable anchor in Christ when “trials should come.”
Firm Foundation (He Won’t): Fresh language for Spafford’s steady peace. Where the hymn says “It is well,” this anthem says “He won’t fail,” expressing the same conviction.
Hymns are important. They teach us that Christians generations ago have faced the same trials we have with unshaken faith. My hope is that It Is Well (Peace Like a River) will help you bring one man’s testimony from over 100 years ago to a new generation of worshipers.
If you use It Is Well (Peace Like a River) in your worship I’d love to hear it! Send me a link to your livestream.
Download It Is Well (Peace Like a River)
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