All My Hope on God Is Founded
SDAH-005SDAH Hymn #5 — "All My Hope on God Is Founded" pairs Joachim Neander's 1680 German hymn "Meine Hoffnung stehet feste auf den lebendigen Gott" with Robert Bridges' 1899 English paraphrase, set to Herbert Howells' tune MICHAEL (1930). Bridges, then Poet Laureate of England, wrote his version for the boys of Yattendon Hymnal; Howells composed MICHAEL more than three decades later in memory of his son Michael Kendrick Howells, who died at age nine. The pairing — Neander's pietist confidence carried through Bridges' English verse, married to a tune born of personal grief — has become one of the most cherished hymns in the English-speaking church. The Twi translation appears as Hymn #5 in the Twi SDA Hymnal under the title "M'Anidaso Ny'Naa Ne Nyame."
Romans 8:24–25; Psalm 71:5; Lamentations 3:24
Romans 8:24–25 and Psalm 71:5 — the conviction that hope rests not on human achievement ("pride of man and earthly glory") but on God, who "alone calls my heart to be His own."
Howells' MICHAEL is freely flowing rather than strictly metered — let each phrase breathe at the bar lines and resist a metronomic pulse. The chromatic harmonies (particularly on "God Unknown" and "only good and only true") want a warm legato. Verse 2's "Pride of man and earthly glory" can darken slightly; verse 4's "High above all praises praising" should open up and soar.
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