Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#552

552. The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power

Text Information

• First Line: The blood that Jesus shed for me
• Title: The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power
• Author: Andraé Crouch (1962)
• Refrain First Line: It reaches to the highest mountain
• Meter: 86 10 7 with refrain
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Ephesians 1:3-14
  ;
  Ephesians 1:14
• Topic: Biblical Names & Places: Calvary; Epiphany & Ministry of Christ; Walk with God; Assurance; Atonement; Blood of Christ; Redemption; Victory
• Copyright: Text and tune © 1966, Manna Music, Inc. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission

Tune Information

• Name: THE BLOOD
• Composer: Andraé Crouch (1962)
• Meter: 86 10 7 with refrain
• Key: A♭ Major
• Copyright: Text and tune © 1966, Mana Music, Inc. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Text Information:

Scripture References:
all st. = Eph. 1:7

African American gospel musician Andraé Crouch (b. Los Angeles, CA, 1945) wrote both text and tune in 1962. An arrangement of the text by Thursten G. Frazier entitled "It Will Never Lose Its Power" was published as a choral piece that same year by the Frazier-Cleveland Company.

Like other familiar hymns about the blood of Jesus (383, "0 Sacred Head" and 384, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross") this text presents the blood of Jesus as a metaphor for Christ's atonement for our sin. That atonement gives "me strength from day to day" and "will never lose its power." Certainty about the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice (st. 1) "soothes [our] doubts and calms [our] fears" (st. 2) and helps us negotiate "the highest mountain" and "the lowest valley" in our experiences of life in Christ.

Liturgical Use:
Worship that focuses on Christ's sacrifice, atonement, and power; Lord's Supper.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Crouch's musical setting of THE BLOOD provides a skeleton script for a piano accompaniment that welcomes additional or substitute chords, arpeggios, runs, and ornaments. This hymn is appropriate for regular congregational singing, choral part singing, and/ or the use of a soloist on the stanzas. Keep the dotted rhythms crisp and sing majestically.

The African American gospel style began in the 1920s with Thomas Dorsey (PHH 493). Along with Edwin Hawkins, Jessye Dixon, James Cleveland, Dannibelle, and Curtis Burrell (to name a few), Crouch represents a more recent generation of such gospel musicians.

Andraé Crouch is a leader in contemporary gospel music. He began performing as a teen in his church, directed a choir at a Teen Challenge drug rehabilitation center, and then formed a singing group for the Church of God in Christ denomination. As a singer he has toured with his "Disciples" ensemble throughout the world for twenty-five years; his recordings have won Grammy and Dove awards. He has written more than three hundred gospel songs, many of which have become standards in gospel music. He has also written an autobiography, Through It All: A Biography (1974).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook