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Carolina Sandell

1823 - 1903 Person Name: Carolina Sandell-Berg, 1832-1903 Author (st. 1, 3) of "Thy Holy Wings" in With One Voice Caroline W. Sandell Berg (b. Froderyd, Sweden, 1832; d. Stockholm, Sweden, 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden." "Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts. Bert Polman

Jean Janzen

b. 1933 Author of "I Cannot Dance, O Love" in Chalice Hymnal Jean Janzen was born on December 5, 1933, the seventh of Henry Peter Wiebe and Anna Schultz Wiebe's eventual eight children (Three Mennonite Poets 5). For the first five years of her life, Janzen lived in Dalmeny, Saskatchewan (A Cappella 25). In 1938, she moved to Mountain Lake, Minnesota when her schoolteacher father began his second ministry as a pastor (“Coming into Voice”). A year later, the family moved to Kansas (“Coming into Voice”). Janzen says she cannot remember when she wrote her first poem, but the first evidence of her work is a handwritten book of five poems that she made in third or fourth grade, which was saved by her mother through the family’s many moves (E-mail Interview). She had very little exposure to poetry and literature as a child, except for hymns and Bible stories. She values these elements of her childhood and “treasure[s] the artful rhythms of the King James [Bible]” (E-mail Interview). Janzen attended Meade Bible Academy, Tabor College, and Grace College (A Cappella 25). It was in college that she had her first real exposure to literature. She was “thrilled, and became a literature major.” She remembers being “enamored” with Emily Dickinson and writing papers about her whenever given the chance. However, she never considered writing poetry as a possible career (E-mail Interview). Janzen--then Jean Wiebe--married Louis Janzen, a medical student, and the couple moved to Chicago where she worked as a medical secretary while taking courses at Northwestern University (Hostetler, A Cappella 25). Janzen cites this period of her life as the beginning of her love for visual art, calling the Chicago Art Institute the “open gate” for her and her husband where they “became hooked” (Mennonite Life Interview). In 1961, they moved to Fresno, Cal., where Louis worked as a pediatrician in a private practice. Here they raised their two daughters and two sons. When her youngest child was in school, Janzen “joined a writer’s group at the encouragement of [her] husband and nephew after they read some poems [she] had written as a gift to [her] husband” (E-mail Interview). As her children became older, Janzen went back to college, earning a BA in English from Fresno Pacific College and an MA in Creative Writing and English from California State University at Fresno in 1982. There she studied with poets Peter Everwine, Philip Levine, and C.G. Hanzlicek. Janzen says that after one semester of writing poetry in college, she took the work “seriously” and “imagined the possibility of growing into a poet,” but it took her several years “to be willing to say that out loud” (E-mail Interview). Rudy Wiebe, a Mennonite novelist, served as a mentor who influenced Janzen's writing career. She received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995 (“Coming into Voice”). Janzen grew up in the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church and many of her relatives, including her father, were pastors (“Coming into Voice”). This strong connection with the church has had a significant influence on her poetry. Music has also played an important role in Janzen’s life. Her mother loved music and music was an important part of worship in her church. She learned to play the piano when she was young, later studying music in college and teaching piano for many years (“Coming into Voice”). Janzen finds harmony between the religious and artistic elements of her life, integrating them in a way that enriches both. She also uses her gifts in the church, serving as a minister of worship at the College Community Mennonite Brethren Church in Clovis, Cal., as well as writing hymn texts, which have been set to music and are included in several hymn books. Other prominent themes in her work include art, history, family, the earth, and her Russian Mennonite ancestors (“Coming into Voice”). Janzen says that “the sensual and spiritual are inevitably intertwined” (Mennonite Life Interview) and it is this element of her work that has attracted the most attention from critics and readers. She emphasizes “the presence of spirit in the flesh,” using rich description of physical objects to reveal deeper emotions and truths. Janzen has taught poetry writing at Fresno Pacific University and Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. --www.goshen.edu/mennonitepoetry/

Gary Alan Smith

b. 1946 Composer (descant) of "BRED DINA VIDA VINGAR" in The United Methodist Hymnal Music Supplement GARY ALAN SMITH (b. 1947) is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin majoring in voice and composition. He received two masters degrees in sacred music and theology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated with honors. He was just 26 years of age when Hope published his first choral work, a setting of O SACRED HEAD NOW WOUNDED. His original composition F 973 ANTIPHONAL HOSANNA is the 10th best selling choral piece in the Hope catalog. A life-long United Methodist, today G. Alan Smith is Senior Music Editor at Abingdon Press in Nashville, Tennessee. Gary has two credits in Hope's new hymnal WORSHIP & REJOICE (2001). --www.hopepublishing.com

Ernest Edwin Ryden

1886 - 1981 Translator of "Thy holy wings, dear Savior" in The Hymnal of the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of America Ernest Edwin Ryden is a distinguished Lutheran clergyman who has been a life-long student of hymns. At present he is pastor of Emanuel Lutheran Church in North Grosvenordale, Connecticut. This is the latest of a long series of services he has rendered in the Lutheran Church. For twenty-seven years he was editor of "The Lutheran Companion," the official organ of the former Augustana Lutheran Church. His contributions to hymnody were many. He was a member of the Committee which created the Augustana Hymnal of 1925 to which he contributed eight original hymns and translations. He was co-editor of the Junior Hymnal for which he wrote a number of hymns. He was secretary of the committee which prepared the Service Book and Hymnal. Here again he has contributed new hymns and translations. He is the author of two volumes, "The Story of Our Hymns," and "The Story of Christian Hymnody." In 1949 he was made a Knight of the Royal Order of the North Star by the King of Sweden for his work in the field of hymnological research. He is the author of one of the Children's Hymns published by the Hymn Society. ----Twelve New Lord’s Day Hymns, 1968. Used by permission. ============================== In 1948 [Ryden] was one of the official representatives of his Church at the constituting Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam. --Twelve New Hymns for Children, 1965. Used by permission.

Gregory J. Wismar

b. 1946 Person Name: Gregory J. Wismar, b. 1946 Alterer of "In Holy Conversation" in Lutheran Service Book

Sylvia G. Dunstan

1955 - 1993 Author of "Bless Now, O God, the Journey" in Chalice Hymnal After a brief, arduous battle with liver cancer, Canadian Sylvia Dunstan died in 1993 at the age of 38. For thirteen years, Dunstan had served the United Church of Canada as a parish minister and prison chaplain. She is remembered by those who knew her for her passion for those in need, her gift of writing, and her love of liturgy. Sing! A New Creation

Jaroslav J. Vajda

1919 - 2008 Person Name: Jaroslav Vajda Paraphraser of "I Lift My Soul to You" in Christian Worship Jaroslav J. Vajda (b. Lorain, Ohio, 1919; d. 2008) Born of Czechoslovakian parents, Vajda was educated at Concordia College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1944, he served congregations in Pennsylvania and Indiana until 1963. He was editor of the periodicals The Lutheran Beacon (1959-1963) and This Day (1963-1971) and book editor and developer for Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis from 1971 until his retirement in 1986. Working mainly with hymn texts, Vajda served on several Lutheran commissions of worship. A writer of original poetry since his teens, he was the author of They Followed the King (1965) and Follow the King (1977). His translations from Slovak include Bloody Sonnets (1950), Slovak Christmas (1960), An Anthology of Slovak Literature (1977), and contributions to the Lutheran Worship Supplement (1969) and the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978). A collection of his hymn texts, carols, and hymn translations was issued as Now the Joyful Celebration (1987); its sequel is So Much to Sing About (1991). Vajda's hymns are included in many modern hymnals, and he was honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 1988. Bert Polman

Anonymous

Person Name: Ismeretlen Translator of "Ó, Terjeszd Ki, Jézusom, Oltalmazó Szárnyad" in The Cyber Hymnal In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn's author is unknown to them, and so this artificial "person" entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to "Author Unknown" "Unknown" or "Anonymous" could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

Gracia Grindal

b. 1943 Person Name: Gracia Grindal, b. 1943 Author (st. 2) of "Thy Holy Wings" in With One Voice Gracia Grindal (b. Powers Lake, ND, 1943). Grindal was educated at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota; the University of Arkansas; and Luther-Northwestern Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, where she has served since 1984 as a professor of pastoral theology and communications. From 1968 to 1984 she was a professor of English and poet-in-residence at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Included in her publications are Sketches Against the Dark (1981), Scandinavian Folksongs (1983), Lessons in Hymnwriting (1986, 1991), We Are One in Christ: Hymns, Paraphrases, and Translations (1996), Good News of Great Joy: Advent Devotions for the Home (1994 with Karen E. Hong), Lina Sandell, the Story of Her Hymns (2001 with John Jansen), and A Revelry of Harvest: New and Selected Poems (2002). She was instrumental in producing the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and The United Methodist Hymnal (1989). Bert Polman

Lina Sandell Berg

Person Name: Lina Sandell Author of "Thy holy wings, dear Savior" in The Hymnal of the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of America See Sandell, Carolina, 1832-1903