LYRICS

1. God loves you and I love you,  And that’s the way it should be.
For God loves you and I love you,  And that’s the way it should be.

2. You may be very sad,  I may be very sad,  But that’s not the way it should be.
For God loves you and I love you,  And that’s the way it should be.
(Repeat song)

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Shall We Gather at the River
(1864)

Hymn Background:

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Revelation 22:1

Often called the “Good Doctor”, Robert Lowery was a cheerful man with a big beard and a quick mind. He pastored Baptist churches in the Eastern U.S. during  the mid-1800s. One friend said, “Very few men had greater ability in painting pictures from imagination. He could thrill an audience with his vivid descriptions, inspiring them with the same thoughts that inspired him.”

But he is best remembered for his hymns. Even in childhood he had composed tunes, and as he became acquainted with leaders in America hymnology–many of them based in New York–he realized he could reach more people through his songs than through his sermons.   

He set many of Fanny Crosby’s hymns to music, including the classic, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.”  And he wrote both words and music to the popular gospel song: “What can wash away my sins? / Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

The doctor’s best known hymn is “Shall We Gather at the River?” Though often used at baptisms, it’s actually a song about heaven. It came to Lowry on a mid-summer’s day in New York, when, in the sweltering heat, he began musing about the cool, crystal river that flows through the city of God as described in Revelation 22.

“One afternoon in July, 1864, when I was pastor at Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, the weather was oppressively hot, and I was lying on a lounge in a state of physical exhaustion. I felt almost incapable of bodily exertion, and my imagination began to take wings.  Visions of the future passed before me with startling vividness. The imagery of the apocalypse took the form of a tableau. Brightest of all were the throne, the heavenly river, and the gathering of the saints. My soul seemed to take new life from that celestial outlook. I began to wonder why the hymn writers had said so much about the “river of death” and so little about the “pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” As I mused, the words  began to construct themselves. They came first as a question of Christian inquiry, “Shall we gather?” Then they broke out in a chorus, “Yes, we’ll gather.” On this question and answer the hymn and the music developed itself.”

Shall We Gather at the River
LYRICS:

1. Shall we gather at the river, where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God?

Refrain:
Yes, we’ll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river.
Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.

2. On the margin of the river, washing up its silver spray;
We will walk and worship ever all the happy golden days.

Refrain

4. Soon we’ll reach the shining river, soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace.

Refrain

Fill My Cup Lord