Adapted from 101 Hymn Stories – Kenneth W. Osbeck
Author: C. Austin Miles 1868-1946
Composer: C. Austin Miles
And he walks with me and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.
Next to “The Old Rugged Cross”, this is one of the most popular hymns ever written. It is one of our favourites, and a favourite of our friends at Centennial Park Place. In 1912, songwriter C. Austin Miles was asked by music publisher Dr. Adam Geibel to write a hymn that would be “sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line…” Here is an adapted version of Miles’ account of how this hymn came to be written:
One day in March, 1912, I was seated in the dark room where I kept my photographic equipment and organ. I drew my Bible toward me, it opened at my favourite chapter, John 20 – that meeting between Jesus and Mary (in the garden.) As I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life, when she knelt before her Lord and cried “Rabboni!” …I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path shaded by olive branches. A woman in white…walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came to the tomb…she bent over to look in and hurried away.
John…appeared…then came Peter, who entered the tomb…followed by John. As they departed, Mary reappeared…Turning …she saw Jesus standing, so did I. I knew it was He. She knelt before Him… looking into His face, she cried “Rabboni!”
I awakened in the full light, gripping the Bible… Under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed, the poem exactly as it has since appeared. That same evening I wrote the music.