My mother played the organ in our little chapel-like church in Freeman, Ontario (now Burlington). It was a Hammond Spinet model with many stops but only half a pedal-board. I was taken to church in infancy and only left that place of regular Sunday worship, instruction and refuge in my later teens.

We had the ‘Gospel Hour’ every Sunday evening, starting with a rousing ‘hymn sing’ at 6:50 pm. My father often led it, or another cousin or relative did, in this tiny, family-run, Jesus-loving faith-community.

We sang from Ira D. Sankey’s ‘Sacred Songs and Solos’ hymnbook. It had two thousand hymns and gospel songs and I still remember many of the page numbers and the words – not only of first stanzas, but also of verses three and four, in many instances. I find myself humming or singing songs and words now, that I have not sung in a congregation for over fifty years. They come to heart and mind unannounced and they remain precious, faith-building and life-giving to me.

This is one such hymn whose memory is often evoked by the end of day, by a bright, beautiful sunset. I love the hope it expresses and the delight that world-wide, whether it's day or night, Good News is being shown and told – the Gospel of God’s love and grace.

^{The hymn written by John Ellerton (b 1826) is now Public Domain.}