IT IS WELL LISTEN NOW
The Story and Sound of “It Is Well”
Great songs have a way of communicating the complexity of deep emotions musically and It Is Well With My Soul has stood as a standard model of this reality. For over a century, From church pews and hospital rooms, to funerals and weddings, this hymn has pointed many to the peace of Christ in the midst of suffering. But behind the timeless lyrics lives a deeply human story of loss, collaboration, and the way music gives voice to faith.
A Prosperous Life, Interrupted
Horatio Gates Spafford was a man who seemed to have it all. Born in 1828, he became a distinguished lawyer in Chicago who gained substantial wealth through investing heavily in real estate during the city’s booming developmental years. He seemed to embody the American success story, wealthy, respected, a devoted husband and father, and a committed Presbyterian layman who supported church ministries and even the evangelistic campaigns of Dwight L. Moody.
But in 1871, tragedy began to strike. His son died of scarlet fever at only 4 years old. That same year, the Great Chicago Fire devastatingly destroyed a good amount of the city including much of Spafford’s property and financial security. Even after facing all of this heartbreaking loss he and his wife chose to keep trusting God leaning into their faith.
Two years later, Spafford arranged for his family to travel to Europe for rest and to assist with Moody’s revival meetings. Business delayed his travel so his wife Anna and their four daughters–Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta–set sail ahead of him on the French steamship Ville du Havre. Midway across the Atlantic, the ship collided with another vessel and sank in twelve minutes. Anna was pulled unconscious from the wreckage, but all four daughters tragically drowned. Her telegram from Wales bore the chilling words: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
From Grief to Song
When Spafford crossed the Atlantic soon after to join Anna, the captain of his ship called him to the deck when they passed the approximate place where the Ville du Havre had gone down. There, above the waters that became his daughters’ graves, Spafford wrote the opening lines of It Is Well With My Soul.
The hymn does not shy from sorrow–its very first stanza says that “sorrows like sea billows roll”–yet it insists on peace from God being “taught.” The lyrics are not born from denial but from a profound theology of hope: that even when life collapses, the soul can be steadied by Christ’s redeeming work.
The story of Horatio Spafford echoes the ancient questions posed in the book of Job, long considered wisdom literature. Job wrestles with the raw problem of suffering–why the righteous endure pain and loss if God is good? Even today it stands as a common hurdle for those who profess Christ and those who don’t. Apologetic responses have been articulated over the years to contend with this “problem of suffering,” but I have come to find that questions like this aren’t best satisfied by intellectual exchange, but humble faith and trust in God’s sovereignty.
Spafford’s hymn stands in that same tradition, not offering neat explanations but embodying a lived wisdom that can only be forged in grief. Just as Job’s declaration, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” rises from the ashes of devastation, "It Is Well With My Soul” proclaims that peace is still possible when the soul is anchored in God’s steadfast love.
Collaboration as Sacred Work
Spafford gave the world his words, but the hymn would not have become what it is without the composer Philip Bliss. Bliss, one of the era’s great gospel composers, set Spafford’s text to music and named the tune ‘VILLE DU HAVRE’ in honor of the tragedy. His melody begins tender and contemplative before rising to a triumphant refrain–musically enacting this journey of grief to conviction.
This cooperative effort is part of what makes the hymn endure. Alone, Spafford’s words might have remained private reflections but with Bliss’ melody, they became a communal anthem the church could sing together. Hymnody at its best is born in collaboration–lyric and musical composition intertwined to carry truth across time.
Singing It Until We Believe It
Strictly speaking, “It Is Well" is considered a gospel song rather than a hymn, because of its refrain: “It is well, it is well with my soul.” Refrains are central to gospel tradition–repetition designed for participation, a way for congregations to “sing it until they believe it.” Each return to the refrain is a declaration that peace is possible, even when storms rage.
“It Is Well” Reimagined
That same duality–storm and stillness–inspired our reinterpretation with Kings Kaleidoscope. In our remix, we wanted to return to the band’s roots: a room full of friends reworking hymns together, not pieced together on screens but lived in the air of a room.
Chad sat at the reed organ and played the rising chord progression with its breathy tone being the backdrop to his patient vocal performance. JJ crafted a delicate ‘lullaby-like’ arpeggiated line on his short scale guitar using flatwound strings and baritone tuning. Zach offered piano parts that dance and respond to the space the guitar leaves, while I also attempted to add to this waltz-like feeling with slow walking bass parts. You may notice there are no drums or percussion in this arrangement so all of the rhythm truly is held down by this ‘swaying’ musical approach compositionally. The sound that resulted feels almost like the lilt of the sea itself–waves rising, rocking, subsiding.
Brian took the song to the finish line building upon the studio performance from the band at “Kamp Kaleidoscope” earlier this year. His added orchestral arrangement gives the song intense dynamic range building as the song progresses. Finally beautiful chaos is reached at the last verse which then breaks into calm sailing for the final refrain.
I feel like the band agrees that what has emerged from this rendition is not simply a modern cover, but an ode to the original spirit of the hymn: music born from loss, reshaped through community, and lifted into hope. Just as Spafford and Bliss combined words and melody to give the church a voice for sorrow and peace, our collaboration seeks to inhabit that same space–a reminder that when all else fails, the refrain still holds true: “It is well with my soul.”
-John McNeill (Bass & Theology)
DAY BY DAY LISTEN NOW
I’ve watched my close friend Zach play with his band Citizens dozens of times, but last year when they came through Seattle the song “Day By Day” stuck out, and stuck with me. He played it solo, just him and his guitar, and I was hanging on every word. I’d never seen him perform it that way, and standing in the crowd singing along I thought to myself, “This song is incredible. Kings has to play it.”
Over the last decade we’ve written many songs together, Zach playing an integral part of the Kings K lyric process. Our bands have toured with each other; we’ve been a part of the same churches, and our young families have shared precious years navigating and embracing the musician family life. Isn’t it a gift to have friends with character and passion worthy of admiration? Zach is someone who’s life practices give him a pen with something meaningful to feel and say. His writing seems to stretch out focus big ideas into simple truths.
This is a song about a big idea - sanctification. “My heart is changing day by day,” “the ghost of God sanctifies.” I’m not John (who’s an English major, the closest thing to a pastor in the band and has been writing these song essays) so I’m not going to do a theological run down of sanctification. But I will say that singing these words has helped me feel the hope I need to feel that God is at work in me. Some days that can feel reflective, and even painful. But in my current season, I feel an abundance of joy and amazement at seeing how far He’s brought me, and that’s where this re-arrangement lands. “Love, joy, peace, taking over the mess, it’s all I’m wanting DAY BY DAY.”
Chad
LAMB OF GOD LISTEN NOW
One quiet afternoon in the early 1980s, Twila Paris sat at her parents’ piano in Arkansas. She was a young 22 year old woman still learning her own voice, surrounded by a family immersed in ministry and music. It was all familiar territory–childhood home, muscle memory, the comfort of an instrument she had history with–yet something about that day felt different.
She has later described what happened that day feeling like she was “taking dictation.” The melody and words of Lamb of God began to abruptly come to her, as though someone else was writing them as she was tasked to simply hold the pen. Paris believed that this “someone else” was the Spirit of God, and the song–gentle yet declarative, brimming with biblical imagery–was a gift she was meant to pass along.
“I was so lost, I should have died,” she wrote in one verse. “But You have brought me to Your side.” The lyrics move with the simplicity and emotional precision of the great hymn writers of old. Writers like Fannie Crosby, whose 19th-century hymns (Blessed Assurance, To God Be the Glory) paired poetic commitment with unshakable doctrine. This wasn’t imitation but a song drawn from the same well.
“HYMNODY IN THE AGE OF PRAISE CHORUSES”
By the mid-1980s, Christian music was increasingly leaning into radio-ready praise choruses. This consisted of song formulas of shorter lyrical lines, repeated phrases and guitar-driven arrangements. Hymns, with their verse-by-verse theological journeys, were being quietly pushed to the margins.
Hymnody refers to the act and art of singing and composing hymns. Also known as hymnology, it has been established as the tradition of the church’s sung theology, truth wrapped in melody, designed to help “write the word on our hearts.” The usual form of hymns look to tell a story or unfold a theological idea across verses. While much praise-and-worship music can stay in a single moment of adoration and personal expression, hymns originally have sought to focus on congregational singing and liturgical contemplativeness.
Lamb of God in a way bridged the two worlds. It carried the structure and depth of a hymn (confession, proclamation, devotion), while being delivered with the intimacy and accessibility that contemporary worship has seemingly come to be identified by. The song’s timeless tone ensured it would resonate across contexts, whether in services full of choir robed ensembles or guitar led youth gatherings.
“FROM ARKANSAS TO THE WORLD”
Within a year of its 1985 release, Lamb of God reached number two on the Christian charts. But one of the most fascinating things about its success was that it began showing up in hymnals across different denominations. From Lutheran to Methodist, to Baptist and beyond, the song found broad acceptance among many Christian communities. It even crossed cultural borders, being translated into languages like Romanian. Paris has said that she has “taken more joy in hearing it sung halfway around the world” than in any industry accolade.
That reaction has informed many about her songwriting approach. Paris has over thirty number-one Christian singles, multiple Dove Awards, and a Gospel Music Hall of Fame induction, but like any serious artist she treats her most enduring works like children—given life in her care, then sent out to live their own stories.
“A SUNG CREED”
For those of us shaped by the Credo spirit–salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone–Lamb of God functions as more than a devotional ballad. It’s a creed spanning three and a half minutes, reminding us of the cross’s centricity to our faith. Jesus is the perfect Lamb that was slain allowing for the last stanza to be intimately true for us …”but You have brought me to Your side To be led by Your staff and rod and to be called a child of God.”
The verses bring the biblical narrative of the crucifixion to life. We first see this imagery in scriptures like Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” 700 years later John the Baptist’s declaration in John 1:29 announces the fulfillment of the prophet’s words and the coming of our Savior, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The refrain’s repetition,“O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God,” moves from statement to intimacy, from theology to prayer.
Four decades later, Lamb of God still stands as the rare 1980s worship song that made it into our hymnals, allowing so many of us to forget that it wasn’t written centuries before our time. Paris once reflected that when she writes a song, her hope is that it will “serve the Church” more than her career. Lamb of God seems to have done exactly that, joining the small but powerful canon of modern hymns–truths sung, remembered, and lived.
-John McNeill (Bass & Theology)
AMAZING GRACE LISTEN NOW
“A Theology oF TRANSFORMATION”
Few hymns have left as deep and lasting an impression as “Amazing Grace.” Sung in churches, at funerals, in protest marches, and across generations, its words are familiar to millions. But behind it for many it is a story of tension and paradox, a balm for the oppressed, first written by a man who once held the whip. Grace knows no bounds and John Newton was a prime example of it.
Born in London in 1725, John Newton grew up under the guidance of his devout Christian mother, Elizabeth. She introduced him to the Bible and taught him hymns from an early age, instilling in him a spiritual foundation. Yet her influence was cut short when she died of tuberculosis while Newton was still a child. Left in the care of his father, a merchant sea captain, Newton was drawn into the life of a sailor, being forced to join the Royal Navy.
He soon found himself aboard the HMS Harwich where his continued poor behavior got him into trouble. He tried deserting and was flogged and publicly demoted in front of the crew. Eventually the captain had Newton transferred to a slave ship bound for Guinea. It didn’t take long for Newton to find himself chained on the deck of this new ship as a captive with very little food. The crew on the Pegasus were also not fond of Newton and consequently he was left in West Africa in a slave trader’s possession.
His father sent for help and had him rescued only to board the Greyhound where he and the crew found themselves fighting for their lives in a storm. During this catastrophic storm Newton and the crew thought they would all die, in a moment of desperation Newton prayed to God for help. Miraculously the storm eventually stopped and they landed in Ireland where he formally dedicated himself to the Lord. Though far from an immediate transformation, it marked the start of a lifelong spiritual journey. However, the troubling backdrop and sentiments of the times showed that Newton's Christianity, like much of Europe’s at the time, had room for both Jesus and shackles.
In time, he found himself aboard ships involved in the transatlantic slave trade. Serving as a first mate and later a captain, Newton played a direct role in transporting enslaved Africans—contributing firsthand to the cruelty and dehumanization that defined the trade. Though he would later recount this time with deep regret, he continued in it for years, unaware of the full spiritual and moral cost.
By 1754, ill health brought Newton’s sailing career to an end. Encouraged by friends and mentors, he pursued ministry in the Church of England and was ordained in 1764. He became the parish priest of Olney, where he would serve for many years. It was there that he began writing hymns in collaboration with poet William Cowper. Their collection, Olney Hymns (1779), included “Amazing Grace,” originally titled “Faith’s Review and Expectation.”
Written to accompany Newton’s New Year’s Day sermon in 1773, the hymn draws on his own spiritual journey. The lyrics—“I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see”—speak to his personal experience of redemption. They also echo biblical themes of forgiveness and transformation, drawn from passages such as 1 Chronicles 17 and Ephesians 2.
In the decades following his conversion, Newton became increasingly vocal in opposing the slave trade he had once supported. In 1788, after years of silent reflection, he published Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade. In it, he described the horrors he had witnessed and expressed deep remorse for his role. “It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me,” he wrote, “that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.”
Newton’s testimony became a valuable voice in the growing British abolitionist movement. He mentored and encouraged William Wilberforce, a Member of Parliament who would become one of the leading figures in the campaign to end slavery. Newton’s firsthand account of the trade’s cruelty helped influence public opinion. In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act—abolishing the transatlantic slave trade throughout the British Empire. Newton died later that year, having witnessed the brief fruit of the cause to which he had devoted his ministry life.
“Amazing Grace” has outlived its author by centuries. Though written from one man’s personal reflection, it has resonated with communities far beyond Newton’s world. It has been sung by enslaved people in America, by Civil Rights marchers in the 1960s, and by mourners at memorials around the globe. The hymn’s message of grace, repentance, and hope continues to offer comfort and strength in times of trial.
John Newton’s life is not one of moral perfection, but of transformation. His story invites us to grapple with the tension between human failure and divine mercy. Through his words and his witness, we are reminded that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace—and that redemption, though sometimes slow, is always possible.
-John McNeill (Bass & Theology)
