New hymn, written in a small inn far from home, teaches ‘The Power of the Holy Ghost’

The new hymn “The Power of the Holy Ghost,” released in the latest batch of hymns in “Hymns for Home and Church” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began in a small inn far away from Delys Waite Snyder’s home in Salem, Utah.

In 2009, Snyder and her husband, Phil Snyder — who were both Brigham Young University professors of English at the time — visited the Cotswolds in England after a conference. Their plans to walk through the scenic hills and small villages ended when he became quite ill.

While her husband recovered, Delys Snyder sat by his bedside and read from the small Book of Mormon she had placed in her pack.

Coming to 2 Nephi 31:20, she read again “that fantastic scripture about how you must press forward,” she said, and she remembered the hymn, “Press Forward, Saints,” (“Hymns” 81) by Marvin K. Gardner and Vanja Watkins, which is based on that scripture.

Continuing to read in 2 Nephi, Snyder contemplated how the Holy Ghost enables people to press forward and endure and how “it will show unto you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:5). She was especially struck by the idea to speak “with the tongue of angels” (2 Nephi 32: 2) and thought of the angels who sang at Jesus Christ’s birth.

She couldn’t think of any hymns that teach specifically about the Holy Ghost, and, as a writer and a musician, she had often thought about writing a hymn. So in the inn in the Cotswolds, she began to write down words and phrases that had to do with the topic of the Holy Ghost, and she worked on lyrics while her husband slept.

“It might look easy, like I just sat down and wrote it. But lyrics are hard because, for one thing, it’s based on syllables. I always like to rhyme, and you have to have the same syllables in every line, in every verse,” she said.

She was looking for something that was easy to learn and had a catchy rhythm. She also wanted the hymn to have natural language from the scriptures. As she has sung in choirs over the years, she has loved singing scriptural language because as she practices, the words go deep into her heart and mind.

Snyder wrote and rewrote the words, but she was far away from any instrument to compose the music. “I was in the middle of these beautiful English villages, no piano in sight. The rhythms came to me, but it wasn’t until I came home later that I tried different melodies,” she said.

Besides England, the country of France is also a part of this hymn’s story.

Snyder had submitted “The Power of the Holy Ghost” to one of the Church’s annual music festivals. When she heard from the hymnbook committee that this song was being considered for the new global hymnbook, she was serving a mission with her husband in the France Paris Mission. She often went to the mission office to use a piano there as she worked on editing the hymn’s harmonizations and lyrics.

Later, when the hymn was published, Snyder and her husband looked right away at the French translation of her hymn.

“It’s a beautiful translation. I admire the people who are translating and keeping the artistry and the meaning but putting it in a new language,” she said.

Snyder is an organist in her ward. The Sunday after her hymn was released, her ward sang it in sacrament meeting. But earlier that same morning, she received a message from one of the missionaries she had served with in France. He sent her a picture of her hymn number, No. 1055, on the wall of his chapel in England, showing how they had sung the hymn in his ward hours ahead of her meeting — which was quite a thrill for her.

“I hope that people love to sing it,” she said.

To know that her song was selected when there were tens of thousands of submissions for the new hymnbook makes her feel humble and grateful.

“A lot of people concentrated a lot of effort to submit songs,” she said. “I appreciate all of everyone’s efforts because we’re consecrating our writing and musical talents to the Lord. And it might not turn out the same for everybody, but the effort is really heavenly. …The sign of acceptance is Heavenly Father’s gratitude to us for trying. And it’s a sacred thing to put your spiritual feelings into words for other people in an artistic way.”