The Stranger of Galilee

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

In fancy I stood by the shore one day,
Of the beautiful murm’ring sea;
I saw the great crowds as they thronged the way
Of the Stranger of Galilee;
I saw how the man who was blind from birth,
In a moment was made to see;
The lame were made whole by the matchless skill
Of the Stranger of Galilee.

And I felt I could love Him forever,
So gracious and tender was He!
I claimed Him that day as my Saviour,
This Stranger of Galilee.

His look of compassion, His words of love,
They shall never forgotten be,
When sin-sick and helpless He saw me there,
This Stranger of Galilee;
He showed me His hands and His riven side,
And He whispered, “It was for thee!”
My burden fell off at the pierced feet
Of the Stranger of Galilee.

I heard Him speak peace to the angry waves
Of that turbulent, raging sea,
And lo! at His word are the waters stilled,
This Stranger of Galilee;
A peaceful, a quiet and holy calm
Now and ever abides with me;
He holdeth my life in His mighty hands,
This Stranger of Galilee.

Come, ye who are driven and tempest-tossed,
And His gracious salvation see;
He’ll quiet life’s storms with His “Peace, be still!”
This Stranger of Galilee;
He bids me to go and the story tell –
What He ever to you will be,
If only you let Him with you abide,
This Stranger of Galilee.

Oh, my friend, won’t you love Him forever?
So gracious and tender is He!
Accept Him today as your Saviour,
This Stranger of Galilee.

We have recently celebrated Easter’s wonderful news of Jesus’ resurrection. Perhaps you have read The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas, with its historical fiction account of life in the Galilee area in the days immediately following that event. Not only does it give the possible views of new Christian believers, but it also tells of their recounting of some happenings in Jesus’ life before that. The above song, like the book, or the movie based on it ,helps us visualize some occurrences which the Bible describes. Some readers of this blog will have been to Israel and seen Galilee for themselves, thus holding an even clearer vision.

Lelia Naylor Morris, the song’s author, lived in Ohio from 1862 to 1929. When her father died, her resourceful mother opened a millinery shop in McConnelsville, Ohio. Lelia married Charles H. Morris in 1881, and he composed the music for this wistful song. Lelia wrote more than 1,000 Gospel songs, though few are remembered today. Some of her final ones were written on a large blackboard because her sight had deteriorated. Did she wonder then if her sight would be restored, as Jesus did for the blind man in the first verse of her song? All these miracles are recorded in the books of the four Gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.