New Psalm-inspired hymn “Lord, this is a good day” – Church News

When J. Frederick Volos, Jr. and his wife, Vicki Volos, married in 1976, they received as a wedding gift a hand-stitched sampler with the words, “This is the day the Lord has appointed; we will rejoice and rejoice” (Psalm 118:24).

Decades later, those words inspired Volos to write the lyrics and music for the hymn “Lord, It’s a Good Day,” now included in the new global hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I think this hymn invites us to see what the poet Robinson Jeffers called God’s ‘tremendous tenderness,’ to marvel at the miracle of creation, and sometimes to just rest and do nothing,” Volos told Church News.

The text is about joy and gratitude and is explained in the chapter on this hymn in the Gospel Library. Mr. Voros said another influence was Eleanor Fargeon’s 1931 hymn “The Morning Was Broken,” which was popularized by Cat Stevens in the 1970s.

The idea is that “every day is a new creation of God,” Volos said.

Listen to this hymn here.

Voros said a friend contacted him about 15 years ago and asked if he had ever written lyrics for a hymn. She was musically trained and could compose music, but found “words to be difficult,” Voros said. She saw a children’s book written by Volos and thought he might be able to write the text for a hymn.

He agreed to the challenge and together they wrote some hymns. Among the verses were the words, “Lord, today is a good day.”

“But unlike others, when I was writing this song, I was like ‘hearing’ the music in my head. I sat down at the piano and played the song more or less in its current form,” Voros said.

Volos learned his love of hymns from his mother growing up in the southern United States. In the 1920s, he often heard her play the hymns she had loved as a child on the piano.

He spent his career as a lawyer and judge in Utah, including serving on the Utah Court of Appeals from 2009 to 2017. He is also a poet, hymnist, and writer and founded the Western Hymn Writers Workshop in 2013.

Voros said she didn’t start writing the hymn expecting it to be included in the church’s new hymnbook, “so I was thrilled to be chosen.” This hymn was included in the latest release of “Hymns — For Home and Church” new hymns released in September.

Music can be used to worship God both individually and as a congregation, but worship doesn’t have to be a separate experience, Volos says. “I think we encounter God everywhere there is truth, goodness, and beauty, not just in music, but in art, poetry, storytelling, dance, and acts of human kindness, mercy, and justice.”

The words of this hymn invite listeners and singers to consider God’s blessings and the wonders of the world, but also to focus on God and the eternal, and to practice peace.

One summer morning, Voros was hiking with friends in the mountains above Salt Lake City. “It was a really nice day with blue skies, a flowing stream, and colorful wildflowers,” he recalled. Members of the group began singing this hymn, and everyone joined in.

“It seemed to express what we were all feeling at that moment,” Voros said.

His friend Kathy Tibbits composed the choral arrangement of this hymn, which can be viewed on the church’s website. A few years ago, a college student choir performed her arrangement at the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

Later, he received a note from one of the singers saying that this hymn had helped him during a difficult time.

“She wrote, ‘This song is a beautiful hymn of praise, hope, and gratitude. Thank you for helping me be filled with God’s light,'” Volos said. “There is no selection, award or accolade that means more to me than this heartfelt message.”