Pass It On
Backgrounder: Kurt Kaiser was
born in 1934 in Chicago. While
known primarily for his youth
musicals, Kaiser has composed
more than 60 hymn texts & tunes,
the most famous is “Pass It On.”
Kaiser provided the background
to the hymnal song: In 1969,
I collaborated on a musical, Tell
It Like It Is. It was written to get
young people involved in Church.
On a Sunday night I was sitting
in by the fireplace where there
were remnants of a fire, and it
occurred to me that it only takes
a spark to get a fire going . . .
and the rest came very quickly.
My wife suggested that I should
say something about shouting
it from mountain tops, and that
ended up in the third verse.
Pass It On gained traction in
congregational circles when it
appeared in Hymns for the Living
Church (1974). Since then, the song
has appeared in about 10 hymnals.
Continue reading “Prayer Thot for the Day (Nov 7)”