Williamsport, Pennsylvania is home to the Little League World Series, but also the birthplace of several hymns including We Three Kings of Orient Are (the Christmas Classic) and When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder!

Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series. However, in addition to baseball, it’s also home to several of the hymns in our hymnals. I’m Randy Mouchard, and it’s raining today here in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. But we’re at Christ Episcopal Church. John Henry Hopkins was the pastor here in 1854, and he wrote the Christmas carol, We Three Kings.

Now, we don’t know how many magi there were, but we know there were three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Frankincense was a type of incense, gold obviously a gift for a king, and myrrh was an interesting gift. In this song, the three stanzas were meant to be sung by the three different Magi. Traditionally, Balthazar, Jasper, Tom, and Melchior. However, these three gifts showed the three aspects of the Messiah. Gold. He would be a king. Frankincense. He was to be worshipped as God. and myrrh. He would be our sacrifice and would be crucified for us.

It was on this spot that this song was written. You see, the pastor here worked at a nearby college. It was the year of Dickens, and they were getting ready to do a Christmas pageant, and they needed a song. And so the pastor here, John Henry Hopkins, wrote We Three Kings of Orient Dollar, bearing gifts to traverse the fog. Thanks for joining us for Our Christian Heritage. It’s raining here in Williamsport, but we’re at the grave of James Black. He was a hymn writer.

He wrote many songs, but the most famous one was about a girl in the Sunday school class. You see, she had been faithful in Sunday school, but was absent this day. And later, she went on to die shortly after. He was meditating on that, because he had been taking the Sunday school role, and she was missing. However, she knew that. He knew that she was present for the heavenly role.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, when the morning breaks eternal, bright, and fair, and the saved of earth shall gather over on that other shore, when the role is called up yonder, I’ll be there. Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun. Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care. When our work on earth is over and our time on earth is done, when the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. The assurance that we have of heaven is so beautifully recorded in this song, and the encouragement not to quit. James Black lived from 1856 to 1938. Buried next to his wife, Lucy Levon, here in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.