How Can I Keep from Singing
My life flows on in endless song
The hymn's theology is fundamentally Christological perseverance: the song that 'flows on in endless song' is not a natural optimism but a response to the living Savior ('the Lord my Savior liveth'). The second stanza's 'no storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I'm clinging' draws on Matthew 7:24-27 — the house built on rock — and 1 Corinthians 10:4 — Christ as the Rock. The final stanza's 'all things are mine since I am his' is a compressed statement of union with Christ from 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. The refrain question — 'how can I keep from singing?' — is theologically important: it frames praise not as duty but as the irresistible overflow of a life grounded in Christ.
History & Background
Robert Lowry (1826-1899) was an American Baptist minister and composer who wrote both text and tune of 'How Can I Keep from Singing' in 1868, publishing it in Bright Jewels for the Sunday School. Lowry was a prolific gospel song writer — 'Shall We Gather at the River' is also his — and this hymn exemplifies the best of the 19th-century American gospel song tradition: a personal testimony of faith maintained through suffering, expressed in memorable melodic phrases. The text draws on the theology of joy in adversity found in Philippians 4 and the Psalms of Ascent, and its central image — a song that persists above 'earth's lamentation' — connects it to the ancient tradition of heavenly music as the ground of earthly praise. The hymn gained new audiences in the 20th century through folk adaptations, including a well-known version by Pete Seeger and various Celtic arrangements, which gave it a wider secular-spiritual following. Several contemporary additions to the text were made by various hands, but Lowry's original three stanzas remain the standard. It appears in ELW and other mainline hymnals and is particularly valued for its Easter and general festal use.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 763
- Gather 4th Edition — 750
- Glory to God — 821
- Voices Together — 650
Bulletin Note
Text and tune by Robert Lowry (1826-1899), 1868. Published in Bright Jewels for the Sunday School. Also known as 'My Life Flows On.'
Preaching Connection
'How can I keep from singing?' is not a rhetorical question — it is the genuine puzzlement of a person who has discovered that faith produces a joy that circumstances cannot silence.
Themes
joy perseverance peace of Christ song Easter ordinary time gospel song testimony