Come, see, the winter is past

Authors:
Themes:
Scriptures:
  • 2 Samuel 23:4
  • Joel 2:21-23
Book Number:
  • 712

Come, see, the winter is past
and the rains are all over and gone;
flowers appear on the earth once again
and the season of singing is come.

O, arise and come with me;
till the day breaks
and the shadows all flee;
arise and come with me.

2. The cooing of doves is now heard in the land
and the fig tree is forming its fruit;
blossoming vines spread their fragrance abroad,
come and sit in the shade of my tree.

3. We have been placed like a seal on his heart
for his love is as strong as the grave;
it burns like a fire that cannot be quenched,
many rivers can’t wash it away.

© Grace Baptist Mission
Stephanie Monaghan

The Christian Life - Union With Christ

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Tune

The story behind the hymn

Early in 1994 Stephanie Monaghan (formerly Mason) introduced this song, leading with voice and guitar, at a music weekend at the Gaines Conference Centre near Worcester, sponsored partly by the monthly Evangelicals Now. She had recently written it in ‘longing for Jesus’ return, and to escape from this world with all its pain and trouble’, which she was then meeting particularly. It was subsequently printed in EN with the note, ‘This song, based on words from the SofS, celebrates the believer’s relationship with the Lord.’ The text certainly comes directly from Song of Songs 2:11–13,17; 4:6; 8:6–7, and is the chief user of this source among the 10 items listed in the first Scripture Index to Praise! (Full Music edn). Unlike many compositions drawing on the Song of Songs, however, these words do not of themselves offer any interpretation; their transparent simplicity, matched with the writer’s own tune WINTER IS PAST, has much to do with their effectiveness. The song has often been chosen for weddings. Present at the 1994 weekend was Christopher Idle who suggested it for the present book, the first main collection to include it and the first to publish her work—see also 740.

A look at the author

Monaghan, Stephanie

(formerly MASON), b Islington, N London 1953. Central Foundation Girls’ Grammar Sch, London EC1. Graduated BA in Theology and Religious Studies (1998); Diploma in Journalism and Combined Arts. A freelance journalist and piano teacher who also plays guitar, she is a member of the Vineyard Ch in Twickenham. Her ‘songwriting life’ began in 1983 with no.740; first publications are in Praise! but her songs have been used since the 1980s in various churches, at weddings and at the Carey Conference etc. Nos.712, 740.