Hymn of the month:

The children in our day school learn a special hymn or song of the month as part of their worship and religion class experience.  For the month of March, they will be learning “There Is a Green Hill Far Away,” written by Cecil Humphries.  

As a small girl, Cecil Frances Humphries (1818-1895) wrote poetry in her school's journal. In 1850 she married Rev. William Alexander, who later became the Anglican primate (chief bishop) of Ireland. She showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf. Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a "Christian Year" for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and prayer, writing in simple language for children. Her more than four hundred hymn texts were published in Verses from the Holy Scripture (1846), Hymns for Little Children (1848), and Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858).   

                                                                                                                                                      From Hymnary.com

1. There is a green hill far away,
   outside a city wall,
   where the dear Lord was crucified,
   who died to save us all.

1. We may not know, we cannot tell
   what pains He had to bear,
   but we believe it was for us
   He hung and suffered there.

1. He died that we might be forgiv'n,
   He died to make us good,
   that we might go at last to heav'n,
   saved by His precious blood.

1. There was no other good enough
   to pay the price of sin;
   He only could unlock the gate
   of heav'n, and let us in.

5    O dearly, dearly has He loved,
and we must love Him too,
and trust in His redeeming blood,
and try His works to do.