Drawing on centuries of hymnody, the songwriting collective asks the question: “What else could we be singing about?” ...

It frequently features on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross ... name as the soul of the old man, Gerontius, crosses the threshold of death into purgatory. The hymn is still used today ...

But we have seen a whole congregation in tears as they sang that fine old hymn, "Taking the parting hand." Who ever saw a tear start at the bidding of a choir? It was not the pathos of the poetry ...