Sweet, Sweet Spirit

I. Background

Born in Brookfield, Missouri, Doris Akers (1923–1995) moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1945 to pursue a career in gospel music. She initially connected with gospel pioneer Sallie Martin, joining her group in 1946, then formed the Simmons–Akers Singers with Dorothy Simmons and Hattie Hawkins in 1947. In 1957, she was invited to direct a group called the Sky Pilot Choir, which is considered to be the first interracial choir in Los Angeles. The idea for her song “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” came to her one Sunday in 1962 when she was preparing the Sky Pilot Choir for a worship service at the Sky Pilot Revival Center, 89th and Western Avenue, Los Angeles, pastored by Rev. Aubrey Lee. She later recounted her experience to historian Lindsay Terry:

One Sunday morning in 1962, Doris Akers, choir director of the Sky Pilot Church in Los Angeles, said to her choir, “You are not ready to go in.” She didn’t believe they had prayed enough! They were accustomed to spending time with her in prayer before the service, asking God to bless their songs. She had once said, “I feel that prayer is more important than great voices.” They had already prayed, but this particular morning she asked them to pray again, and they did so with renewed fervor.

As they continued to pray, Doris began to wonder how she could stop this wonderful prayer meeting. She even sent word to the pastor about what was happening. Finally, she was compelled to say to the choir, “We have to go. I hate to leave this room and I know you hate to leave, but you know we do have to go to the service. But there is such a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.” Thus was a new song born.

Doris herself explains, “Songwriters always have their ears open to a song. The song started ‘singing’ to me. I wanted to write it down but couldn’t. I thought the song would be gone after the service. Following the dismissal, I went home. The next morning, to my surprise, I heard the song again, so I went to the piano and wrote ‘There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.’”[1]

Akers continued to direct the Sky Pilot Choir until the following year, when it was taken over by Shirley Mays, and Akers became director of The Gospel Jubilee Choir in Los Angeles.

II. Publication History

“Sweet, Sweet Spirit” was first published as sheet music through her own publishing venture, Simmons and Akers Music, in 1962, set for solo voice and piano, then also licensed and sold through Manna Music, who secured the copyright (Fig. 1). The original version had three stanzas and a refrain. A copy of the Simmons and Akers edition is held in the African American Sheet Music Collection of Stuart A. Rose Library, Emory University.

The song was formally registered with the U.S. Copyright Office on 6 August 1963. The sheet music as in Figure 1 was later included in a compilation, Doris Akers Favorite Gospel Songs, Vol. 1 (Hollywood: Manna Music, 1965). Manna Music published a choral arrangement of the song in The Doris Akers Choral Series, Vol. 2 (Hollywood: Manna Music, 1967 | Fig. 2), based on her recording with the Statesmen in 1964 (see below).

A more influential choral arrangement was made by Kurt Kaiser (1934–2018) in 1965, intended for eight voice parts (SSAATTBB), unaccompanied. In this version, the song had been reduced to one stanza (the first), and the text had been altered from “and I know they feel the presence” to “and I know that it’s the presence.” Kaiser generally followed the existing chord structure (raised a whole step to A), but he did change the harmony in a few places. Kaiser’s popular arrangement is apparently why the song is sometimes described in hymnals and commentaries as dating to 1965.

The song’s first appearance in a hymnal was almost a decade later, in Hymns for the Living Church (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1974 | Fig. 4), edited by Donald Hustad. In this instance, it was presented as a unison setting with keyboard accompaniment, consisting of two stanzas and a refrain. This version retained Akers’ original wording (“and I know they feel the presence”), but the harmonization was reworked extensively. Here the tune was dubbed SWEET, SWEET SPIRIT; most hymnals have repeated this designation. Notice also how the composition was dated 1965, even though the copyright date was given as 1963.

The following year, the song appeared for the first time in a four-part hymnic harmonization, made for its inclusion in The Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1975 | Fig. 5). The editors of that hymnal called the tune MANNA, named after the publisher. The presentation of the hymn was strongly influenced by Kurt Kaiser’s arrangement, using his textual alteration, and carrying over many of his harmonic adjustments, especially at “We lift our hearts with praise; without a doubt we’ll know that we have been revived.” The hymnal’s arrangement was credited to Kaiser and dated 1965. In the Companion to Baptist Hymnal (1976), editor William J. Reynolds said of Kaiser’s version, “this has become the accepted version of the song.”[2]

Another variation of the harmonization, presumably by Fred Bock, appeared in Hymns for the Family of God (Nashville: Paragon, 1976 | Fig. 6). This has been repeated in some other hymnals, such as the United Methodist Hymnal (1989).

Akers and her song were often featured by Bill and Gloria Gaither and their publishing operations. The Gaithers included “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” in their first Homecoming Souvenir Songbook (Alexandria, IN: Gaither Music, 1993), and in Lead Me to That Rock (Nashville, TN: Genevox, 2006), and the score for Together (Hal Leonard, 2009).

IV. Analysis

The hymn gets much of its appeal from its affectual description of what some might consider to be an expression of Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” In the 1970s, music scholar Donald P. Hustad wrestled with the way Akers’ song seemed to be part of a different strain of church music than what had come before:

During the past fifteen years, our worship has experienced something of a revolution that could be called “ecstatic pietism.” . . . Pentecostals are probably the only ones who will openly admit that their musical worship tends to be suprarational and ecstatic. But much American church musical activity for the past ten years has followed that score. Wilfred Mellers of the University of York, England, suggests (in Caliban Reborn) that music can be revelation as well as expression—that it can induce an experience as well as express one. We find this in First Samuel 10, where the prophet Samuel sends the anointed king Saul on what could be called a “charismatic retreat.” . . . A minister who asks the organist to play a musical background for the call to worship uses this same approach. He thinks the music can help people feel God’s presence. . . .

Undoubtedly in many situations our worship had approached a solemnity and formality that bordered on sterility. And maybe we needed gospel rock music to shake us loose to see the value of freedom or even ecstasy. In a day when relational theology is in vogue, we should expect people to enjoy singing Doris Akers’s “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.” When psychologists are reminding us that we need to express our love physically and worship leaders urge us to clasp one another’s hands while we are praying, it is not surprising that Bill Gaither would write a song like “He Touched Me.” But where do we go from here?[3]

Hustad would go on to recommend balance:

Today’s music minister is in a position to display balance in the creative expressions of the church. . . . We need to balance our emotional songs of Christian experience with thrilling expressions of praise of the numinous God as well as stirring presentations of his truth.[4]

A. Royce Eckhardt, a teacher of hymnology at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, writing for The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (1990), also saw the hymn as being distinctly experiential, yet rooted in Scriptural concepts:

The spirit of Christian oneness and unity is not a topic for philosophical analysis, but is something that is felt and experienced. When a true spirit of unity exists among Christians, it is clearly evident to all. It is the Spirit of God who gives life (Jn. 6:63) and controls sinful natures and makes believers alive in Christ (Rom. 8:9–11). It is the Spirit who unites Christians as one. Paul instructs the church at Ephesus that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3–6). The reference to the “heavenly dove” recalls the baptism of Jesus when the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon him (Mt. 3:16).

This song may be used at the very beginning of worship to bring about a consciousness of the presence of the Spirit. It should be sung quietly with deeply-felt earnestness. Likewise, it is appropriate at the closing of worship to affirm the Spirit’s presence and activity “when we shall leave this place.”[5]

Hymnologist Carl Daw described the hymn as illustrating two aspects of the ministry of the Spirit:

The reconciling work of the Holy Spirit is essential, though often overlooked. As Acts 2:44–47a indicates, the unity of the believers after the day of Pentecost was one of the manifestations of how the Spirit was blessing the early Christian community. . . . Also significant is the phrase “the Spirit of the Lord,” which is used in [stanza 1]. Although that language appears in many places in Hebrew Scripture, one of its more significant occurrences is in Isaiah 61:1–3, which Jesus quotes in his inaugural sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18–19). So the Spirit being invoked here is both a reconciling and a commissioning Spirit.[6]

The second stanza, sometimes omitted from hymnals, reflects Akers’ Pentecostal leanings, especially in the sentence, “There are blessings you cannot receive until you know him in his fullness and believe.” Of course, all New Testament believers affirm the need to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), and similarly Paul wrote about being filled with Christ (Col. 2:10), but Pentecostals differ from other Protestants in their view of how this happens. They see evidence in the Bible for an additional filling of the Spirit after the initial indwelling of conversion. An example would be John 20:22 where Jesus appears to give the Holy Spirit to his disciples, then Acts 2 they experience a more powerful filling, and again at Acts 13:52 (“the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit,” ESV). Some editors have therefore omitted the stanza to avoid the allusion to Pentecostal theology.

The original third stanza, less commonly printed or sung, is also couched in charismatic language (“enter in,” “yielding to the Spirit”), but its biblical roots can be seen in Romans 7–8, which speaks of struggling against the flesh versus experiencing freedom in the Spirit, epitomized in 8:2 (“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death,” ESV) and 8:5 (“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit”).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
21 February 2021

Footnotes:

1. Lindsay Terry, “Not ready to go in,” Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns (1990), pp. 198–199.

2. William J. Reynolds, “There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place,” Companion to Baptist Hymnal (1976), p. 224.

3. Donald P. Hustad, “Music speaks . . . but what language?” Christianity Today (6 May 1977), pp. 16–17.

4. Donald P. Hustad, “Music speaks . . . but what language?” Christianity Today (6 May 1977), p. 18.

5. A. Royce Eckhardt, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (1990), no. 291.

6. Carl P. Daw Jr., “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit,” Glory to God: A Companion (2016), p. 415.

Related Resources:

William J. Reynolds, “There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place,” Companion to Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1976), p. 224.

Lindsay Terry, “Not ready to go in,” Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), pp. 198–199.

A. Royce Eckhardt, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 291.

Carlton R. Young, “Sweet, sweet Spirit,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), p. 612.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 415–416.

C. Michael Hawn, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” History of Hymns, United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries (27 Feb. 2014): https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-sweet-sweet-spirit

C. Michael Hawn, “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,” Sing with Understanding, 3rd ed. (Chicago: GIA, 2022), pp. 263–264.

“Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/theres_a_sweet_sweet_spirit_in_this_plac