We’re all being conditioned to faster tempos and rock-style percussion in our music. Listening to somewhat slower (and more traditional) arrangements allows the lyrics to work in your mind in a different way.
The author of this hymn, Martin Rinkart, was a Lutheran minister in Saxony during the terrible Thirty Years' War. It’s a testament to faith and gratitude which remain even after unspeakable suffering.
“Abide with me” is a great Anglican hymn written in 1847 by Henry F. Lyte. It is a comfort not only to sailors and those left at home, but to all those who - touched by the trials and difficulties common to this life - reach out to the One who has promised never to leave nor forsake His own.