This morning, as usual, I listened to Morning Edition on the way to work. Bob Edwards was interviewing a Norwegian singer named Sissel about the release of her first U.S. album. Sissel has sold a lot of albums in Europe, but is virtually unknown here. (Selling a lot of albums doesn’t necessarily impress me, but touring with The Chieftains does, and what I heard of her music this morning sounded pleasantly accomplished and eclectic.)

She spoke about one of the songs on her album, “Lær Meg Å Kjenne,” which is an old Norwegian hymn. Translated, the title means “Teach me to see your pathways.” The story behind the hymn is of a man coming home from a pilgrimage to find his house burned down and his family killed. He falls to his knees, and the hymn is his prayer.

Bob Edwards said, “And you sang this at a wedding?”

Sissel replied, “Well, yes—it’s a song of trust, of knowing that there’s a plan.”

From what I heard of the song, I’m with Sissel. A wedding is joyful, of course, but the joy comes from the binding of two lives together, as much to stand by each other through the hard times as to share the joys of the good times. In a ceremony that contains the words “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part,” a song like “Lær Meg Å Kjenne” has a place.

There’s an English hymn with a similar history. In 1873, Horatio G. Spafford received word that his family had been lost in a shipwreck. His response? The magnificent hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” There is certainly sadness in it, but also calm assurance, as well as triumphant joy:

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin, not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, oh, my soul!