Rev. Daniel B. Merrick, Jr., retired Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister and
hymn writer, died on November 11. He was a resident of Foxwood Springs in suburban Kansas
City, Missouri. Dan was a past officer of the St. David's Welch Society of Greater
Kansas City.
He served as editor of the 1995 Chalice Hymnal published for the Christian Church. Many
Welsh hymntunes are found among its 620 hymns. Dan was also an editor of the 1998 Worship
Leader's Companion to that hymnal. He published New Honors for His Name, 66 hymn
texts, in 2002. One of those appears below.
Born in 1926, Dan graduated from Phillips University, Tulsa OK, in 1948 and Phillips
Theological Seminar in 1954. He was honored in 1996 with Phillips' Distinguished
Alumnus Award.
He married Dagmar Gustafson in 1952. She survives him along with three children, nine
grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and a brother.
"God, We Have Wandered Far Away"
(Tune: St. Agnes) by Daniel B. Merrick, 2001
(CH 102) (CM)
God, we have wandered far away,
The world is cruel with sin.
All life looks vain and trivial,
Stark terror seems to win.
But still we come to celebrate
The day of Jesus' birth,
Midst all this deadly bitterness
And pain that's here on earth.
The gift we honor comes again,
A child of hope and joy.
He overcomes the bigot's lash,
Rebuilds what we destroy.
In years that stretch before us now
God, set our spirits free
To be your instruments of peace
And dwell in unity