This Is the Day: History, Meaning, and Tune

"This is the day"

Written: 1967
Category: Hymn
Tune: Standard Tune, THE LORD HATH

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Story

This Is the Day is Les Garrett's 1967 Scripture chorus based on Psalm 118:24 and associated with the tune of the same name. Its antiphonal form turns a biblical proclamation of deliverance into shared congregational joy.

Overview

This Is the Day is Les Garrett's 1967 Scripture chorus based on Psalm 118:24. Its purpose is concentrated and communal: a gathered people identify God's saving day and answer with shared joy. The song's repetition turns a short biblical declaration into an immediately learnable act of worship.

The wider psalm gives the chorus more depth than a general affirmation that every calendar day is pleasant. Psalm 118 moves through distress, deliverance, thanksgiving, entry into worship, and the rejected stone's vindication. Christian hymnals therefore use the song not only in morning worship but also on Palm Sunday and Easter, when the psalm's language is heard in relation to Christ.

Everyday gratitude remains a fitting secondary application, provided it does not become pressure to deny grief. Biblical rejoicing can arise amid hardship because it responds to God's saving faithfulness, not because every circumstance feels good. The chorus works best when its exuberance is joined to Scripture, prayer, and room for the full emotional life of the congregation.

Historical Background

This Is the Day emerged from the Scripture-chorus movement that circulated through Pentecostal, charismatic, evangelical, camp, and youth worship during the 1960s and 1970s. These songs placed brief biblical passages in repetitive musical forms that could be learned without printed music. Leslie Norman Garrett, a New Zealand-born pastor and evangelist working in Australia, shared that concern for direct, participatory singing.

Hymnological sources date the song to Brisbane in 1967. A later account preserved in the companion material for Praise! says Garrett wrote it during a personally difficult period. The setting therefore did not begin merely as cheerful children's music; its joy was articulated in the midst of hardship. The precise circumstances are not documented in a contemporary diary or manuscript, so the account should not be elaborated beyond the source.

The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and the Psalter Hymnal Handbook identify Garrett's Scripture in Song, volume 1, associated with Brisbane in 1967, as the early collection. An accessible National Library of New Zealand catalog describes a different or later Scripture in Song volume compiled by David and Dale Garratt and dated about 1979, which also includes the song. Because publications with similar titles circulated in Australia and New Zealand, the 1967 composition and copyright date are firm, while the surviving publication trail is less straightforward than later summaries sometimes imply.

The song reached Britain by 1974 through Sound of Living Waters and entered North American denominational hymnals during the following decades. The original Garrett stanza is based on Psalm 118:24. Anonymous additions for Easter and Pentecost developed through oral tradition and were adopted in some hymnals, while other books retain only Garrett's original material. Those later stanzas must not be credited to him without qualification.

The tune has its own disputed history. Early sources called it a Fiji Island folk melody and described Garrett as arranger. Later licensing databases identify him as composer, and a hymnal companion reports that Garrett eventually claimed the melody. Printed forms by Roger Mayor, Christopher Norton, and other editors differ, while oral transmission has generated additional variants. The responsible credit is therefore edition-specific: historical descriptions should be preserved even when a modern licensed score names Garrett as composer.

Copyright records list an original date of 1967 and a later date of 1980; current databases identify CCLI song number 32754 and active publishing administration. The text and represented musical setting are therefore not public domain. The biblical source verse is public domain in the World English Bible, but Garrett's selection, repetition, musical form, and licensed setting remain protected, as may later stanzas, arrangements, translations, recordings, and projection files.

Biblical Foundations

Psalm 118:22-24 is the song's controlling context. The appointed day follows the rejection and vindication of the cornerstone and belongs to a psalm of deliverance and public thanksgiving. The joy is therefore grounded in God's saving action rather than in the assumption that every experience within a day will be easy.

Psalm 100:1-2 shows why a concise musical response is appropriate: the whole assembly is summoned to joyful service and singing before God. Garrett's use of a plural response preserves this corporate emphasis. The chorus is not chiefly a private affirmation but an act performed by a gathered people.

Philippians 4:4 extends the call to rejoice into Christian discipleship. Its surrounding verses connect joy with gentleness, prayer, thanksgiving, and God's peace, preventing exuberance from becoming superficial cheerfulness. Colossians 3:16-17 likewise joins congregational song, the indwelling word of Christ, daily action, and gratitude to the Father.

Revelation 1:10 contributed to the song's later association with Sunday as the Lord's Day. That connection is liturgically useful, although Psalm 118:24 itself first refers to a divinely given day of deliverance. Christian use on Easter interprets that deliverance through the resurrection of Jesus and the New Testament's application of the cornerstone image to Christ.

Verse Explanation

Garrett's original song consists of one compact stanza constructed from a single psalm verse. Its first movement announces the significance of the present worshiping moment; its second gives the congregation a shared response; and its closing return reinforces the opening declaration.

Repetition is the principal structural device. Short units are first presented separately, then gathered into longer phrases. This allows a leader and congregation, or two sides of an assembly, to alternate before joining together. The form teaches the biblical text through participation rather than extended explanation.

Some hymnals add anonymous traditional stanzas associated with Easter and Pentecost. Those additions broaden the church-year use but are historically separate from Garrett's original Psalm paraphrase. Teachers should identify which form their hymnal prints and avoid attributing all later material to Garrett.

Theological Reflection

The chorus presents joy as a response to grace. Worshipers do not manufacture a meaningful day by their optimism; they receive God's saving action and answer together. Thanksgiving is therefore both recognition and participation: the congregation names what God has done and enters the praise appropriate to it.

Its plural voice also carries an ecclesial theology. Rejoicing is shared, which allows stronger members to sing beside those who are weary and enables the church to bear hope communally. This matters pastorally because corporate praise need not require every individual to feel the same emotion at the same intensity.

Read within Psalm 118 and the church year, the song has a Christological horizon. The rejected cornerstone and the day of vindication invite Christian interpretation through Jesus' death and resurrection. Later anonymous Easter and Pentecost additions made that liturgical trajectory explicit, but the original Psalm setting already participates in the biblical pattern of rejection, deliverance, and thanksgiving.

The song should not be used as a theology of denial. God's gift of a day includes the calling to lament injustice, assist sufferers, repent, and practice mercy. Christian joy can coexist with sorrow because its foundation is God's faithfulness, not uninterrupted comfort.

Church Impact

From its Australian beginnings, the song entered British collections through Sound of Living Waters in 1974 and later appeared in a wide range of denominational hymnals. Documented examples include the Psalter Hymnal, The United Methodist Hymnal, Baptist hymnals, The New Century Hymnal, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, the A.M.E. Zion Hymnal, Church Hymnary, Singing the Faith, and newer children's and ecumenical collections.

Editors place it under opening worship, morning, praise, joy, Easter, Pentecost, the Lord's Day, and children's song. This range reflects both the original Psalm setting and the anonymous church-year additions. Its brevity also allows it to function as a greeting, procession, repeated response, or transition rather than only as a complete opening hymn.

Hymnal evidence demonstrates broad circulation across Methodist, Baptist, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, Lutheran, African American, and ecumenical settings, but it should not be described as universal. Translations and bilingual forms have extended its reach, while local melodic variants show how strongly oral performance has shaped reception. That adaptability is also why planners must distinguish Garrett's original contribution from later texts and arrangements.

Musical Notes

THIS IS THE DAY is an irregular-meter Scripture chorus built for antiphonal singing. Brief phrases can be exchanged between a leader and congregation or between two congregational groups, followed by a fuller unison statement. Its narrow units, repeated melodic material, and clear pulse make it accessible to children and to assemblies learning without notation.

The melody attribution remains unsettled. Early sources identify a Fijian folk melody arranged by Les Garrett, while current licensing records list Garrett as composer. The Church of Scotland notes that the melody may have reached Fiji through missionaries, and no securely documented traditional source has resolved the question. Credits should follow the specific authorized edition while historical notes preserve the uncertainty.

Printed versions are not musically uniform. Hymnal commentary distinguishes arrangements associated with Roger Mayor and Christopher Norton, including different starting pitches for corresponding phrases, and oral transmission has multiplied variants. Leaders should teach from one score consistently, maintain a buoyant but unhurried tempo, and make the antiphonal entrances clear. Modern harmonizations, instrumental settings, and recordings carry rights separate from the underlying attribution question.

Application

Use the song as a call to worship after reading Psalm 118:19-24 so that its joy is heard within the psalm's story of deliverance.
Let two groups sing antiphonally, emphasizing that the response belongs to the gathered community rather than to a solo performer.
Connect daily gratitude with concrete action by asking how the congregation can practice mercy, justice, and service during the coming day.
Avoid using the chorus to silence grief; pair it with lament or intercession when worshipers are carrying loss or crisis.
At Easter, explain the New Testament use of the rejected-cornerstone image rather than treating the song only as a generic morning chorus.
Verify the licensed text, tune credit, added stanzas, arrangement, translation, projection, and recording before use.

Discussion Questions

How does Psalm 118:22-24 change the meaning of the song when compared with treating it as a general statement about every morning?
Why does the plural response matter for understanding Christian worship as a communal act?
How can joy and lament coexist in the same congregation?
What historical evidence supports Garrett's authorship, and why does the melody attribution remain qualified?
How did anonymous Easter and Pentecost additions change the song's liturgical use?
When does repetition deepen participation, and when might it need stronger scriptural framing?

Teaching Tips

Read Psalm 118:19-24 before teaching the song and trace the movement from entry and thanksgiving to vindication and joy.
Explain that Les Garrett was a New Zealand-born Pentecostal or charismatic pastor working in Australia, not the British songwriter Leslie Bricusse and not a documented Methodist minister.
Teach the melody by echo before combining the short units into the complete musical statement.
Divide the room into two groups for antiphonal singing, then bring everyone together for the final phrase.
Identify later Easter and Pentecost stanzas as anonymous or traditional unless the chosen hymnal supplies a more specific credit.
Show the copyright notice in the authorized edition and explain why a song based on a biblical verse can still be protected.

Sources

Praise! Psalms Hymns and Songs for Christian Worship — Hymn commentary, composition setting, tune variants, and contributor notes
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Church of Scotland — Church Hymnary 4 commentary for This Is the Day
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Hymnary.org — Text authority, copyright data, tune attribution, and hymnal instances
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Discipleship Ministries, United Methodist Church — History of Hymns: This Is the Day
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National Library of New Zealand — Scripture in Song, Volume One: Songs of Praise, catalog record
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Easy Song Licensing — This Is the Day copyright and publisher record, song 31317
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CCLI SongSelect — This Is the Day, CCLI song 32754
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Legacy Remembers — Funeral notice and remembrances for Pastor Leslie “Les” Garrett
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Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — Les Garrett and This Is the Day entries
World English Bible Classic — Public-domain Scripture text
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Lyrics

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This hymn is not currently marked as public domain in the HymnInfo database. To respect copyright, the full lyrics are not displayed here. HymnInfo still provides historical, biblical, and theological study notes where available.

Tune

Standard Tune THE LORD HATH

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Tune: THE LORD HATH

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