We'll Understand It Better By and By

The story of this hymn

Charles Albert Tindley, the self-taught Philadelphia preacher whose songs laid the foundations of gospel music, published this in 1905 for a congregation that knew poverty, prejudice and unexplained loss at first hand. Its answer to grief is honest: we cannot understand now, but by and by we will. Thomas Dorsey, the father of gospel music, named Tindley as his model. Few hymns give mourners the same permission to admit bewilderment and still sing of hope.

Where it sits in the service

Often the hymn after the eulogy, because it answers the question every funeral asks — why — and at the graveside it is commonly sung verse after verse while the grave is filled. Print the refrain once with a note that it follows every verse; in practice the congregation will return to 'by and by, when the morning comes' many more times than the page suggests.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — We'll Understand It Better By and By” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

Tindley again, and one of the great hymns for a death that made no sense — its whole subject is not understanding yet. For a sudden death, a young death or a death after suffering, it says the thing the room is thinking. Four verses with a refrain, usually choir-led.

Printing the words

Public domain. Print the refrain with each verse. If the family is choosing hymns for an unexplained death, this is the one to show them.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. Reproduction rights vary by territory, by hymnal edition and by the licence your church holds — the church office is the right place to ask, and they answer this question often.