Hymn #540: We Plant a Grain of Mustard Seed | First Congregational Church

Mary Bryan Matney (b. 1955) wrote this text as a wedding present for her friends Agnus French and John Kunkel. It was first sung by an ensemble at their wedding, with the congregation joining in singing the last stanza. This is the first text by Matney accepted for publication.

Mary Bryan Matney was born May 3, 1955, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her father was a Presbyterian minister, and the family lived in Florida and North Carolina. Matney has earned her living as a bakery owner, as a water-bed salesperson, and in the recycling business.

Sally Ann Morris (b. 1952) named this tune NEW BEGINNINGS from a phrase in the fifth stanza of Matney’s text. This was only Morris’s second hymn tune. Agnus French Kunkel, for whose wedding it was written, urged her to submit it to a hymn contest in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sally Ann Morris met Mary Bryan Matney when both were attending St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Morris graduated from that institution with a bachelor’s degree in music in 1975. The two women have remained close friends since college days.