Break Thou the Bread of Life

Glory to God: 460

TEXT: Mary Ann Lathbury, 1877
MUSIC: William Fisk Sherwin, 1877

Break now the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, 
as once you broke the loaves beside the sea. 
Beyond the sacred page I seek you, Lord; 
my spirit waits for you, O living Word. 

Bless your own word of truth, dear Lord, to me, 
as when you blessed the bread by Galilee. 
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall; 
and I shall find my peace, my All in all! 

You are the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, 
your holy word the truth that rescues me. 
Give me to eat and live with you above; 
teach me to love your truth, for you are love. 

O send your Spirit now, dear Lord, to me, 
that he may touch my eyes and make me see. 
Show me the truth made plain within your Word, 
for in your book revealed I see you, Lord. 

And Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life, He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35 

Mary Ann Lathbury

On August 8, 1874, ministers John Vincent and Lewis Miller organized a Sunday School training camp beside Lake Chautauqua in New York.  It was a hit.  Families arrived in large numbers, paid the entrance fees, and moved into tents or cottages near an outdoor amphitheater. 

Among those gathered at this event was the poet, Mary Ann Lathbury. She composed a lyric for the event, sung during the Sunday School training camp. Her hymns her most enduring legacy. Another popular hymn she wrote is “Day is Dying in the West.” Written on the shore of Lake Chautauqua. 

In 1877 John Vincent asked her to write a hymn based on the John 6 passage printed above.  In response to his request, she wrote a two-verse hymn. The last two verses printed were added later by a man named Alexander Groves. Our Glory to God hymnal does not list these verses but does include the two that Mary Ann Lathbury had written.   

Regarding her gift for art and verse, Mary Lathbury said that God had once told her, “Remember, my child, that you have a gift of weaving fancies into verse and a gift with the pencil of producing visions that come to your heart; consecrate these to Me as thoroughly as you do your inmost spirit.” 

Today’s devotion is adapted from Robert Morgan’s book, Then Sings My Soul Book 2 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories.  

 William Fisk Sherwin

Here is some information about our composer William Fisk Sherwin who created such a lovely tune.  This information comes to us from the website, www.hymnary.org   

Sherwin, William Fisk, an American Baptist, was born in Buckland, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1826. His educational opportunities, so far as schools were concerned, were few, but he made excellent use of his time and surroundings. At fifteen he went to Boston and studied music under Dr. Mason: In due course, he became a vocal music teacher and held several important appointments in Massachusetts; in Hudson and Albany, New York County, and then in New York City. Taking a special interest in Sunday Schools, he composed carols and hymn tunes largely for their use. He was associated with the Rev. R. Lowry and others in preparing Bright Jewels, and other popular Sunday School hymn and tune books. A few of his melodies are known in Great Britain through I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos, where they are given with his signature. His hymn writing was limited.  

Enjoy these two renditions of this lovely hymn! 

Philip 

My Country,  ‘Tis of Thee 

TEXT:   Samuel Francis Smith, 1834 
MUSIC:  Harmonia Anglicana  c. 1744 

My country, 'tis of thee, 
sweet land of liberty, 
of thee I sing: 
land where my fathers died, 
land of the pilgrims' pride, 
from every mountainside 
let freedom ring. 
 
My native country, thee, 
land of the noble free, 
thy name I love; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
thy woods and templed hills; 
my heart with rapture thrills 
like that above. 
 
Let music swell the breeze, 
and ring from all the trees 
sweet freedom's song. 
Let mortal tongues awake; 
let all that breathe partake; 
let rocks their silence break, 
the sound prolong. 
 
Our fathers' God, to thee, 
author of liberty, 
to thee we sing. 
Long may our land be bright 
with freedom's holy light; 
protect us by thy might, 
great God, our King. 
 

Samuel Smith (1808-1895)

When Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the refrain -- "Let freedom ring!" -- that climaxed this famous speech came from Samuel Smith's patriotic hymn. 

Samuel Smith wrote the hymn in 1831 and Martin Luther King's speech took place 132 years later -- a testimony to the power of a song to shape and maintain an idea. 
 
Smith was born in Boston and educated at Harvard and Andover Theological Seminary. Though inspired by Adoniram Judson to mission service, poor health forced him to give up that dream. 
 
Smith was a friend of Lowell Mason, the famous Boston music educator, and hymn tune writer. According to hymnologist Leonard Ellinwood, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" was one of a group of German poem adaptations Smith wrote for Mason. 
 
Infinitely more singable than the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" earned Smith a certain level of popularity. The famous 19th-century Chicago evangelistic singer, Ira Sankey, cites one example: 
 
"Dr. Smith visited the Board of Trade in Chicago in May of 1887. While sitting in the gallery he was pointed out to some of the members. Soon he became the center of considerable notice. All at once the trading on the floor ceased, and from the wheat pit came the familiar words, 'My country 'tis of thee.' After two stanzas had been sung, Dr. Smith arose and bowed. A rousing cheer was given by the men on the floor, to which Dr. Smith was now escorted by the secretary of the Board. The members flocked around Dr. Smith and grasped his hand. Then they opened a passage through the crowd and led him to the wheat pit, where they took off their hats and sang the rest of the hymn." 
It is doubtful that many United States citizens could sing the entire hymn by memory today, but, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., the power of the first stanza continues to resonate in ways probably not imagined by the author. King transformed Smith's antebellum poem into a civil rights refrain in one of the most famous speeches ever given in the history of the United States. 

Dr. Hawn is a professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology. 

Enjoy this recording of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir 

I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord  

Glory to God: 310 

Text: Timothy Dwight, 1800 

Music: The Universal Psalmodist, 1763;
adapt. Aaron Williams, 1770 

I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
the house of thine abode, 
the church our blest Redeemer saved 
with his own precious blood. 
 
I love thy church, O God. 
Her walls before thee stand, 
dear as the apple of thine eye, 
and graven on thy hand. 
 
For her my tears shall fall; 
for her my prayers ascend; 
to her my cares and toils be given, 
till toils and cares shall end. 
 
Beyond my highest joy 
I prize her heavenly ways: 
her sweet communion, solemn vows, 
her hymns of love and praise. 
 
Sure as thy truth shall last, 
to Zion shall be given 
the brightest glories earth can yield, 
and brighter bliss of heaven. 

“I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord” (1801)

is perhaps the earliest hymn still currently used that was composed by a citizen of the United States. The author, Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), was one of the outstanding leaders of his time. 

Dwight, Timothy, D.D.

This is the most important name in early American hymnology, as it is also one of the most illustrious in American literature and education. He was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, May 14, 1752, a grandson of the famous minister, Jonathan Edwards, and graduated from Yale College, in 1769; he was a tutor there from 1771 to 1777. He then became for a short time a chaplain in the United States Army, but passed on in 1783 to Fairfield, Connecticut, where he held a pastorate, and taught in an Academy, till his appointment, in 1795, as President of Yale College. His works are well-known and need no enumeration. He died at New Haven, on Jan. 11, 1817. In 1797 the General Association of Connecticut, dissatisfied with Joel Barlow's 1785 revision of Watts, requested Dwight to do the work de novo. This he did liberally (furnishing in some instances) several paraphrases of the same psalm, and adding a selection of hymns, mainly from Watts. The book appeared as— 

"The Psalms of David, &c.... By I. Watts, D.D. A New Edition in which the Psalms omitted by Dr. Watts are versified, local passages are altered, and a number of Psalms are versified anew in proper metres. By Timothy Dwight, D.D., &c….To the Psalms is added a Selection of Hymns," 1800. 

Dwight's lyrics are all professedly psalms, but they are by no means literal versions. His original compositions number 33. Of these many are still in common use, the most important being:— 

1. Blest be the Lord, Who Heard my Prayer. Psalm xxviii. This is the second part of Psalm xxviii., in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. It is in the English New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859. 

2. I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord. Psalm cxxxvii. This is version three of Ps. 137, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, and is in extensive use at the present time throughout the States. It is also included in many English, Irish, and Scottish collections, sometimes in the original form, as in Alford's Year of Praise, 1867; again as, "I love Thy Church, O God," which opens with the second stanza, as in the Scottish Evangelical Union Hymnal, 1878, in 3 stanzas, and "We love Thy kingdom, Lord," in the Irish Church Hymnal, 1873. In Cleveland's Lyra Sacra Americana  six stanzas only are given from the original. 

In Christ There Is No East or West 

Glory to God 317 and 318

Text: John Oxenham 1908

Music:  MCKEE or African American spiritual song from Harry T. Burleigh 1940  Hymn 317

Music :  ST. PETER Alexander Robert Reinagle 1836  hymn 318

1 In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.

2 In Christ shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find;
his service is the golden cord
close-binding humankind.

3 Join hands, disciples of the faith,
whate'er your race may be.
All children of the living God
are surely kin to me.

4 In Christ now meet both east and west;
in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are one in him
throughout the whole wide earth.

The following is from Dr. Michael Hawn:

John Oxenham is one of the pen names for businessman William J. Dunkerly (1852-1941). He trained for his career in business at Victoria University, Manchester, and traveled extensively to Europe, the United States and South America, living in France several years.

Oxenham made his home in the U.S. for a time before returning to England, where he died at the age of 89. According to hymnologist Albert Bailey, Oxenham began writing “to relieve the tedium of long journeys . . . and soon discovered that he liked writing better than business.”

The poem was originally part of a libretto, “Darkness and Light,” prepared in 1908 for an exhibition for the London Missionary Society on the theme “The Orient in London.” He then included this poem in his collection, Bees in Amber (1913). This popular volume was rejected by publishers; when Oxenham self-published it, the book sold 285,000 copies. From here the hymn found its way into many English-language hymnals, beginning with England’s Songs of Praise (1931).

English literary scholar and hymnologist J.R. Watson states that the hymn takes its opening idea from Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” from “The Ballad of East and West,” published in Barrach-Room Ballads, and Other Verses (1892). However, Oxenham’s hymn is the antithesis of Kipling’s verse.

As UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young observes, “[t]he theme of Oxenham’s hymn, one of the most durable hymnic statements of Christian unity in the twentieth century, is from Galatians 3:28: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ.’”

As a hymn on Christian unity, changes in attitude toward inclusive language affected the hymn as it appeared in hymnals. Editors felt that a hymn espousing Christian unity should reflect gender equality in its language, especially when drawing upon Galatians 3:28. This presented a problem in the original stanza three:

Join hands, then, disciples of the faith,
Whate’er your race may be;
All children of the living God are surely kin to me.

Stanza three in The UM Hymnal was rewritten by Lawrence Stookey (b. 1937), a member of the language and theology subcommittee of the Hymnal Revision Committee for The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) who was given the task of revising the words of the hymn. Dr. Stookey, a retired professor of worship at Wesley Seminary, noted in correspondence with Dr.Young that, “after numerous unsatisfactory attempts to make Oxenham’s language inclusive, I decided to write a replacement stanza based on Galatians 3:28.”

For many years, the standard tune for this text has been ST. PETER, composed in 1836 by early American composer Alexander Reinagle. More recently, many hymnals have used a tune adapted from a spiritual by the famous African-American composer and songwriter, Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949).

Dr. Young notes that the tune McKEE was arranged from the chorus of “Done changed my name for the coming day” found in “Jubilee Songs” in The Story of the Jubilee Singers (1897). The tune was named for the rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York City, Elmer M. McKee, where Burleigh was the baritone soloist for over 50 years.

Though originating in the missionary movement in the 19th and early 20th centuries, this hymn gratefully lacks the triumphalism and hegemonic assumptions of so many mission hymns of this era. Perhaps the author’s extensive travel helped him develop a sense of Christian unity beyond the racial and cultural differences that he observed.

Indeed, the focus of this hymn has shifted from world missions in the early 20th century to a great hymn of Christian unity for the 21st-century church.

Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.

This is the MCKEE version taken from the spiritual arranger Harry T. Burleigh

  Here is an electronic version on the “organ” of the St. Peter version

How Firm a Foundation

Glory to God: 463 

 Text K.  1763 
Music: American Folk Melody 

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
is laid for your faith in God's excellent Word! 
What more can be said than to you God hath said, 
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? 

"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, 
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; 
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. 

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow; 
for I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless, 
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 
my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; 
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design 
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. 

 "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
I will not, I will not desert to its foes; 
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake." 

“Who done it?”

This week’s hymn is a veritable “Who done it?”

See if you can decide who K. really is! 

 In John Rippon's A Selection of Hymns (1787, plus numerous subsequent editions), "How Firm a Foundation" (no. 128) is attributed simply to "K—". Two other hymns in the collection bear the same mark, "In songs of sublime adoration and praise," and "The Bible is justly esteemed." The hymn's author has never been definitively identified, the most common candidates are listed below. 

I. Robert Keen(e) 

Robert Keene, who served as precentor at Rippon's church, is the most likely possibility. The evidence for connecting K with Keene comes (1) from his close acquaintance with Rippon, (2) from Rippon's tune book, and (3) the testimony (of sorts) of Thomas Walker. 

After Rippon started publishing a tune book, A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1792), to go with his hymnal, both books were cross-referenced against each other; the tunes suggested for "How Firm a Foundation" were GEARD (no. 156) and BROUGHTON (no. 172). Both GEARD and BROUGHTON first appeared in Rippon's tunebook and were probably written for it. BROUGHTON is by T. [Thomas] Walker., and GEARD is by R. [Robert] Keene, thus the association with "K.", but the connection is speculative at best. 

Julian, in his article on "How Firm" in the Dictionary of Hymnology, notes that Walker later assisted Alexander Fletcher with his A Collection of Hymns  (1822), and in that collection the text is attributed to Keen. 

II. George Keith 

In Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (1869), "How Firm" is attributed to George Keith. According to Julian, the motivation behind this attribution was Daniel Sedgwick—-Miller credits him in the preface with having contributed special hymnological knowledge--yet Julian notes that Sedgwick garnered his information from "an old woman whom Sedgwick met in an almshouse." Keith was a publisher in London and was the son-in-law of Dr. Gill, Rippon's distinguished predecessor at Carter Lane. 

III. Thomas Kirkham 

In 19th-century editions of Rippon's Selection, the hymn was attributed to "Kirkham." Thomas Kirkham published A Collection of Hymns in 1788, yet "How Firm" was not included. His connection to Rippon is unclear. 

IV. Kennedy/Kennady 

Still, other collections offer a different possibility: a Kennedy or Kennady. This attribution appears as early as 1826 in Nettleton's Village Hymns. In Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book (1866), he offers "Kirkham or Kennedy, 1787." This person has yet to be identified. 

V. John Rippon 

In his preface to the Selection, Rippon wrote: 
In most places, where the names of the authors were known, they are put at full length, but the hymns which are not so distinguished, or which have only a single letter prefixed to them, were, many of them composed by a person unknown, or else have undergone some considerable alterations. 

Since Rippon is known to have significantly altered hymns in his collection ("All hail the power of Jesus' name," being a notable example), Rippon likely deserves at least partial credit for texts bearing the mark "K." 
—Chris Fenner 
with contributions from Eric Stedfeld, Peter Irvine, and Peter Rehwaldt 

Sources:

Today’s info comes from the website www.hymnary.org  

O Word of God Incarnate

Glory to God:  459 

Text: William Walsham How, 1867 
Music:  Neuvermehrtes Meiningisches Gesangbuch, 1693. Adapt.  Felix Mendelssohn 1847 

O Word of God incarnate, 
O Wisdom from on high, 
O Truth unchanged, unchanging, 
O Light of our dark sky: 
we praise you for the radiance 
that from the hallowed page, 
a lantern to our footsteps, 
shines on from age to age. 
 
The church from you, dear Savior, 
received this gift divine; 
and still that light is lifted 
on all the earth to shine. 
It is the chart and compass 
that, all life’s voyage through, 
amid the rocks and quicksands 
still guides, O Christ, to you. 
 
O make your church, dear Savior, 
a lamp of purest gold 
to bear before the nations 
your true light, as of old; 
O teach your wandering pilgrims 
by this our path to trace, 
till, clouds and storms thus ended, 
we see you face to face. 

The following is from Dr. Michael Hawn 

Anglican Bishop William Walsham How (1823-1897) is best known for one of the great All Saints Day hymns, “For all the saints who from their labors rest.” While one of the great legacies of the church from the 19th century, we actually learn more about How from his hymn on scripture, “O Word of God Incarnate.” 

If not a unique bishop of his time, How was certainly an anomaly. He rejected offers to serve as bishop in prestigious settings such as Manchester and Durham and instead ministered in a slum area of London, a choice that resulted in his designation as “the poor man’s bishop.” While other bishops often lived in luxurious settings and were conveyed by private coaches, How lived and worked with his people, traveling by public transportation. 
 
While many churchmen were appalled by the doctrine of evolution and the feeling that science challenged the truth of the Bible, How was much more discerning. In his 1887 sermon “The Bible and Science,” How observed that evolution included many facts and theories that were difficult to dispute, and added one could not state categorically that “[a]ll such-like speculations are straight against God’s Word and therefore utterly untrue.” 
 
Even Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), grandfather of Aldous Huxley, and a leader in the scientific debate in England who was often known as “Darwin’s Bulldog,” cites the sermon in his book, Science and the Christian Tradition (1902). According to hymnologist Albert Bailey, Huxley “says that the Bishop was one of the few people who so treated . . . religion and science that he felt he could go along with him.” 
 
Yet at the same time, this Oxford-educated clergyman had a “high” view of Scripture as this hymn attests. This hymn in praise of the Bible is based on Psalm 119:105, “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” It first appeared in a joint publication, Supplement to Psalms and Hymns (1867), with T.B. Morrell. 
 
The first line of the hymn echoes John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Successive biblical metaphors elaborate the nature of the Word: “Wisdom” (James 3:17), “Truth” (John 14:6), “Light” (John 1:4), “lantern to our footsteps” (Psalm 199:105). 
 
In stanza two, the church, given the Word from “our Savior,” becomes its custodian who is to lift the light “o’er all the earth to shine.” The Bible is a “sacred vessel” (originally “casket”) “where gems of truth are stored.” The Word paints a “heaven-drawn picture of Christ, [who is] “the living Word.” 
 
The final stanza is a prayer that petitions Christ to “make your church… a lamp of purest gold” and to “teach your wandering pilgrims by this their path to trace.” Ultimately, the goal is eschatological, where we will see Christ in heaven “face to face.” 
 
How’s 54 hymns were all written between 1858 and 1871 while he was a rector at Whittington, before becoming Suffragan Bishop of East London, and in 1888, the first Bishop of Wakefield. He once said, “A good hymn should be like a good prayer—simple, real, earnest, and reverent.” How was a modernist who studied thoughtfully the latest scientific thinking of his day and still fully embraced Scripture—a model for us over 100 years later. 

Sources:

Dr. Hawn is a professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology at SMU. 

Music

The following is a beautiful arrangement of this hymn using the MUNICH hymn found in our hymnal.  It is arranged for chorus, piano, and trumpet by two of our choir’s favorite arrangers: Dan Forrest and Craig Courtney 

We Have Come at Christ’s Own Bidding
Glory To God: 191 

 Text: Carl Daw, 1988 
Music: BREWER 

We have come at Christ’s own bidding 
to this high and holy place, 
where we wait with hope and longing 
for some token of God’s grace. 
Here we pray for new assurance 
that our faith is not in vain, 
searching like those first disciples 
for a sign both clear and plain. 

Light breaks through our clouds and shadows; 
splendor bathes the flesh-joined Word; 
Moses and Elijah marvel 
as the heavenly voice is heard. 
Eyes and hearts behold with wonder 
how the law and prophets meet: 
Christ, with garments drenched in brightness, 
stands transfigured and complete. 

 Strengthened by this glimpse of glory, 
fearful lest our faith decline, 
we like Peter find it tempting 
to remain and build a shrine. 
But true worship gives us courage 
to proclaim what we profess, 
that our daily lives may prove us 
people of the God we bless. 

I keep coming back to the hymns of Carl Daw. 

I don’t know if it’s his Baptist upbringing or just his innate sense for poetry and setting text that speaks so clearly of our faith while creating poetry that will stand the test of time. It’s hard to know why, but all I can tell you is, I love just about everything he has written. Today’s thoughts on this hymn come from a site I have used before:  Michael Hawn’s Discipleship hymn series. Enjoy the thought-provoking commentary on this hymn. 

“We Have Come at Christ’s Own Bidding”

was commissioned by the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, in 1988. The late Howard E. “Buddy” Ross (1937-2005), commissioned the text as part of a series of Transfiguration-themed works. Ross was then serving as the parish’s music director.  
 
This text by the Rev. Carl P. Daw Jr. (b. 1944) also appears in its poetic form in the Epiphany portion of his hymn collection, A Year of Grace (1990, Hope Publishing Company). The book is designed to follow the church year, beginning with Advent and moving through Easter and Pentecost.  
 
Appropriately this hymn appears as the last text in the Epiphany section. It is an appropriate placement because the Transfiguration serves as a hinge between the Incarnation cycle (Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany) and the Paschal cycle (Lent, Easter, and Pentecost). 

The Tune

The text was composed with the idea in mind that a tune would also be commissioned for it. Dr. Daw, thinking practically, followed a commonly used metric pattern, 87.87.D, so that it would work well with several well-known tunes that follow that pattern. For a while, it was sung primarily to the Welsh tune HYFRYDOL.  
 
Joel Martinson (b. 1960), now director of music and organist at the Church of the Transfiguration, wrote a new tune for the text in 1991. The tune is appropriately named TRANSFIGURATION.  
 
Stanza one focuses on the parallels between the disciples on the Mount of the Transfiguration and present-day Christians as they worship. Dr. Daw says that their attitudes and assumptions parallel our expectations as we gather for worship.  
 
In stanza two, according to Dr. Daw, the Transfiguration narrative is treated as a form of anamnesis—remembering and reliving the past. The images of being bathed in light and “brightness” are parallel to Christ’s baptismal narrative. Dr. Daw credits the Rev. Thomas Talley for pointing out that these two narratives represent the first and last Sundays after the Epiphany and both were events when God spoke of his approval of Christ to the people gathered.  
 
Though Dr. Daw does not mention it, the image of light breaking in on darkness seems to suggest Christ is the light that “breaks in upon our darkness.” He mentions the “flesh-joined Word,” a direct reference to the incarnation in John 1 (“the Word became flesh”).  
 
Stanza three turns its focus from Christ, Moses, Isaiah, and the Transfiguration to the church. He uses Peter as a representation of God’s people, calling him “the spiritual ancestor of everyone who has been granted some special religious experience and then hopes to recreate it by going back to the same place or reading another book by the same author or singing the same hymn again.”  
 
The text appears in hymnals across denominations from United Church of Christ to Baptist and United Methodist, those with a strong lectionary tradition, and those with thematically driven Sundays.  
 
Though the text commonly appears set to the tune HYFRYDOL, it has also been set to ABBOT’S LEIGH and PLEADING SAVIOR. It can also be sung to several other well-known tunes, making it easier to introduce to congregations. Whatever tune is selected, the text is highly accessible and its “compact theology” makes it a quality choice for a Transfiguration Sunday hymn.  
 
Dr. Daw is the son of a Baptist preacher and was born in Louisville, Ky. An Episcopal priest, he was educated at Rice University, the University of Virginia, and the University of the South. He recently retired as executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. He is now curator of hymnological collections and adjunct professor of hymnology at UM-affiliated Boston University School of Theology. 

Sources: 

* © 1988 Hope Publishing Company; Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.  
Ms. Sanders is a candidate for the Master of Sacred Music degree, at Perkins School of Theology, and studies hymnology with Dr. C. Michael Hawn. 

Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us  
Glory To God: 280 

 Text: Janie Alford, 1979 
Music: EBENEZER 

Come, O Spirit, dwell among us; 
come with Pentecostal power; 
give the church a stronger vision; 
help us face each crucial hour. 
Built upon a firm foundation, 
Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone, 
still the church is called to mission 
that God's love shall be made known. 

We would raise our alleluias 
for the grace of yesteryears; 
for tomorrow's unknown pathway, 
hear, O Lord, our humble prayers. 
In the church's pilgrim journey 
you have led us all the way; 
still in presence move before us, 
fire by night and cloud by day. 

Come, O Spirit, dwell among us; 
give us words of fire and flame. 
Help our feeble lips to praise you, 
glorify your holy name. 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
Three in One: what mystery! 
We would sing our loud hosannas  
now and through eternity. 

During this new season…

of Pentecost which celebrates the birthday of the church, we will be singing today’s Hymn of the Week. As you can see from the dates of text and music, the text comes to us from the pen of Janie Alford in 1979 while the tune, known as EBENEZER, comes to us from Wales in the 1890s. Enjoy the great stories about both the poet and musician. 

JANIE ALFORD (1887-1986)

Janeie was born and lived all of her life in Nashville, TN. She attended the University of Tennessee in Nashville for one semester and studied library science. At the age of eighteen, she went to work to support her family (her mother and sister).

She was able to put her nephews through school by working as a medical secretary to a doctor. Janie never married and worked at this job for forty years. She grew up in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but transferred to Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church, which later became Nashville's Westminster Presbyterian Church. She was a charter member there and started the church's library. She wrote poetry all of her life and at the suggestion of Hal Hopson, the Minister of Music at her church at the time, she was encouraged to write hymns. In 1979 she published a small collection entitled "NINE HYMNS FOR THE CHURCH YEAR." "Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us" was one of these hymns, and it appears as #329 in Hope's new hymnal WORSHIP & REJOICE (2001). 

EBENEZER

Ebenezer also known as Ton-y-Botel (Tune in a Bottle) is a famous Welsh hymn tune composed by Thomas John Williams A.T.S.C. (1869–1944) and extracted from the second movement of his anthem "Goleu Yn Y Glyn" (Light in the Valley). 

The tune was first published in 1897 in the periodical Yr Athraw ('The Teacher'), vol. 71, in tonic sol-fa notation, and its first appearance in a hymnal was in 1900, in The Baptist Book of Praise. 

The famed English composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) referred to this as one of the greatest hymn tunes. As the musical editor Vaughan Williams included it in The English Hymnal in 1906. 

It is now published in 195 hymnals worldwide, including The New English Hymnal. It alternates phrases of 8 and 7 notes. 

Ebenezer means "Stone of Help" in the Bible. 

The tune is named after Ebenezer Chapel in Rhos near Pontardawe, South Wales, which T. J. Willams attended while composing the tune. 

T. J. Williams was born in Llangiwg, Ynysmeudwy, near Pontardawe, and lived in Llanelli, South Wales, from 1903. He served as organist and choir director at Mount Elim Baptist Chapel, Ynysmeudwy near Pontardawe, for fifteen years, Zion Baptist Chapel, Llanelli, (1903–1911) and Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Llanelli (1913–1931). 

He is buried in Llanelli District Cemetery (Box Cemetery). 

The myth that the tune was discovered in a bottle on a Llyn Peninsula beach in North Wales was published in the Daily Mail in 1902. It has affectionately been known as Ton-y-Botel ever since and is even referred to as "Ebenezer, Ton-y-Botel" on his grave headstone, this also includes the first music phrase and below it the text "Dyma Gariad Fel Y Moroedd" 

Due to viral and bacterial infection this week, I am pulling a beloved hymn from the archives.

Hymn of the Week: Together We Serve
Glory to God: 767

Text and Music Daniel Charles Damon 1996

Together we serve,
united by love,
inviting God's world to the glorious feast.
We work and we pray
through sorrow and joy,
extending God's love to the last and the least.

We seek to become
a beacon of hope,
a lamp for the heart and a light for the feet.
We learn, year by year,
to let love shine through
until we see Christ in each person we meet.

We welcome the scarred,
the wealthy, the poor,
the busy, the lonely, and all who need care.
We offer a home
to those who will come,
our hands quick to help, our hearts ready to dare.

Together, by grace,
we witness and work,
remembering Jesus, in whom we grow strong.
Together we serve
in Spirit and truth,
remembering love is the strength of our song.

Together we Serve

In July 2016, The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada bestowed its highest honor on the Rev. Daniel Charles Damon by naming him a Fellow.

Rev. Daniel Charles Damon

Dan has been the pastor at First United Methodist Church of Point Richmond in Richmond, California, since 1995. Originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, Dan earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Greenville College, a Free Methodist institution in Greenville, Illinois, and he later earned a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkley, California. In addition to pastoring a congregation, Dan serves as the Associate Editor of Hymnody for Hope Publishing Company, and sometimes you might catch him playing jazz in the San Francisco Bay area or teaching courses at the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education in Berkley.

As an internationally published author of hymn tunes and texts, Dan has combined his unique gifts as both poet and composer on over 50 published hymns. Furthermore, he has translations in Vietnamese, Portuguese, Japanese, and Shona, and in 2007, he worked with Patrick Matsikenyiri to edit Njalo, A Collection of 16 Hymns in the African Tradition.

The Dictionary of Hymnology features two articles by Dan—one on social gospel hymnody in the USA and the other on his greatest passion, jazz, and congregational song.

“Together We Serve” was commissioned for the 1997 centennial celebration of First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, California. Carl Daw notes that there is no mention of an actual church building in this hymn, for the church “is not the building but the people.” Daw further notes that many of the ideas in this hymn will seem familiar because “they have been true of congregations from the very earliest of days, as Ephesians 4:11–16 shows. They are both a celebration and a reminder of what the church is called to be.”

The first stanza is a celebration of congregational life and mission. Dan uses two short phrases followed by a long phrase (55.11 D) to establish the meter and uses three-syllable words (together, united, inviting, glorious, extending) to capture the flow of the waltzing tune. The second stanza is flooded with light imagery—“beacon of hope,” “lamp for the heart,” “light for the feet,” and “let love shine through.” The third stanza emphasizes Dan’s love of social justice and reminds us that the church welcomes all—wealthy and poor, busy and lonely, the scarred, and all those who need care. The final stanza is permeated again by togetherness as it enumerates for the church the “sources of energy”—grace, remembering Jesus, and service in Spirit and truth.

The hymn-writing process is a new fascination for me. When I contacted Dan about the background information regarding this composition, I shared with him my affinity for this particular hymn and that I had even made an arrangement of it for my choirs. Dan was kind enough to send his sketches. Brian Wren told him, “It takes many yellow sheets’ to arrive at a good hymn text.” It was fascinating to see the four pages of ideas that were eventually crafted, revised and reorganized—always with help from other writers. Dan describes this as his most “churchy” hymn and mentions that it has become his most popular. Originally in three stanzas, the Presbyterians in San Anselmo asked him to “put a little Jesus in it,” and Dan believes it became a “stronger hymn for that extra effort.” For those familiar with the Pacific coast, Dan began this text at a retreat center (Asilomar) in Pacific Grove while accompanying Camp Farthest Out.

Finally, Dan offers this advice for all hymn writers: “Be sure to put your entire message in stanza one. There may not be time to sing the whole hymn.” This was certainly the case when Dan was called on to lead this hymn for the General Conference last May, and it was cut short!

Since the text and the melody were composed for one another, be sure to let the music flow with a strong emphasis on the downbeat. If you can slow down the 3rd stanza and you have a skilled accompanist, embrace Dan’s improvisational leanings and explore the text with some alternate harmonies. The final stanza lends itself to an added coda by repeating the final phrase, “Remembering love is the strength of our song.”

SOURCES

• Carl P. Daw, Jr., Glory to God: A Companion, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016, pp. 730-731.

• Press Release – The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada: http://www.thehymnsociety.org/#!dan-damon---fellow/c1c9r Hymnary.org — https://www.hymnary.org/person/Damon_DC?tab=tunes

• Personal Correspondence with Dan Damon

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna! 

Glory to God: 248 

 Text: Brian Wren, 1984 
Music: HYMN TO JOY, Beethoven 

Christ is risen! Shout hosanna!  
Celebrate this day of days.  
Christ is risen! Hush in wonder, 
all creation stand amazed. 
In the desert all surrounding,  
see, a spreading tree has grown. 
Healing leaves of grace abounding 
bring a taste of love unknown. 

Christ is risen! Raise your spirits  
from the caverns of despair. 
Walk with gladness in the morning.  
See what love can do and dare. 
Drink the wine of resurrection,  
not a servant, but a friend; 
Jesus is our strong companion— 
joy and peace shall never end. 

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven  
nevermore shall be the same. 
Break the bread of new creation  
where the world is still in pain. 
Tell its grim, demonic chorus,  
“Christ is risen! Get you gone!” 
God the First and Last is with us.  
Sing hosanna, ev’ry one!

Dr. Brian Wren’s biography:

Brian Wren (b. Romford, Essex, England, 1936) is a major British figure in the revival of contemporary hymn writing. He studied French literature at New College and theology at Mansfield College in Oxford, England.

 Ordained in 1965, he was pastor of the Congregational Church (now United Reformed) in Hockley and Hawkwell, Essex, from 1965 to 1970. He worked for the British Council of Churches and several other organizations involved in fighting poverty and promoting peace and justice. This work resulted in his writing of Education for Justice (1977) and Patriotism and Peace (1983). With a ministry throughout the English-speaking world, Wren now resides in the United States where he is active as a freelance lecturer, preacher, and full-time hymn writer. His hymn texts are published in Faith Looking Forward (1983), Praising a Mystery (1986), Bring Many Names (1989), New Beginnings (1993), and Faith Renewed: 33 Hymns Reissued and Revised (1995), as well as in many modern hymnals. He has also produced What Language Shall I Borrow? (1989), a discussion guide to inclusive language in Christian worship. 
Bert Polman 

Dr. Wren, who is ordained in Britain’s United Reform Church, categorizes his hymns by their topic. He puts this hymn in his category of God’s covenant in history and also the revelation of Jesus Christ. When he writes hymns, Dr. Wren tries to use inclusive language and metaphors, and this hymn succeeds in doing so because its message applies to everyone. Though the hymn reflects on the past, it also applies to the present and looks to the future.  
 
“Christ is Risen” is an ideal hymn for Easter Sunday because it discusses the resurrection of Christ and the promise and changes that this powerful act will bring. Dr. Wren says that “Easter joy” is an “action for justice.” We, as Christians, can find peace in Christ’s resurrection and can overcome evil.  

Dr. Wren also writes theologically; this hymn addresses all the aspects of God and God’s powers.  
 
The first stanza is about Christ coming into our sinner’s world to save us through his death and resurrection. The primary theological reference is Revelation 22:2.  
 
The second stanza discusses the fact that even though Jesus is divine, he is our friend who has saved us from the “caverns of despair.” This stanza is based on John 15:15.  

Rhythms and melody 

Revelation 22:13 provides the scriptural basis for the final stanza. Dr. Wren states that through Christ’s resurrection, we have the strength to resist evil since he is always with us.  
 
More simply put, the first stanza is about Christ giving us new life, the next discusses Christ as our friend who gives us strength and the last is about Christ coming to change the world.  

This hymn is most appropriate for Easter Sunday. He came to save the world even though we were still sinners. The earth will not be the same now that Christ came, died, and rose again. The text is direct and powerful. “Christ is Risen” describes how the world will now be different and how Jesus is our friend now, and always. 

While our hymnal and the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal set Dr. Wren’s text to the music of the famous Beethoven:  Ode to Joy, Dr. Wren did not want it associated with that tune.  His thought was to tie it to the Polish hymn, Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, tying it back to the miracle of Christ’s birth.   

Today’s devotion comes to us from two different sources.   Biographical information about the author can be found at the website www.hymnary.org and the discussion about the hymn is found in Discipleship Ministries under the direction of Dr. Michael Hawn. 

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

Text: Edward Hopper, 1871
Music: John E. Gould

Jesus, Savior, pilot me, 
Over life's tempestuous sea; 
Unknown waves before me roll, 
Hiding rocks and treach'rous shoal; 
Chart and compass come from Thee - 
Jesus, Savior, pilot me! 
 
As a mother stills her child, 
Thou canst hush the ocean wild; 
Boist'rous waves obey Thy will 
When Thou sayest to them, "Be still!" 
Wondrous Sov'reign of the sea, 
Jesus, Savior, pilot me! 
 
When at last I near the shore, 
And the fearful breakers roar 
'Twixt me and the peaceful rest - 
Then, while leaning on Thy breast, 
May I hear Thee say to me, 
"Fear not - I will pilot thee!" 

“Jesus, Savior, Pilot me”

falls in a long and rich tradition of hymns that draw upon the imagery of the sea to establish the relationship between the believer and Christ. Edward Hopper (1816-1888) was inspired by the accounts of Jesus who stilled the storm found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25). Written at the request of George S. Webster, secretary of the Seaman’s Friend Society, the hymn was first published in the Society’s magazine, The Sailor’s Magazine, and Seaman’s Friend in the March 3, 1871 issue. The designation was, “By Rev. Edward Hopper, D.D., Pastor of the Church of the Sea and Land.” 

Hopper, a graduate of New York University (1839) and Union Theological Seminary (1842), was well acquainted with the sea, pastoring the Sag Harbor Presbyterian Church on Long Island for eleven years, and then spending the majority of his ministry at the Church of the Sea and Land in New York City. It was in this latter congregation that he became well-known for his ministry to sailors. 

Stanza one demonstrates the poet’s knowledge of both the synoptic narratives and the sailor’s life with references to “unknown waves,” “treacherous shoal,” and “chart and compass.” Stanza two begins with a maternal simile, “As a mother stills her child,/ thou can hush the ocean wild.” The poet cites directly from Scripture the words of Jesus, “Be still,” demonstrating that Christ is the “wondrous sovereign of the sea.” Stanza three acknowledges the dangers of sea travel when one approaches the shore. In this case, the shore is the fear of death. The hymn ends with the comforting words of the Savior, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.” 

John Edgar Gould (1822-1875), a Bangor, Maine, native who was a composer, publisher, and merchant in New York City, composed the tune. He gave it the name PILOT when it appeared in The Baptist Praise Book (1871). A compiler of gospel song collections in Philadelphia after 1866, he was well acquainted with sea travel himself, dying in Algiers, in northern Africa in 1875. 

C. Michael Hawn is University Distinguished Professor of Church Music, at Perkins School of Theology. 

This week’s Hymn of the Week is paraphrased from  Michael C. Hawn’s Discipleship website.  (see below). 

Enjoy Mahalia Jackson’s always-stirring rendition of this timeless hymn.  While she doesn’t sing all three verses, what she does with the first two will give you pause to reflect on this wonderful text. 

Discipleship Ministries | History of Hymns: "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me" (umcdiscipleship.org) 

I Love to Tell the Story

Glory to God: 462

I love to tell the story  
Of unseen things above,  
Of Jesus and His glory,  
Of Jesus and His love:  
I love to tell the story,  
Because I know 'tis true;  
It satisfies my longing,
As nothing else can do.   

Refrain:
I love to tell the story;
’Twill be my theme in glory 
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love

 I love to tell the story;  
'Tis pleasant to repeat  
What seems each time I tell it,  
More wonderfully sweet:  
I love to tell the story,  
For some have never heard  
The message of salvation  
From God's own holy Word.   

Refrain:
I love to tell the story;
’Twill be my theme in glory 
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love

 I love to tell the story;  
For those who know it best  
Seem hungering and thirsting  
To hear it, like the rest:  
And when, in scenes of glory,  
I sing the new, new song,  
'Twill be the old, old story  
That I have loved so long. 

Refrain:
I love to tell the story;
’Twill be my theme in glory 
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love

Arabella Katherine Hankey (1834-1911)

grew up in the family of a wealthy English banker associated with the evangelical wing of the Anglican Church. As a teenager she taught a girls' Sunday school class. Later she traveled to South Africa to serve as a nurse and to assist her invalid brother. 

While recovering from a lengthy illness of her own at age 30, she wrote a poem on the life of Christ. This poem had two sections, the first published in January 1866 and entitled The Story Wanted, the second published later that year in November under the title The Story Told. Our hymn is drawn from stanzas in the second section. The text of the refrain was written by the composer of the music, William G. Fisher, in 1869. (A musician herself, Hankey wrote her own tunes for the text, but others found little use for them.) 
 
In 1867 Englishman Major General Russell cited the text of "I Love to Tell the Story" at a large international YMCA gathering in Montreal. William Doane, a composer of more than 2000 gospel songs including music for many of Fanny Crosby's hymns, was in the audience. His musical setting did not stick, but another setting composed by William G. Fisher, a Philadelphia musician and piano dealer (1832-1912), did. When Phillip Bliss and Ira Sankey included Fisher's version in their influential Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (1875), its fame was assured. 
 
The personal, intimate language comes through in such phrases, for example, as "it [the story] satisfies my longings as nothing else can do" (stanza one) and "it did so much for me, and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee" (stanza two). Hankey is passionate about this story and how it has changed her life. In the refrain, the word "love" takes on a double meaning -- both about the state of the singer and the message of Jesus: "I love to tell the story . . . of Jesus and his love." 
 
Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck notes that Hankey wrote many books such as Bible Class Teachings and several collections of verse, and adds: "All of the royalties received from these publications were always directed to some foreign mission project." 

 Dr. Hawn is the director of the sacred music program at Perkins School of Theology. 

I Danced in the Morning 

Glory To God: 157 

Text: Sydney Carter 1963 
Music:  Simple Gifts 
Quaker Folk Song 

I danced in the morning when the world was begun, 
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, 
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth, 
At Bethlehem I had my birth. 

"Dance, then, wherever you may be; 
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he. 
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be, 
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he. 

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee, 
But they would not dance and they wouldn't follow me; 
I danced for the fishermen, for James and for John; 
They came with me and the dance went on.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be; 
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he. 
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be, 
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he. 

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame, 
The holy people, they said it was a shame; 
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high, 
And they left me there on a cross to die.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be; 
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he. 
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be, 
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he. 

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black; 
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back; 
They buried my body and they thought I'd gone, 
But I am the dance and I still go on.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be; 
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he. 
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be, 
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he. 

They cut me down and I leapt up high, 
I am the life that'll never, never die, 
I'll live in you if you'll live in me; 
"I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be; 
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he. 
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be, 
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he. 

Upon his death

on March 13, 2004, at the age of 88, Sydney Bertram Carter’s obituary in the London Telegraph began with the bold assertion, “Lord of the Dance” was “the most celebrated religious song of the 20th century.” This statement deserves further examination. 

Examination

“Lord of the Dance” (1962) captured the spirit of the 1960s protest movement in the United States. It became a sacred equivalent for songs by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s, including “Where Have All the Flower’s Gone” and “To Everything Turn” (later made even more popular by Peter, Paul, and Mary), as well as Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962). While the direct – even, for some, sacrilegious – language accompanied by the folk acoustic guitar bordered on heresy for some; for others, these songs were a breath of fresh air. “Lord of the Dance” brought this sound and spirit into the church, especially in services designed to reach young people. 

Born in 1915, Carter was educated at Oxford and taught high school in the 1940s. Sympathizing with the Quakers, he served in an ambulance unit with the Society of Friends during World War II. Carter began composing songs in the 1950s and 1960s, many of which remain very popular in the schools of Great Britain to this day. 

Called a “carol” by Carter, “Lord of the Dance” was not the first song on this theme. “Tomorrow Will be My Dancing Day,” a seventeenth-century English carol, provided an obvious model for this famous hymn. An earlier medieval carol also explored the allegory of the dance as a metaphor for humanity’s relationship with Christ. Carter adapted a melody from the Shaker dance tune Simple Gifts. The first four stanzas appeared in the Student Christian Congress Hymns  (1963), and the five-stanza version in 9 Songs or Ballads  (1964). Carter’s Green Print for Song  (1974) suggests that he wrote the words first and then adapted the tune of Simple Gifts to the text later. Simple Gifts has been identified as a quintessential American folk tune by composer Aaron Copeland (1900-1990), who quoted the tune as the climax of his famous symphonic work Appalachian Spring  (1944). 

A favorite of youth groups in the 1960s and 1970s, “Lord of the Dance” spread far beyond the Christian community, partially because the song never mentions Jesus or Christ by name. Its most famous use beyond the church is as a “Celtic” dance for Michael Flatley’s world-famous show, Lord of the Dance. The origins of the tune are not Celtic, however, but thoroughly American. 

Always the iconoclast, Carter’s theological perspective may not pass all tests of orthodoxy. The opening lines of this first-person account of Christ’s life have been thought by some to “contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all.” While inspired by the life of Jesus, Carter implied that the Hindu God Shiva as Nataraja (Shiva’s dancing pose), a statue that sat on his desk, also played a role in the song’s conception. The choice of an adapted Shaker tune for the melody – sometimes called the “Shaking Quakers” who were known for their vigorous dancing during their rituals – rounds out the dance theme. Carter acknowledged the theological contradictions, but never attempted to resolve them. 

He notes: “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.” 

For the complete text, see http://celtic-lyrics.com/lyrics/309.html (a misnomer since neither the lyrics nor the tune are “Celtic”). The second stanza mentions that the “scribes and Pharisees” would not join in with the dance, but the “fishermen, . . . James and John” did continue the dance with the Dancer. The third stanza has been viewed by some as anti-Semitic – “the holy people said it was a shame” – leading to Christ’s crucifixion. 

The fourth stanza has one of those turns of phrases that are typical of many folk-based songs – “it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back” – a bit shocking for those who have grown up with “Abide with Me,” yet offering a different perspective on this central narrative in the Christian experience. The final stanza captures the untainted joy of the Resurrection when the dance is complete and all are invited – “I’ll live in you if you live in me.” 

Carter placed the primary emphasis on faith rather than creeds or theology. He asserts: “Faith is more basic than language or theology.” Later, he continues this idea: “Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on.” 

Welsh Hymnologist Alan Luff writes perceptively, “In his notes on his songs Carter insisted that they are to be seen in a state of coming to be, and, although some have now been printed many times in books, they need always to be approached as ready to be remade. He abhorred finality, and called his book Green Print for Song, not ‘Blue Print’, because a blue-print was a final draft. He wrote his own tunes, but did not claim to be a musician. He has been fortunate in his arrangers, but none of their versions should be thought of as authentic or final.” 

Alzheimer’s disease began to take a toll on Carter by 1999. He was lovingly cared for by his second wife Leela Nair until his death. A friend, Rabbi Lionel Blue, commented after a visit, “our only contact is a thin thread of memory and his songs. I start singing them, and he joyfully joins in—and I leave him as he continues singing.” 

C. Michael Hawn is University Distinguished Professor of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, SMU. 

Thank you, Linda Habig! 

In the Garden 

 Text: C. Austin Miles 1913 

I come to the garden alone, 
While the dew is still on the roses; 
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, 
The Son of God discloses. 
 
Refrain: 
And He walks with me, and He talks with me, 
And He tells me I am His own, 
And the joy we share as we tarry there, 
None other has ever known. 
 
He speaks, and the sound of His voice 
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing; 
And the melody that He gave to me 
Within my heart is ringing. [Refrain] 
 
I'd stay in the garden with Him 
Though the night around me be falling; 
But He bids me go - through the voice of woe, 
His voice to me is calling. [Refrain]

In the Garden

What can we make of an old hymn that was popularized on Billy Sunday’s revival circuit and then recorded by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Loretta Lynn, and the Avett Brothers?

Despite being dropped from many hymnals it withstands being dissed and remains a top ten favorite. So much so that it was restored to many hymnals in the 90s and 2000s.  Its origin? Back in 1912, C. Austin Miles, an amateur photographer, was pondering John 20 while waiting for some film to develop. 

As I read in that day, I seemed to be part of the scene… I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white with head bowed, hand clasping her throat as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows… Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing; so did I… Under the inspiration of this vision, I wrote as quickly as the words would be formed the poem exactly as it has since appeared.  That same evening, I wrote the music.  

“I come to the garden alone”

The “I” is Mary Magdalene.  Mary and Jesus met up on Easter Sunday.  The Gospels don’t say they met in a garden, but John 20:15 tells us Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener.  This makes me think of Being There, the brilliant Peter Sellars film from 1979 about mistaken identity.  Chance, the gardener is mistaken for an upper-class businessman, Chauncey Gardiner, and people leap to absurd conclusions, finding his simple-minded sayings about gardening to be the most profound wisdom.  Did people leap to ridiculous conclusions about Jesus?  Mary was downright sure he was dead:  She couldn’t recognize him because her sorrow was so strong and her belief that the dead stay dead was so solid.  Then she heard her name and was sure he was alive.  

The garden envisioned in the hymn is more verdant than the vicinity of Jesus’ tomb, which would have been a rocky uncultivated patch of earth.  “The dew is still on the roses” is a bit romantic, as is the idea of Jesus’ voice being “so sweet the birds hush their singing.”  Jesus did speak to Mary, calling her by name.  How lovely. God knows and addresses all of us by name.  Isaiah 49:16 tantalizingly suggests that your name is tattooed on the palm of God’s hand -  as is mine and as is Mary’s. 

The rhythm of “And he walks with me and he talks with me” feels like we are skipping along with him.  Mary’s encounter was brief.  She impulsively and understandably reached out to embrace him, but he pushed back:  “Do not cling to me.”  Then he was gone, but not really gone.  The hymn owns that we feel the pangs of separation and also Jesus’ lingering presence after his departure.  He bids us go, but once we do go back out into the world, we can, along with Mary, testify that he still “walks with me and he talks with me.” 

The sweetness of the hymn is a bit at odds with the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, where the first witnesses are frightened and dumbstruck and scurry off with the news, trembling in awe and uncertainty.  The hymn does remind us that gaining a ticket to heaven when we die is not the main point of resurrection.  The presence of the Lord continues after resurrection days are over.  Jesus pledged to the disciples at the Last Supper that he would send the Spirit to comfort, challenge, enlighten, and be his presence going forward.  This is the plot of the Gospels:  Jesus is raised; therefore you are forgiven.  

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus  

 Text: William H. Parker 1885 

Tell me the stories of Jesus 
I love to hear; 
Things I would ask him to tell me 
If He were here: 
Scenes by the wayside, 
Tales of the sea, 
Stories of Jesus, 
Tell them to me. 

First let me hear how the children 
Stood round his knee, 
And I shall fancy his blessing  
Resting on me; 
Words full of kindness, 
Deeds full of grace, 
All in the love-light 
Of Jesus' face. 

Into the city I'd follow 
The children's band, 
Waving a branch of the palm tree 
High in my hand; 
One of his heralds, 
Yes, I would sing 
Loudest hosannas, 
"Jesus is King!" 

The Stories of Jesus 

Our uncertainty about what to do with Palm Sunday mirrors the confusion of the eyewitnesses when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem.  We make it cute and cheerful, with children waving palm leaves as we sing chipper songs like “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus.” 

The crowd back then was seized with joy and excitement, apparently not understanding who Jesus was, all he was about, why he was coming into Jerusalem in this way, or the ominous fate that awaited him.  The rock opera Jesus Christ, Superstar captures this paradox.  The frenzied crowd sings “Hey, J.C., J.C., won’t you smile at me?” and then “Won’t you fight for me?” and then “Won’t you die for me?” while Caiaphas begins his plot to silence them and J.C. 

We earnestly ask, “Tell me the Stories of Jesus” – the stories that Jesus told and the stories that were told about him.  He was a spellbinding storyteller.  But the stories of Jesus are so much more than mere entertainment.  Clarence Jordan compared Jesus’ parables to the Trojan horse.  It looks good.  You let it in and then – Bam! 

Why was anyone shocked when Jesus stormed back into Jerusalem the day after Palm Sunday and upset the order of the temple?  The stories Jesus told should have prepared everyone for this; upsetting order is exactly what they do.  A Samaritan is the hero and the holy people are hard-hearted.  A farmer is eager to waste seed.  A party is thrown for a ne’er-do-well son who squandered his father’s hard-earned living.  Day laborers who worked one hour were paid the same as those who toiled all day.  He blessed the meek and narrated how to love your enemies.  He disrespected Herod, Caesar, and the high priests.   

Tell me the stories about Jesus.  In a contest with the devil, he didn’t assume power.  He touched the untouchables and hung out with unclean and despised, including nasty tax collectors and tawdry prostitutes.  He defended his friends when they had blatantly violated the sabbath.  He spoke words of woe on the nice, pious people.  His table manners were atrocious; he upbraided his hosts for inviting the wrong people and he let a woman of questionable reputation give his feet an oil massage.  He claimed that he was literally God come down to earth.  What could be more laughable, offensive, and downright dangerous?  He even disrespected his mother. 

“Tell Me the Stories of Jesus I love to hear.”  I do love them, but they make my head spin, and I begin to understand why the authorities were lying in wait for him, why their dragnet was beginning to close, and why they could not let him continue.  The Pharisees with unwitting irony, huddled up and declared, “If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him.” Caiaphas chimed in, “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish” (John 11:48-50, RSV). 

Knowing that bloodthirsty men were waiting to attack him in the city, Jesus left the relative safety of the Mount of Olives, descending right past a garden called Gethsemane where he would return to pray (and get himself arrested) just four days later.  He passed through the Kidron Valley and then up the hill into the teeth of violent men who hated him.  What courage he had. 

This seems like a moment that children should be shielded from.  And yet, maybe the children were the ones who got it, or at least knew that he was the One.  He had always welcomed them, in an era when children were supposed to stay quiet and out of sight.  He had always said you have to become like them if you’re going to be deployed in God’s kingdom.  So “into the city, I’d follow the children’s band.”  We follow the lead, always.  At my church, the kids love handing out the palm leaves.  They wave them with joy and gusto, while the grown-ups clutch theirs and wave them tentatively, if at all. 

What does Hosanna mean?  We think of it as a churchy way of saying “Yay!” But the Hebrew is more desperate; it means “Save us!” or “Lord, help!”  It is fascinating that a single word can imply both a dark cry for a miracle and also an expression of joy.  Is it in anticipation of the joy that will come when the help has arrived?  Is it a dream, even a lovely declaration of certain hope?  The one who elicited those shouts -  then and now – has a similar name, Jesus, yeshu’a, means “Lord, help!”  God in Jesus became one with the cry of humanity through the ages for divine aid.  He is that cry, and he is the answer to that cry.  So, from the depths of our being, having heard the stories of Jesus, we cry, “Hosanna! Jesus! Hosanna!”  He answered on Good Friday! 

Hear a lovely elegant rendering of this old hymn from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir 

His Eye is On the Sparrow
Glory to God: 661

Text Civilla D. Martin 1905
Music Charles H. Gabriel 1905

Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for heav’n and home;
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is he;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me.

Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free;
For his eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on his goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path he leadeth,
But one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me. [Refrain]

Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise;
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to him,
From care he sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know he watches me. [Refrain]

Today’s Devotion

Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past few years. Unrevealed Until It’s Season by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.

And everything that is born. When I was a young pastor, I had a handful of members who were most unhappy with our “new hymnal” (which was nearly 20 years old at the time!) fr several glaring omissions, the most egregious being “His Eye is On the Sparrow.”

“We should never have replaced the old Cokesbury Hymnal! “ they said. Never mind the fact that they had plenty of old copies on hand and that none of my people even needed a book to sing “Why should I feel discouraged?” I just found it to be kind of corny, sentimental, and not strong enough stuff for the tough theology I was lifting up to my people. But despite my resistance, the hymn would not go away. A warbly soprano I loved dearly would regularly sing it as a solo.

I must have been just the kind of guy Jesus hoped would overhear when he told the people who didn’t matter in the world’s eyes that, in God’s eyes, they were fabulously precious. Thankfully, I’ve fallen back in love with this old hymn that I heard my grandmother sing while she went about her chores. Jesus asked us to see God’s handiwork and sustenance in mere sparrows. Walter Brueggeman calls them “model citizens in the kingdom of God.” They nest inside the glorious Temple itself (see Psalm 84:3), too high to be shooed away by the priests and their acolytes. God feeds and clothes them, quite naturally. These non-acquisitive, trusting creatures have no worries. Easy for sparrows, I’d say.

The hymn asks, “Why should I be discouraged?” Let me count the ways. “Why should the shadows come?” is worth pausing over, not merely to count all the darkness that imposes itself in every life. Raymond Barfield, in his book on beauty and suffering, Wager, talks about learning to “reverence your shadow.” If you’re in the world, you cast a shadow. It’s proof you’re here. If there’s light, there is shadow, and if there’s shadow, then there’s light. Obviously – but that is why shadows come.

What’s so lovely about this hymn is that it doesn’t pledge or expect a quick fix or any fix at all. It’s not that God will do what I ask or that God will repair everything tomorrow. It’s simply that God cares. God sees. His eye is on the sparrow – as virtually worthless as a sparrow might seem to be. Jesus pointed out that 5 are sold for two pennies (see Luke 12:6)! God miraculously cares for each one. God sees the sparrow, and God sees you and me. And it’s not just a passing glance. Birdwatchers are patient, focused people, peering through their binoculars, noticing the slightest flutter of a feather, turn of the head, opening of the beak, or twitching of the talon.

Who was Jesus! Who is he? His nickname at birth was Emmanuel, “God with us.” His parting words were “I will be with you.” He is not a magical fulfiller of wishes or fixer of all troubles. He is with us. That’s what my grandmother was singing about while sweeping and ironing. God’s abiding presence infused her with joy and strength. She was dirt poor, and her arthritis pained her. But Jesus was her “portion,” a lovely echo of Psalm 73:26.

Indeed, my grandmother and my warbly soprano friend soared to the climatic high note in the hymn, which occurs on “I’m free.”

Not free American-style, the paltry notion that I can do whatever I dang well please. No, I’m free like a bird, as in Paul’s ringing declaration, “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). Free from the cruel bondage of sin, anxiety, and fretting over self-worth or the terror of mortality.

Civilla Durfee Martin wrote the words to this hymn as a poem after visiting her friend, Mrs. Doolittle, who had been bedridden for more than 20 years. Martin’s husbandasked Mrs. Doolittle her secret of joy in the thick of affliction. “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.” That was in 1905.

It was back in maybe the year 28 that Jesus said pretty much the same thing. No wonder the hymn remains despite failing to make the cut with the hymnal committee. No wonder it’s been recorded countless times. There are versions by Gladys Knight, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Sandi Patty, and (my personal favorite) Mahalia Jackson. Although I believe God always prefers it in the voice of my warbly soprano friend.

This concludes the devotion by James C. Howell. For us Presbyterians it was a glorious sight to see that this hymn made it into our very own Glory to God, Hymn 661. Printed in 2014.

Also, please enjoy this stirring rendition by our very own Melinda Lovern who recorded this song back when the pandemic was going strong in August 2020. Her clear, radiant soprano rings out through the verses and the dramatic high not at the words: I’m free. Also of special note is Peter Larson’s always wonderful accompaniment! Thank you to you both!

Philip

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

Glory to God: 610

Text. Charles Wesley:1739
Music Carl Gläser: 1828

O for a thousand tongues to sing 
My dear Redeemer’s praise, 
The glories of my God and King, 
The triumphs of God's grace! 
 
The name of Jesus charms our fears, 
and bids our sorrows cease; 
Sings music in the sinner’s ears, 
Brings life, and health, and peace. 
 
Christ speaks and listening to his voice 
new life the dead receive; 
the mournful waken to rejoice; 
The poor in heart believe. 

My gracious Master and my God, 
Assist me to proclaim, 
To spread through all the earth abroad 
The honors of Thy name. 

To God all glory, praise and love 
Be now and ever given 
By saints below and saints above, 
The church in earth and heaven, 

Hymn Texts, A Devotional

Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past few years. Unrevealed Until It’s Season by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.

Lost in Praise

Charles Wesley certainly got lost in praise, and his hymns capture the way we finally understand our sin from God’s viewpoint when we are swept up in praise. “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” is the first hymn in Methodist hymnals and is almost the anthem of Methodism. It originally stretched to 19 verses – as if Wesley could not contain his wonder, love, and praise.

He wrote this hymn on the anniversary of his conversion. It was reportedly inspired by a chance remark by a Moravian missionary named Peter Böhler: “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise him with all of them.”

What do we think as we sing, “O For a Thousand Tongues?” Frankly, the one tongue you have doesn’t praise God very much. We are so utilitarian when it comes to God. What’s God done for me lately? What do I fantasize God will do for me next?

St. Augustine distinguished between two Latin words for love. Uti is love of use: I love something, not in and of itself, but because I use it for something else. I love money. I don’t want to cuddle with it, or frame it; I love it because I can use it to get other things I want. Then there’s frui, the love of enjoyment, what I love . . . just because. I love chocolate, not because of what I get out of it. I just love it, I must have it.

We tend to love God with uti – I think I’ll use God to get stuff I want – when God is seeking frui from us, simple adoration, what Wesley called “my great Redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King.”

Praise, frui, for God, is a gift we ask for: “Assist me to proclaim.” Praise is also the fruit of long practice, an extended retraining of the soul. Praise isn’t a mood but a disposition of your character. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us, “It would have been easy for God to create a billion computers programmed to sing His praises continually. But that would not be worship.”

deepest selves stirred

Charles Wesley had been a bit of a dogged, computer–like adherent to Christianity. He’d never missed church. He was engaged in Bible study, disciplined prayer, and service to the poor. He was dedicated to small groups of mutual accountability. So his “conversion” wasn’t as if he were a pagan one day and a believer the next. For Charles and his big brother John, the magic of 1738 was that the truths of the faith and the activities of holiness incumbent on the believer bored their way deep into our hearts. It got personal. Their deepest selves were stirred. “He sets the prisoners free.” Churchy religiosity can be a kind of bondage. No wonder many congregations sing this hymn on Reformation Sunday.

John Wesley explained that he finally grasped that what Christ had done was done pro me, “for me.” Not for me only, but most assuredly for me. This personalized “for me” is echoed in Charles’s hymn: “His blood availed for me.” He’d known about Jesus’ sacrificial atonement on the cross and had preached it and composed hymns about it. But in the spring of 1738, it was as if a new person was birthed out of that old one. He’d been born into a Christian household. Now he was born again, with passion and assurance.

Böhler’s (and Wesley’s) wish for a thousand tongues, which is vivid hyperbole, is granted when we recall that we never praise God alone. I might be in a sanctuary with a few dozen others. But at that moment, dozens of dozens of others are praising in churches nearby. If we think of the churches across the globe and God’s people throughout time, the numbers begin to stagger the mind. What do we sing at Christmas? “Sing all ye citizens of heaven above.” Saints and our own beloved, a countless host, join with us, even leading us in praise. They don’t have that uti/frui dilemma we do. They just praise God constantly and are filled with delight. Our praise is never a solo. We are part of Christ’s universal body that praises together.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Glory to God: 465

Text Joseph Scriven  1855 
Music Charles Converse 1868 

What a friend we have in Jesus, 
all our sins and griefs to bear! 
What a privilege to carry 
everything to God in prayer! 
O what peace we often forfeit; 
O what needless pain we bear, 
all because we do not carry 
everything to God in prayer! 
 
Have we trials and temptations? 
Is there trouble anywhere? 
We should never be discouraged; 
take it to the Lord in prayer! 
Can we find a friend so faithful 
who will all our sorrows share? 
Jesus knows our every weakness; 
take it to the Lord in prayer! 
 
Are we weak and heavy laden, 
cumbered with a load of care? 
Precious Savior, still our refuge; 
take it to the Lord in prayer! 
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? 
Take it to the Lord in prayer! 
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee; 
thou wilt find a solace there. 

Hymn Texts: A Devotional

Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past few years. “Unrevealed Until Its Season” by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.

Please make sure to read the special message after the YouTube video below.

Friendship

Miriam Cohen’s book “Will I Have a Friend?” envisions an anxious child’s first day in school. It’s a good grown-up question too: “Will I have a friend?” Does it help to sing “What a friend we have in Jesus”? Despite the corny, repetitive rhymes (bear, prayer, bear, anywhere, share, prayer, there) that led the hymn expert Albert Edward Bailey to say, “It is not good poetry... It is what we might call doggerel,” the hymn is much beloved, evoking a sense of warmth and familiarity. But the image of Jesus as a friend is even more profound than we might imagine.

What is a friend?

At the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants… but I have called you friends” (John 15:15, RSV). Up to this moment, Jesus has given them good cause to think of him as Lord, God, Word incarnate, Light of the World, Savior. But then this utterly magnificent, inspiring, divine one invites them to see him as a friend. What could he mean? 

For us, a “friend” might be someone we have fun with, someone who likes what we like, someone like us, someone easy to be around.  But such friendships can be thin.  We hold back from going very deep, not wanting to risk disagreement. So we stick to chatter about food or sports. Or we find our way into little enclaves of people who agree with us, echo chambers for our biases that feed our narcissism. Isn’t true that spending time only with people like us will make us ignorant and arrogant? 

Ancient philosophers like Socrates defined a “friend” as someone who helps you to become good and wise. Aristotle wrote that the opposite of a friend is a flatterer.  Christian thinkers from St. Augustine to Søren Kierkegaard thought of friends as those who help you to love God, and whom you help to love God. Paul Wadell reminds us that “Friendship is the crucible of a moral life.” You become the people you befriend. It’s formative. If Jesus is your friend, you become like him, prayerful, generous, and ready to lose everything to do the will of your Father. You will begin touching untouchables and seeing through fake religiosity. The secret to young Methodism’s vitality was that John Wesley insisted that people get organized into small groups to share in the quest for holiness. We need friends who care about and dare to cultivate wisdom and holiness, who hold one another accountable for progress toward Jesus our shared friend. Jesus explained why he would be calling his disciples friends:  “For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 RSV). Friends share God’s knowledge. They are learners, pushing one another on to a more expansive understanding of the heart of God. 

Aelred of Rievaulx, a twelfth-century Cistercian monk, said to his friend Ivo, “Here we are, you and I, and I hope a third, Christ, is in our midst.” What would it be like if Christ were in your friendships? Whom are we called to befriend if Jesus, befriender of a scandalously diverse grab bag of people, is our friend? G.K. Chesterton wryly declared that St. Francis “seems to have liked everybody, but especially those whom others disliked him for liking.” He sounds like a friend of Jesus.  

When Jesus is our friend, we celebrate differences with friends.  You disagree?  Instead of drifting away, friends of Jesus labor toward reconciliation, knowing that Jesus didn’t run off when things were difficult, wrong or less than faithful.  Martin Luther King’s insight, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend,” makes me wonder how many friends I’ve missed out on. 

What are the habits of friendship? Friends eat together. We dine with Jesus at the Lord’s Supper.  And at all our meals with friends, We are to be vulnerable. Brene Brown reminds us that friendship never happens without courageous vulnerability, candor, and sharing. “What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer,” and what a privilege to carry everything to a friend down here over dinner. Jesus “knows our every weakness” (see Hebrews 4:15), inspiring us toward friendships here that know weakness and love.  

Friendship is encouragement. “We should never be discouraged.” The tenderest way Jesus our friend alleviates our discouragement is when a friend encourages us. And friendship is sacrifice. Jesus, the best friend ever, said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13) – and then he went out into the night to be arrested, tried, and crucified – for us, his friends. What is Lent, if not being drawn into a deeper friendship with Jesus? 

A Special Note:

I began the Hymn of the Week as a way to share the history of the hymns we sing and a beautiful moment of devotion. I had no idea how much I would grow to love sharing with all of you, through you! Many people over the years have shared their appreciation and told of the ways their relationship with these hymns has evolved. This weekly communication with the congregation is something I truly look forward to because of what your feedback has taught me. 

As I reflect on the history of the Hymn of the Week I feel that there is opportunity for growth. I will be transitioning to sending the HOTW via a link in the eMessenger beginning this Friday, March 9th. To celebrate this, I will have a new hymn to share, so you are able to enjoy 2 hymns this week! This will hopefully give more members of the congregation the opportunity to find a meditative time to enjoy once the work week has ended. 

Thank you all for your kindness and candor. I am so excited to continue to share moments of music and devotion with you and encourage you to share with others.

-Philip

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Glory to God: 275

Text. Martin Luther   1529 
Music   Martin Luther   1529 

A mighty fortress is our God, 
a bulwark never failing. 
Our helper he, amid the flood 
of mortal ills prevailing. 
For still our ancient foe 
doth seek to work us woe. 
His craft and power are great, 
and armed with cruel hate, 
on earth is not his equal. 
 
Did we in our own strength confide, 
our striving would be losing, 
were not the right man on our side, 
the man of God's own choosing. 
Dost ask who that may be? 
Christ Jesus, it is he. 
Lord Sabaoth his name, 
from age to age the same, 
and he must win the battle. 
 
And though this world, with devils filled, 
should threaten to undo us, 
we will not fear, for God hath willed 
his truth to triumph through us. 
The Prince of Darkness grim, 
we tremble not for him. 
His rage we can endure, 
for lo, his doom is sure. 
One little word shall fell him. 
 
That word above all earthly powers, 
no thanks to them, abideth. 
The Spirit and the gifts are ours 
through him who with us sideth. 
Let goods and kindred go, 
this mortal life also. 
The body they may kill; 
God's truth abideth still. 
His kingdom is forever. 

Hymn Texts: A Devotional

Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past couple of years.  Unrevealed Until Its Season by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.   

A Lovely Place

My daughter Sarah and I were poking around in the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, Germany, where Martin Luther figured out who he was and what God was asking of him, when we stumbled upon a tour group. Their guide was explaining that we were in the very room where Luther and the monks worshiped every day. It was stone, medieval, with live acoustics: a lovely place.

Dreams do Come True

Without any warning or anyone saying anything at all, the tour group began to sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” with much emotion and tears.  When they were done, I found out they were recently retired Lutheran pastors who’d dreamed all their lives of coming to this place and singing this hymn, their hymn. 

Luther sparked a Reformation, wrote voluminously, translated the Bible into German – and wrote hymns.  He understood music’s power to heal, forge bonds, and encourage.  He wrote that hymn singing is a “fair and lovely gift of God . . .I have no use for cranks who despise music. . .Music drives away the devil and makes people happy...  They forget wrath, arrogance and the like.” 

A Season for Writing?

During a season of profound depression and discouragement, Luther wrote his most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” which picks up on themes in Psalm 46. It’s not that God makes everything smooth and easy. But God is “a bulwark. . . our helper amid the flood of mortal life prevailing.” 

Luther understood that life isn’t just about human beings doing good (or not). There is a cosmic battle going on all the time; invisible but real forces of evil are arrayed against the good. “Our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe, his craft and power are great.” Indeed, evil is “armed with cruel hate.” Sound pertinent to our world? 

We don’t defeat evil by trying hard or thinking right thoughts. “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.” And why can we be bold and confident? We have “the right man on our side. . . Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he. . . He must win the battle.” Ours is to follow, join, and be caught up in the wake of what he is doing. 

And so “We will not fear.” There is plenty to fear. Not all fear is bad. Is a truck bearing down on you crossing the road? Then you should be afraid and move quickly. But much fear is irrational and overwhelming. This is intriguing: After Paul wrote “Have no anxiety,” he added, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6 RSV). I used to make requests of God, and then I would give thanks if God did what I wanted – assuming I remembered to do so. But we must begin in gratitude. It is from that space that we ask for God’s help. 

What does that have to do with fear and anxiety? Psychiatrist Martin Seligman reports on studies that show that writing five thank you notes a day or jotting down lists of things your grateful for will reduce your anxiety or depression scores by a noticeable percentage.  I find when I am a thankful person, when I am in the act of expressing gratitude, I do not feel anxious. If we look back with gratitude, then we naturally look forward with hope. It is the antithesis of looking back with guilt or regret, which leaves you stuck looking forward with nothing but anxiety and fear.    

This is not to minimize all there is to fear:  mortality, losing a loved one, winding up alone, finances. What is worst of all? The Prince of darkness grim.”  I love that it adds “grim.”  For Luther, the devil was so very real that he threw things at him and hollered. “His doom is sure. One little word shall fell him” – which may be my favorite moment in the hymn. What is that one little word?  Jesus?  Grace?  Some believe Luther was thinking of the angel in Revelation 14 who encountered the devil’s spewing of hate filled words, blasphemies and falsehoods. The angle simply responded, “Liar.” There are so many lies out there: You aren’t enough. You don’t belong. Money is everything. Power is everything.  It’s all up to you. These are all lies that elicit fear and anxiety. The Christian relies on just a word. Maybe it’s “Liar!” Maybe it’s “Grace.” Maybe it’s simply “Jesus.” 

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Glory to God: 223

Text: Isaac Watts 1707 
Music: Lowell Mason 1824 

When I survey the wondrous cross 
on which the Prince of glory died, 
my richest gain I count but loss, 
and pour contempt on all my pride. 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast 
save in the death of Christ, my God! 
All the vain things that charm me most, 
I sacrifice them through his blood. 

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, 
sorrow and love flow mingled down. 
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
or thorns compose so rich a crown? 

 Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
that were a present far too small. 
Love so amazing, so divine, 
demands my soul, my life, my all.  

Hymn Texts: A Devotional

Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past couple of years.  Unrevealed Until Its Season by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.   

Ash Wednesday

When our Ash Wednesday service has ended, I linger in front of a mirror, not to inspect the quality of the pastor’s smudge above my eyes, but to ponder that I have been marked with the horror and hope of Jesus’ cross. No other hymn captures so thrillingly the paradox of this horror and hope as Isaac Watt’s “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” We “survey” the cross.  We don’t just glance at it. We measure it carefully, size it up, and consider every angle. 

Sanitized Imagery

Too often we sanitize the cross, preferring those of smooth wood or shiny metal. The original cross would have been made of olive wood, gnarled with human flesh nailed to it. Crucifixion was a gruesome, horrifyingly painful, public humiliation of criminals. Having seen plenty of crosses, the soldiers at the foot of Jesus’ cross didn’t “survey” this one. They didn’t know there was any reason to be attentive to this one. They could not see that this was God and that this was the start of a revolution of redemption. Jesus looked like any other dying, despised person – which was precisely what God wanted to achieve. 

“See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow, and love flow mingled down.” Just meditate on that for a minute or an hour, or the rest of your life. Blood and perspiration were mingled all over his ravaged body. After the piercing by the soldier’s cruel lance, blood and water flowed and mingled down. 

Back then observers might have assumed it was some mingling of justice and tragedy. But no, it was sorrow and love mingled; God’s eternal fully manifested love for us mingled with sorrow over our brokenness, our waywardness, our confusion, and our mortality. Medieval paintings depict little angels flying around the cross with cups to catch the sorrow and love flowing down. It’s precious. It’s medicine. It’s life for the world. 

“Did e’er . . . thorns compose so rich a crown?” At the coronation of Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of Canterbury placed St. Edward’s Crown on her head. It was heavy, forged of 22-karat gold, with 444 precious stones, including aquamarines, topazes, rubies, amethysts, and sapphires.  She then knelt to receive the body and blood of our Lord. Did she ponder Jesus’ very different crown, it’s only ornamenting those harsh thorns gashing his forehead, scalp, and temples? 

Just Another Artifact?

The cross isn’t just some religious artifact. It is much more than the mechanism God uses to get you into heaven once you’ve died. It fundamentally alters our values and how we live. If this is God, if the heart of God was fully manifest in this moment, if this is what God’s love actually looks like, then everything changes. “My richest gain, I count but loss” (echoing Paul’s words in Philippians 3:8). “Pour contempt on all my pride.” “Forbid it Lord that I should boast, save in the death of Christ” (echoing Paul’s other words in Galatians 6:14). “All vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them.” 

Indeed, the more we ponder the crucified Lord on the cross the less attached we are to the gadgets and baubles of this world. We give up things for Lent as a training exercise to make us ready to abandon whatever we cling to.  It is as if someone at the foot of the cross were reading the book of Ecclesiastes aloud: “Vanity of vanity!  All is vanity” (1:2). Indeed. 

Casting aside vain fantasies, we don’t sing this hymn and then hurry back into our old life. We get caught up in Christ’s causes and become generous with our money and things. What is your offering to God? “Were the whole realm of nature mine” (an absurd idea, that the richest of the rich could have so much!), “that were an offering far too small.” No gift we could muster would be enough to begin to match Christ’s sacrifice gift to us. 

So why then is my giving so measured, so chintzy? Why do I think of the life of faith as only somewhat important? Why is God the one I neglect until I’m in a pickle? The last words of the hymn get to the truth of things and stand as a stirring, unavoidable challenge to us, if we sing with any sincerity at all: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Not this compartment of my soul, or this segment of my life, or the part of me I don’t mind parting with. My soul. My life. My all. 

Enjoy this piano arrangement written by a marvelous composer Joy Hire and I met this past summer in Montreat. Victor C. Johnson.