Hymn: "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go" - George Matheson (1842-1906)
Tune: ST. MARGARET
Twenty-one years ago today in front of a sanctuary filled with well-dressed wedding attendees, Cynthia Clawson forgot the words to this hymn. She sang the first phrase and then began to hum and 'ooh' her way through her favorite hymn... and indeed, one of mine.
It was the wedding ceremony of Carlita Lowry and R. G. Huff. There we stood in the middle of the platform with Wayne Jenkins officiating, and Carla Lowry and Billy Coburn as our maid of honor/best man. A choir loft filled with singers who had just gloriously sung the Beethoven "Hallelujah" from The Mount of Olives under the direction of my seminary roommate David Lane all had their eyes fixed on us. And Cynthia kept ad libbing! Like the text of the hymn, we were transferred from weeping to laughter. It's a story for another book.
So in honor and celebration of our 21st wedding anniversary, I'll use this hymn-line... the longest in the collection:
O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee.
I trace the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
The joy of the Lord is my strength, and it comes looking for me when I'm in pain or despair. When it finds me, it makes me an offer I cannot refuse - I open my heart to be renewed by the joy of my salvation. Realizing such complete renewal, I visualize the rainbow that arcs apres pluie - after rain - reminding me of the promise of God that a morning will come when there will be no tears... only this presence of joy.
"Tears may linger throughout the darkness, but our joy comes with the morning light." Psalm 30:5 (RgV)
I've never been able to sing that entire stanza without tearing up... usually choking up. These tears, however, are not the painful, dark-time saline drops; these are tears prompted by the joy that continues to come looking for me to remind me that none of God's promises are wasted on his people... on me!
On August 1, 1992, at University Baptist Church in Denver (no longer in existence, by the way), Carlita and I made promises to one another, to God, and to the great cloud of witnesses who shared our wedding day. Those promises to love, to be faithful, to endure - those promises continue to bring joy to our lives; and this long hymn-line applies to our marriage, and I could easily sing it to her as well as to Him: I cannot close my heart to thee.
Watch for the rainbows. Let the prismic phenomena remind you that there is a love that will not give up on you. Rest your weary soul in that truth.
Joy is always right on your heels. Slow down and let it catch up with you.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete