Hymn: “’Whosoever” Meaneth Me” – Words and Music by J. Edwin McConnell (1892-1954)
Tune:
McCONNELL
How long has it been since you sang this old
gospel song? For me, it’s been a while… probably years!
I
know that as a kid growing up in First Baptist Church in Pigeon Forge, I never
got the title or the recurring text of the refrain. I remember translating the
word meaneth as bad behavior…
as in, I was really mean today. I
honestly thought we were singing “Who’s so ever mean as me!” Even when I could
read, it took me a while to figure out what the hymn was about.
In
the old King James Version of scripture, Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever calleth
upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” McConnell was actually saying that “Whosoever” refers to me. All those ‘-eth’
words in the KJV were just confusing – still are!
However,
I got the opening line of this old toe-tapping favorite of the country church: I am happy today, and the sun shines bright.
The clouds have been rolled away. That’s pretty straight-forward; even a
little boy in the Beginner Department understood that much – and so does this
long-time qualifier for AARP discounts!
Remember
how that cloud lingered over Joe
Btfsplk in the comic strip L’il Abner? He was for a time America’s iconic
jinxed individual… with an unpronounceable last name! That guy could have used
a good dose of today’s hymn-line!
Joe
Btfsplk finally captured his cloud in a jar and for a short time had a pretty
normal, happy life. I don’t recall his singing of this hymn-line, but he could
have. For the first time in his comic-strip life, he was happy, he could see
the sun, the cloud had disappeared.
I’m
happy most days. How about you? I hope so. However, when the clouds
block out the sun – and I’m not speaking meteorologically here – perhaps we
need to find a good Mason jar, capture the hovering cloud, and tighten the lid.
(I suddenly had a childhood flashback to chasing down lightning bugs – fireflies! Am I waxing nostalgic today, or what?!)
Cynthia
Clawson – my very favorite hymn singer – recorded a song a few years ago on her
River
of Memories album on a text by Gloria Gaither. It has rung in my mind
so many times when the clouds have
overspread the sky and billows round me roll. Here is part of the text:
It won’t rain always.
The
clouds will soon be gone
The
sun that they've been hiding
Has
been there all along.
Some of us are standing in the shadows when we
should be stepping in the light.
Weather-wise, it is a beautiful unclouded day in Texas! I’m sitting here on the back porch typing
on my laptop, enjoying the morning – and I am happy
today, and the sun shines bright. The clouds have been rolled away.
Grab a Mason jar and join me!
Hear a Quartet Sing
This Hymn
Hear Gary Chapman Sing This Hymn
Hear Cynthia Clawson Sing “It Won’t Rain
Always”
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