CommonTunes: HAMBURG; O WALY, WALY
One of my favorite NPR shows is “A Way with Words.” Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett take calls and questions about odd English-language phrases. I’ve never called in, but I have lots of questions about colloquialisms, especially from east Tennessee.
But when it comes to hymn texts, Isaac Watts definitely has a way with words. Although many of his hymns are favorites across denominational lines, most of them have to be thought through to be truly understood… and to benefit our Christian experience. This hymn is no exception. These are called devotional hymns because they require more than cursory exposure.
Today’s hymnline allows us to give up all the selfish things that lure us away from the way of the cross (from yesterday) and offer them instead to be covered by the blood of Christ.
The image of the necessity of a blood sacrifice throughout Scripture is unavoidable. From the earliest Hebrew festivals to the ultimate blood sacrifice at Calvary, there is a red thread that holds it all together… sometimes called the “scarlet cord.”
We all have enticing impulses. The traps are baited for us at every turn, it seems. These temptations which charm us (like a snake-charmer coaxing the cobra out of the basket) seem to be unrelenting. We know where our weaknesses lie, and our M. O. (modus operandi) is avoidance. The better option might be agreement with Watts: sacrifice it to the blood which we already claim. Let it go. Turn it over. No longer recognize its pull on us.
O WALY, WALY tune sung by Kathryn Scott
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