Typical Tune: MORECAMBE
George Croly was an Irish poet, novelist, historian and Anglican priest. In spite of all his writings, this is his only hymn commonly included in Christian hymnals. I can identify!
In these hymnline posts I’ve often used the imagery of the parent bending down to lift up a child; it seems to be a common theme throughout hymnody. This one, however, seems a little more “grown up” and comes across more as a desperate plea for rescue from one’s weak estate, with full realization that the Spirit of God is strong enough to come to our aid. This might remind us of another hymnline: “I am weak, but thou art strong.”
The next line could almost be troubling: “And make me love thee as I ought to love.” We need not look at the word “make” as an activity performed against our will – like Flip Wilson’s “The Devil made me do it!” Here, it seems to me that we who are salvaged from our feebleness are asking that our response might be to love the One who bends down to free us… to save us from what seems like an inexorable, helpless condition. Perhaps we should look at it more as an artist who makes his/her media into something else – remakes clay into a vessel, paint into a portrait, sounds into music… or words into poetry which eventually becomes a hymn for congregational singing.
Admitting our weakness, crying out for recovery, allowing transformation to occur. This is a pretty good pattern for rededicating one’s life.
This Hymn Sung
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