Typical Tune: MORECAMBE
While the hymn centers around the request of God’s presence to hover over us and fall upon us, this hymnline says what we’re not wanting:
I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies.
But take the dimness of my soul away.
Don’t you love that?! I do! With this hymn-writer, I don’t ask for some grand vision or to be caught up in some enraptured ecstasy. I don’t desire stigmata or other openings in my epidermis in order to prove that the Spirit of God is active within me. I don’t anticipate one of God’s messengers to suddenly appear at the foot of my bed at midnight. A rolling back of the clouds to reveal the heavens behind them is un-necessary.
I’d be fine with the removal of the dull, blurry, indistinct places in my soul – those vague, even ambiguous places that tend to un-brighten the corners of who I am. Yes, I too want to have light restored to my darkness – the darkness brought on my lack of trust, my fear… even my disbelief.
So come down, Holy Spirit. Work on my in-most being. No miracles required.
Congregational Singing of This Hymn
(Again, I had trouble finding an online example that included this pivotal stanza!)
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