"O may my love to thee pure, warm and changeless be."

"O may my love to thee pure, warm and changeless be."
Hymn: “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” - Ray Palmer (1808-1887)
Tune: OLIVET

This is one of my favorite hymns. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I have several! This one would definitely make the top ten… most days! Rich in language and deep in theology, Ray Palmer has expressed his faith in ways with which I identify and resonate. This is definitely one of those texts that works as a devotional hymn as well as it does as a congregational expression.

The line of this prayer-hymn that I’ve selected for today helps us understand what it means to love in general… and in this case how our love for Christ is exhibited.

All of us express love in different ways. [If you’ve never read Gary Chapman’s THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, get a copy. It’s NOT just a marriage-help book!] Whatever our way of expressing love, these three are foundational:

- Pure: not motivated by self-gain, without mixed motive, unpolluted.
- Warm: engaging, affectionate, expressive.
- Changeless: consistent, never in doubt, unswerving, dependable, constant, stable.

These define a loving relationship of any kind; these set the standard. They describe God’s love for us and kindle within us the longing to reciprocate.

This hymnline is the prayer of my heart. I hope you share that desire.

Mahalia Jackson Sings This Hymn

Footnote: Ray Palmer was a pastor in the Congregational church. He wrote several books and published his hymn/poem collections. His two hymns that are still widely used are this one and “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” – another of my favorites, of course!

R. G. Huff – 3/4/2014

"Ye who long pain and sorrow bear, praise God and on him cast your care."

"Ye who long pain and sorrow bear, praise God and on him cast your care."
Hymn: “All Creatures of Our God and King” – Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
Tune: LASST UNS ERFREUEN

All of us deal with pain now and then (physical and otherwise). We all encounter periods of great sorrow. There are some, it seems who bear pain and sorrow continuously, rarely escaping the two specters that loom about them. I experience a certain level of pain and sorrow for people like that, trying to identify with their station.

Some people who are dealt pain and sorrow daily respond by becoming angry and difficult. Others retreat into their own shell and reclusively try to deal with their dilemma. The ones which always surprise me, though, are those who rise above the difficulty to be people who praise their Maker in spite of where they find themselves. These are the folks who neither complain nor boast but genuinely throw themselves on the mercy of God… who cast all their cares upon the One who controls all of life – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

When one of these saints finally loses their struggle – whose long pain and sorrow is turned to eternal health and joy – we celebrate their final healing, their moving at long last into the face-to-face beholding of their Savior.

During these weeks of preparation for Christmas, be more aware of those who have long suffered pain and borne sorrow for many years; if you get the opportunity, encourage them to cast that care upon the Savior whose birth we are about to celebrate.

If that person is you, O praise him! O praise him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Accapella Setting

"Praise him still the same as ever, slow to chide and swift to bless."

"Praise him still the same as ever, slow to chide and swift to bless."

Hymn: “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” – Henry F. Lyte (1793-1847)
Common Tune: ANDREWS,

I think we established several months ago that this is one of my favorite hymns, especially sung to the ANDREWS tune.

Today’s hymnline emphasizes in a few words two of my favorite attributes of God: 1) he never changes, and 2) he is more likely to bless us than to condemn us.

The changelessness of God is paramount to my being able to trust him in any and every situation. His faithful, un-waffling nature is at the core of all he is and does… universally and personally. This truth is borne out in Scripture and history; there is little else I need to say about that!

In Scripture, we are often reminded to 'fear' God. That word is more akin to the word ‘respect.’ It is not the cower-in-the-corner kind of posture that never knows what to expect next – a spanking or a hug. He is by his very perfected parental nature more likely to encourage and treat me with loving-kindness than he is to take me to the wood shed for corporal punishment!

Throughout the Old Testament, God is referred to as “slow to anger… abounding in steadfast love.” That’s exactly what this hymnline is getting at.

It is more comforting to face the day with a consistent Savior… one who is much more likely to bless me than to discipline me without cause. Recalling hymnlines like this one helps me remember this, even when I feel like I’m being pushed around and treated unfairly. With that confidence, I can praise him still. I can also be reminded to be consistently gracious and merciful - never quick to punish.


This hymn to the ANDREWS tune… a bit slower than I like it

"Praise with elation! Praise ev'ry morning, God's recreation of the new day!"

Hymn: “Morning Has Broken” – Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965)
Tune: BUNESSAN

Elation is one of those super-superlative words: it’s a word we reserve for true excitement… probably about as excited as we can get! So this early morning praise should be done with exhilaration and enthusiasm. [You know that enthusiasm has at its root “theos”; so it originally meant excited about God!] The assigning of worthiness should be unbridled… nothing held back.

I’ve always wondered if the next line is about God’s re-creating a new day for us to enjoy… or if it means that his providing a fresh start for his creation is a form of recreation… like we use the word for something we do in our spare time to re-energize ourselves. I think it could mean either one, and I’m not sure anyone ever pegged down the English author of children’s stories and plays to find out.

On some days I hear it as re-creation… on others, I think of it as recreation. Either way, God is to be praised for providing us with yet another morning – a start-over point.

My favorite moment from the movie version of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR is when the cast realizes they have not handled the Messiah appropriately and begins to board the bus as they sing, “Could we start again please?” Each fresh morning is God’s answer to that question: “Yes, you may.”

From Lamentations 3:22-23 – “The Lord treats us with great loving-kindness, and it is new every morning.”

Art Garfunkel and Diana Krall

"Refresh thy people on their toilsome way."

"Refresh thy people on their toilsome way."
Hymn: “God of Our Fathers” – Daniel C. Roberts (1841-1907)
Tune: NATIONAL HYMN

Although considered a patriotic hymn and usually included in that section of most hymnals, except for one line (“in this free land by thee our lot is cast”), the remainder of the hymn is about the Almighty God of our forefathers… having blessed little to do with patriotism. It is in every way a prayer-hymn with a few allusions to our being people of freedom secured from war by the strong arm of our Protector.

That doesn’t diminish its usage on Memorial Day Sunday - the one we just passed; on the contrary, it strengthens its impact as a Christian hymn in appreciation for the blessings of living “in this free land.” Frankly, I’m always concerned when we get more revved up about patriotism than we do about our faith.

Those three-day weekends afford us the opportunity to be refreshed… to step away from the toilsome way that provides our monetary income. So the fact that the final stanza begins with that request makes perfectly good sense, don’t you think?

There are other worthwhile entreaties made in this prayer-hymn:
- Be our Ruler, our Guardian, our Guide.
- May your true religion increase in our hearts.
- Let your Word be our law.
- May we choose your paths, making our way in your direction.
- Grant that we might be nourished by your bountiful goodness.
- Fill our lives with godly love and divine grace.
- Eventually lead us from overwhelming darkness to daylight that never ends.

All these petitions lead us back to the hymnline for today: give us refreshment so we can take up the everyday work to which we have committed ourselves.

By his almighty hand, may God make these kinds of provisions in our lives – and may we ever express the glory, laud and praise that alone are due him.

This Hymn Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir