HYMN LINES

Thursday, May 14, 2015

"If there's a void this world never can fill, let Jesus come into your heart."

Hymn: “Let Jesus Come into Your Heart” – Words & Music by Leila Naylor Morris (1862-1929)

Tune: McCONNELSVILLE

Talk about a hymn-line you may have never sung, this is in the second half of the third – and often-skipped stanza of this gospel song! Though written around the turn of the last century, this text speaks to a notion that is pretty commonly talked about among evangelical Christians: that is that there is a God-shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill… or that there is a puzzle piece missing into which only Jesus will fit.

Most of us have spent at least a portion of our life making vain attempts to fill our emptiness with things ‘of the world’ – things which fall outside the realm of faith. We may have even tried to put our faith in something or someone else, being lured into the edges of dabbling in another world religion or non-Christ-centered sect. For most of us, thankfully, we have realized early on that we’re missing the point… missing the mark… falling short of the glory of God!

My guess is that today some of you… of us… may be struggling with some of those space-fillers, trying to spackle our way back to wholeness, filling in the cracks and hoping to keep moving ahead with gaps lurking just below the surface – smiling our way through every difficulty, knowing full well that we need to turn our eyes back upon Jesus, so that the things of earth will grow strangely dim. [I know I’ve used that analogy in a previous posting, but it seemed to work today!]

Un-barricade the door. Un-lock your heart. Un-leash the Spirit of Christ to work mightily in your life. Maybe then you will un-derstand the void the world cannot fill is truly Jesus-shaped.

Just now, your doubtings give o'er.

Just now, reject him no more.

Just now, throw open the door.

Let Jesus come into your heart.

Originally Posted 08/28/2013

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

"Never a trial that he is not there."

Hymn: “Moment by Moment” –Daniel W. Whittle (1840-1901)

Tune: WHITTLE

These hymn-lines basically speak in a series of ‘never’ statements. It sort of puts us in the territory of never, never… or Never, Never Land!

Who doesn’t love the Peter Pan saga of the Lost Boys who live and fight pirates in the Never Woods on the fictitious island? In the earliest versions of his play, J. M. Barrie called it the Never, Never, Never Land, and it has become a metaphor for the escapism to everlasting childhood. We’ve all seen the movie, the play, the Broadway musical – or read the Wonder books.

But these hymn-lines speak of a very grown-up place in which we Christian people are kept near to the heart of God … year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment – as in Tick-Tock the Croc, I guess.

There is nothing fictitious about this region of living where there is

never a trial that he is not there
never a burden that he doth not bear
never a sorrow that he doth not share
never a weakness that he doth not feel
never a sickness that he cannot heal.

It is merely a list of ‘nevers’ tucked into the second and third stanzas of an old gospel song. There’s not much to add to its straight-forward message… and/or its simple truth.

So move over, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling, Captain Hook and Peter Pan. The he in our hymn-line takes center stage… and there’s nothing about him that is even close to a fairy tale. Welcome to Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Land!

“Be content, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’" (Hebrews 13:5)

Listen to a Simple Singing by a Youth Choir

Originally Posted 08/26/13

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

"Who can faint while such a river ever does their thirst asuage?"

Hymn: “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” – John Newton (1725-1807)

Typical Tune: AUSTRIAN HYMN

"Doth this cup thy thirst assuage?"

How long has it been since you used the word ‘assuage’? Unless you’ve been doing a bit part on Downton Abbey or some other British drama, it’s probably been a while!

This grand old hymn about Zion, the city of God founded on the Rock of Ages was penned by the same man who wrote what has been dubbed the Christian National Anthem: “Amazing Grace”!

This particular hymn-line follows a couple of statements about how the sons and daughters of God are well-supplied with living water; then the question is asked how could any one of those sons and daughters (you and I) ever fall by the wayside when we have such a rich supply of living water to quench our thirst? I know it is hyperbole and that the question is rhetorical… and all that poetic-device stuff, but seriously, folks: how can we claim to be thirsty when we have been offered a never-thirst-again dose of effervescent refreshment to even our driest moments?

I know that many people pooh-pooh hymn singing because archaic words crop up now and again. (I can’t believe I just typed “pooh-pooh” into one of these postings! My apologies to people with preschoolers.) For sure, the use of assuage is archaic; but without turning to any dictionary or book of synonyms, in this context we all know what it means. It’s not nearly as off-putting as raising one’s Ebenezer!

The next line of the hymn seems to indicate that the assuaging agent is grace… like that amazing grace of one of John Newton’s other hymns – grace that never fails from age to age.

So before you start swooning and crying out in your dehydration, step into that river of grace – that life-giving, life-maintaining, life-sustaining free gift of God. It could easily be the pause that refreshes!

Originally Posted 08/25/2013

Listen to This Hymn

Monday, May 11, 2015

"Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?"

Hymn: “O Worship the King” – Robert Grant (1779-1838)

Tunes: LYONS, HANOVER

In 1985 in the town where I live, The Trip to Bountiful was filmed. Right here on the streets of Waxahachie, Texas, Geraldine Page wandered about as Carrie Watts, in search of her fictional home town: Bountiful. She won a best-actress Academy Award for her portrayal… and Cynthia Clawson was nominated for her singing of “Softly and Tenderly.”

I never get to this third stanza without recalling that year when all the movie trucks came to town and disrupted the normal day-to-day pace-- because in 1985, Main Street in Waxahachie looked like Houston looked in the early 1950’s when the action was supposed to have been taking place. Gee, I love living in a quaint little town… I really do. Ah, yes. (Snap out of it, Huff. You have a blog to complete.)

Most of us would like to return to the bountiful care of our childhood… even if our home town is not called Bountiful. Those days of constant watchful protection: who can put it into words? According to this hymn-writer, it can’t be done. The vastness of God’s provision for us is such that it cannot adequately be verbalized. Instead, it is dramatized for us in creation itself:

It breathes in the air.

It shines in the light.

It streams from the hills.

It descends to the plain.

It sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

The generous care of the Holy One works quietly in oxygen and in brightness; it gushes down from the hillside, like a flood rushing through a canyon toward the flatlands; it sweetly lands upon parched places in the form of dew and rainfall. And we stand, awaiting its affects because we are frail, feeble children of dust.

Head back to Bountiful today. Sit on the platform outside the local warehouse. Drive out in the country to the tumbled-down homeplace. Recall the days gone by, and believe with all certainty that the bountiful care still abounds!

Originally Posted 08/24/2013

Listen to a contemporary mash up of this hymn with a chorus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wgDPdTy5Tg

Friday, May 1, 2015

"I join in the singing for I can't decline."

Hymn: “It’s So Wonderful” – Words & Music by Ralph H. Good Pasteur (1923-1996)

Tune: COBBS

"Care to Dance?"

Some of us (mostly men) will recall the great fear that came along with us when we went to high school dances… okay, “sock hops” for some of us whose parents wouldn’t let us associate with an event that involved the gyrations of social dancing. As long as we were just hopping about in our bobby socks, it seemed more acceptable! Back to that fear thing: The fear was not in ASKING someone to dance with us as much as it was in the possibility – even likelihood – that they would DECLINE.

Along life’s pilgrimage, we have made the choice to decline many offers far beyond a three-and-a-half-minute dance. Most of us have turned down job offers, move-away opportunities – for some, even wedding proposals. Declining is usually a polite refusal, not an act of spiteful spurning.

As someone who loves to sing in church – especially the great hymns – I have always been taken aback by the cross-armed refusal of some (again, mostly men) to participate. Some do this because they’ve been told they don’t sing well, some because it’s not the ‘manly’ thing to do, some because they find the music portion of the service to be a waste of time… for others, it’s just plain old obstinacy! Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King may – no, “must” - speak their joys abroad as they march upward to Zion.

I remember the first time I ever sang the spirited spiritual “It’s So Wonderful”: it was at Glorieta, New Mexico, in Holcomb Auditorium as William J. Reynolds introduced us to the new Baptist Hymnal 1975. I recall the joy that permeated the room as a predominantly white congregation of over two thousand worshipers was introduced to such a wonderful 20^th Century African-American praise song. Few stood arm-folded! Most swayed, clapped the beat, smiled; not many lifted-hands were spotted because after all, this WAS 1975 and we were Baptists after all!

Imagine (here I go again!) the Lord Christ walking up to you and asking you if you care to sing – if you would like to join in the melodic verbalization of your faith – to participate in praise of the one who invites you. Is there any way on earth you might say, “No thanks. I’d rather just stand here and listen”? I somehow doubt it.

We are made that offer every time we gather as a worshipping community. The next time Jesus approaches you across a crowded room and reaches out his hand and says, “Wanna dance… or sing?” don’t you dare decline! Uncross those arms (even lift them if you are so inclined) and cut loose in vibrant praise. It will make you both feel better.