"I need no other argument. I need no other plea."

Ellis County Courthouse - Waxahachie, TX

Hymn: “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” – Lidie H. Edmunds

Tune: LANDAS

We watch way too many legal dramas on the television at our house. In fact, we’re now into several from the BBC; we just couldn’t get enough courtroom drama here in the states! We both read legal thrillers, and because Carlita works in a law office, we have lots of discussions about how the system works.

After the bailiff (or British usher) calls the court to order, one of the first questions to the accused is “How do you plead?” or “What is your plea?” In most cases on the televised dramas, the plea is “not guilty”; otherwise, these could be some very undersized shows!

It is then that the arguments are presented from both sides of the aisle… the prosecution and the defense teams present every possible angle to support their belief in guilt or innocence.

We understand that we are all guilty, right? Guilty, vile and helpless we. Our having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God have put us into that category. But our case is argued by our Advocate (I John 2:1) – the One who sits with us at the defense table. Our striving would be losing were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing… Christ Jesus.

His argument on our behalf is brief: “I have died for this person,” he says. It’s a short argument, but it is enough. The Holy Spirit is called as a witness (Hebrews 10:15), and the defense rests.

Despite the rantings and objections of the prosecutor – the Evil One himself – who may call witnesses to the contrary, the verdict is “not guilty.” We turn to thank our Defender and offer him payment for his services; he hands us his bill marked “paid in full.” The case is closed. The next sinner on the docket is called forward, and the process continues. It is fortunate for us that the Father of our Defender was our Judge.

That’s a lot to process while singing this one hymn-line, isn’t it? I’m afraid that is how my mind works! When this phrase comes across my lips, I am reminded that I’ve had my day in court and that I am now free from the law – and it’s a happy condition.

 Hear Cynthia Clawson Sing This Hymn

Originally Posted 09/03/2013

"Let us hope and trust, let us watch and pray, and labor till the Master comes."

Hymn: “To the Work” – Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915)

Tune: TOILING ON

We don’t sing this hymn much anymore in any denomination, but I definitely grew up on it as did many of you. I’m using the last line of the refrain as the hymn-line, but the returning theme in Fanny Crosby’s text is the message that “Salvation is free!” That phrase ends three of the four common stanzas printed in most hymnals.

MY favorite of the stanzas is:

            To the work! To the work!” Let the hungry be fed.

            To the fountain of life let the weary be led.

            In the cross and its banner our glory shall be

            While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

This call to get off our backsides and get on with our calling(s) is a strong one, and it emphasizes the social message of the gospel (feeding the hungry/poor) and the evangelistic message of leading weary souls to the fountain of life… the cross whose banner flies above our troops as we march through the streets announcing the good news that salvation is without cost to the one who believes it… yet at great cost to the One who provides it.

It doesn’t happen as much now, but in addition to a lunch break, workers were given two breaks during the day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon; for many, these were ‘smoke breaks,’ but I won’t go there this time! When those breaks ended, the boss/foreman/office manager would say, ‘Back to work now,” and the day’s tasks would resume. The first line of each of this hymn’s stanzas could be “Back to work! Back to work!” 

On the spiritual side of life in our toiling for the kingdom, we need to be singing our way unbegrudgingly through Tuesday with today’s hymn-line: Let us hope and trust, let us watch and pray, and labor till the Master comes.

"Assist me to proclaim."

Hymn: “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” – Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Typical Tune: AZMON

On any given Sunday, all around the world, preachers will preach, choirs will sing, praise teams will produce music, prayers will be lifted aloud, teachers will lead small-group Bible studies, someone will share the gospel that another may hear it for the first time. And none of these can do it alone; they all need the some assistance.

Our gracious Master, God, intends to be the helper of those who proclaim the gospel in church buildings great and small, ornate and simple, long-established or store-front. The danger – yea, even the scary part - is when folks stand before others to expound on the tenets of the faith without first asking God’s backing – his undergirding.

The Broadway Show Les Miserables features a wonderful song “On My Own.” It is one of many show-stopping melodies. Some of us who serve as worship leaders join Eponine’s sentiment and think we can do this sacred task on our own… that our talents and perhaps our education will carry us through. Under our own power, we are powerlessly ineffective. The right words may be spoken, the exact notes may be sung to the proper rhythms – but they become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. They become full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Just because someone shakes your hand and says, “Good job today,” doesn’t mean a whole lot to any of us when we realize that we have gone it alone—on our own.

In public worship and in personal evangelism… at every turn in life’s road, we need to constantly be calling out for assistance, crying out for help as we proclaim the goodness of God.  Don’t wait until you are in hopeless distress to send up an S.O.S.

Today and every day: My gracious Master and my God, assist me.

Listen to an Arrangement from Coral Ridge Presbyterian

Originally Posted 09/01/2013

"Yet he who dwells in heav'n above deigns to abide with us in love, making our bodies his temple."

Hymn: “Built on the Rock the Church Doth Stand” – Nicolai F. S. Grundvig (1783-1872)

            Translated – Carl Doving

Typical Tune: KIRKEN

The One whose dwelling place is in heaven has agreed to live among us with compassion, turning our very bodies into holy ground. That’s not nearly as poetic, but it gets at the point of this hymn-line.

That is some pretty powerful stuff to ponder today. It’s about the transcendency of God (his high holy nature) and the reality that he descends to where we are. Heaven came down as a kindhearted associate.

That final phrase is the clincher in this hymn-line – that our very bodies have become his temple. In John 2:21, Jesus called HIS body a temple. We share that temple-ness according to 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

We call that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But when I think of my BODY as a TEMPLE, I get a different mental image. I’m not just a house where the Spirit of Christ takes up residence, I am a holy house, set apart for holy things. That could and should make a difference in my attitude and my behavior.

By definition, a temple is set aside for the sacred; that space is reserved for or dedicated to holy activity only. The very word temple has the same root as our word “template” – or plan/design/outline. In architectural planning processes, buildings often include what is called ‘dedicated space’ – set aside for one specific purpose only… and that applies here.

Nestled in the middle of a hymn text that has been around for some time and has been translated and re-translated over the years, we find three important truths about the God we worship and serve. I need to rethink all three as I go about my day today. How about you?

Originally Posted 08/30/2013

"Sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us."

First Posted on 08/29/2013 - The Fiftieth Anniversary of the March on Washington

 Hymn: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

Tune: LIFT EVERY VOICE

In his address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to honor the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, former President Bill Clinton repeated the phrase that we who follow after King should “put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back.” I listened to the speech on NPR today, and with all the music running through my mind and all of the day’s talk about human rights, I thought I should reflect briefly on an African American hymn-line. This is probably THE African-American hymn.

The fact that this revered song of the black church community was totally unknown to me until its inclusion in The Baptist Hymnal 1991 published for a predominantly white, mainly southern denomination speaks strongly to me on this day. It is a text replete with wonderful imagery of the liberating power of our common Christ… the Savior common to all races, tribes and colors.

I am a pacifist at heart. I believe that a fight (war) is a last-resort to solving any disagreement. I am such the conflict-avoider that I have often been trampled by those who are not! That is why to me the amazingly peace-filled demonstration March on Washington on August 28, 1963, is monumental in our history. That day’s rhetoric along with many other events along the way have stood to point out to us the dark past of the mistreatment of minorities in this country… and other countries around the world.

The people of faith – those who turn to the great God of heaven and earth to find their compass for life – have been able to learn from past wrongs and have joined in the peaceful-when-at-all-possible fight to right those, often taking an unpopular stand among their own kind… even amid their own congregation and/or denomination.

While much evil has been accomplished in the name of God over the years, and the cross has been (and still is) the banner for some un-godly causes, that same old rugged cross has remained the emblem of suffering and shame­­ -- and it has been the symbol of freedom and equality for any and all people, even those with whom we disagree and for those who look and/or act differently than we.

The line which follows today’s is “Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.” We have, in other words, been taught and have learned from the dark past… and we have emerged as enlightened, changed people who in this present day have had hope delivered to us.

If you don’t really know this great hymn, find it in print (Google it if nothing else) and study the pain and victory encapsulated in its stanzas. Whatever your political bent or your roots, you will likely find yourself empowered to join in the chorus of all who believe in human rights… civil and otherwise. Then together people of all colors, opinions and lifestyles may lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty.

Listen to This Hymn