"As devout and patient scholars more and more its depths reveal."

Scriptorium Monk

Hymn: “Word of God, across the Ages” – Ferdinand Q. Blanchard (1876-1968)
Typical Tune: AUSTRIAN HYMN

This hymnline in context:
    … may the message bless and heal
    As devout and patient scholars more and more its depths reveal.
    Bless, O God, to wise and simple all the truth of ageless worth…

I appreciate so much when pastors and Bible teachers are prepared, when they have plumbed the passages they deal with in public, when they have read and studied the writings of other biblical scholars and theologians. Those devout and patient scholars have given their lives to a fuller understanding of what God is trying to tell his people through the written Word.

I was talking to a friend the other day who said he didn’t like hearing a certain local pastor preach because he seems to have studied too much. My friend’s preference is to have pulpiteers who “preach from their heart and their own experience.”

Some preachers and Bible teachers may tend to TELL us too much (I plead guilty to this one!), but I would never criticize anyone for being too well-prepared to unveil the truth of scripture. I want to learn something new every time the scriptures are opened: a fact, a revelation, a syntax, a meaningful realization… an ‘ah ha moment.’

With the writer of this fairly contemporary hymn (as hymn history goes!), I applaud those who have patiently combed those not-so-easy-to-understand passages, gone back to the original languages, studied the contexts and the situations. I am grateful to those whose gift is “gardening” the Word of God.


from Corban University

"Thy name be my theme, and thy love be my song."

"Thy name be my theme, and thy love be my song."
Hymn: “I Love Thee” – from Jeremiah Ingall’s Christian Harmony (1805)
Tune: I LOVE THEE

Again we find this pithy hymnline tucked into the second half of the third-and-often-skipped stanza of this sturdy old pre-Civil War hymn. We have no idea who penned these words, but there’s a good bit of honesty woven throughout the hymn.

I keep posting these prayers… fragments of hymn texts that speak directly to God the Creator, the Redeemer, the Spirit. This entire hymn is addressed to Christ; it is ALL a prayer.

This hymnline, though, catches my attention each time it crosses my mind, especially as I sing it aloud in worship. It basically says that I want the nature or character of Christ to be the very theme of my life – the leitmotif, if you please – that recurring theme that is indicative of who Christ is and who I want to be.

Not to wax too music-professor here, but most of us are familiar with the music form called “Theme and Variations.” In that form, a basic theme is stated simply to open the piece; it is usually straight-forward, unencumbered, obvious. After that, the theme is presented in a variety of ways – variations on the first-stated melody.

For us Christian folk, it would be good if we took one of the attributes of Christ – his nature or character – and developed it into everything about our lives. Let’s take the characteristic of “grace” from the arsenal of those things for which Christ stands. If every thought and action were a variation on the theme of grace, our lives would better reflect the main Theme himself.

In THIS hymnline, the unknown writer set out to make “love” the theme of his/her song.

    Thy name be my theme, and thy love be my song;
    Thy grace shall inspire both my heart and my tongue.

May the very essence of who Christ is be the theme of my life, and may love be the song my comrades “hear” through my words and deeds. That’s a prayer worth verbalizing… and living by.

"O Jesus, nothing may I see, nothing desire or seek but thee."

"O Jesus, nothing may I see, nothing desire or seek but thee."
Hymn: “Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me” – Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)
Typical Tune: ST. CATHERINE

What a great prayer this hymnline is. Simple, straight-forward, to the point.

John Wesley actually translated this from a much older hymn text, so more of Wesley’s ability to turn a phrase may be involved. Either way, if we who purpose to be close followers of Christ would begin our day with THIS prayer, we might find it answered in richly meaningful ways.

If we turn our eyes upon Jesus only, want nothing but him and his presence, and pursue no other spiritual goal, we are almost guaranteed a closer relationship with the Divine.

I said earlier that I begin every day singing at least part of the hymn “I Am Thine, O Lord.” Maybe I’ll start alternating days with this one!
  

"Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing eternal hallelujahs."

Hymn: “He Lives” – Words and Music by Alfred Ackley (1887-1960)
Tune: ACKLEY

This final hymnline from this week-long delving into a standard gospel song echoes Paul’s admonition to the church at Philippi: “’Rejoice in the Lord always.’ Again I say, ‘Rejoice’.” (4:4) I’ve always appreciated the way that even Paul had to repeat himself to get people to delight in the Lord as they worshiped!

In this hymnline, we Christ-followers who have recently celebrated his resurrection are called upon to make some noise in response to this miraculous event by singing continuous hallelujahs.

There is something about our sung praise that seems to go on forever, ricocheting through time and space… never ending. A hearty hallelujah from our mouths to God’s ears is ceaseless as it reverberates.

The very word “hallelujah” (or some form of it) is common to every language. I’ve always thought that is so when we gather on heaven’s shore, we’ll all be language-linked by that one word if nothing else. THEN we will literally join those eternal hallelujahs.

“Rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King.” And again I say, “Rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King.”

A cappella Singing of This Hymn

                                                    

"Though my heart grows weary, I never will despair."

"Though my heart grows weary, I never will despair."
Hymn: “He Lives” – Words and Music by Alfred Ackley (1887-1960)
Tune: ACKLEY

I know it is odd to start off the Lenten season with an Easter hymn... but I'm pretty sure this hymnline works any time of year.

Now and then I get weary… of body mostly nowadays… but often I get weary of heart… weary of spirit. I think I am not alone in this one!

But despair? By definition, this is the complete loss of hope… the absence of optimism. Have you ever been just this side of despair? Have you ever felt that if you didn’t make some kind of radical adjustment, you might just go over the edge and tumble into hopelessness?

This hymnline allows me to make a bold statement against ever letting that out-of-control spiral happen to me. “I never will despair.” If I mean those four words when I sing them -- and I say them with confidence and commitment -- I have made a stand against the Evil One who wants to entice me toward the cliff’s edge and then nudge me over into oblivion.

Let’s all admit that we grow weary now and then… of our jobs/careers, our families, our bank accounts, our community – even our church-life. One of my favorite lines from John Grisham’s The Painted House was the lady who would have been a Baptist but she just didn’t have the energy!

We can accept weariness, but as followers of the Risen Christ, we can NOT buy in to despair.

Every now and then during the music at a revival-type service, the music leader will shout into the microphone, “Sing it like you mean it!” That always chafes me a bit because I thought I WAS! But the next time you sing this hymnline – corporately or devotionally – sing it like you mean it!

Bluesy Piano Solo… not an ounce of despair!