HYMN FOR PENTECOST 15 Forgive our Sins
- Gracia Grindal
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Text: Rosamond E. Herklots (1905-1987). Tune: American tune Detroit
(Because of copyright I cannot print the text, but you can find it in the links below with the music)
REFLECTION
Most congregations I have belonged to have in their constitutions a section on dealing with conflict in the congregation and they always refer to Matthew 18, the lesson for next Sunday. The process Jesus outlines in the passage is constitutionally required. Anyone with long experience in any congregation will have accounts to share about some conflict in the congregation that threatened to destroy it. The matter is frequently baffling in its triviality. The color of the paint in the kitchen can easily become destructive. We all know this.
But this is not quite the situation Jesus is describing. He is talking about a situation where one of us notices that someone in the fellowship is acting sinfully. While disagreeing about the color of the paint can be awful, it is not sinful, although one’s actions in response to the disagreement can be.
Jesus’ advice here has to do with the health of the body. Someone needs to be dealt with for their sake as well as the sake of the fellowship.. It is love that drives this procedure, concern for the person’s salvation, and the flourishing of the fellowship. As I read Jesus’ words, a congregation cannot be a lively testament to the faith if it does not work to assure that its members remain faithful. Our unity is in Christ, not in our selves. If there are no boundaries—that is to say, if anyone can be involved in the fellowship without confessing Christ, or flagrantly living out of sync with the boundaries of the Christian faith, the group needs to deal with it, as one does an infection. To use the bodily imagery, it neds to deal with the infection before it goes septic.
Thus, the urgency of Christ’s message. If he is not Lord over everyone in the group, there can be no unity. So, if the one on one conversation does not produce a solution, two or three need to address the issue with the sinner. Then the council, then the entire congregation. While awful, these conversations may be salutary for in the process they will inform the person and the membership what is at stake in the Christian life. Ultimately that means bowing to the Lordship of Christ Jesus. To be sure the church is made up of sinners, that is all God has to work with, but as Christians they know they are sinners and work to live as forgiven sinners, under the Lordship of Christ who is our unity.. See also I Corinthians 5:12-13.
We do not like discipline much these days, but we all know how awful it is to live with the undisciplined. Christ is showing us a way that is kind and loving, and concerned for the welfare of the person as well as the congregation. Words we need to hear.
HYMN INFO
Rosamund E. Herklots was born in North India to missionary parents from Britain. She received her education at Leeds University and was a secretary in the field of medicine, ending her career working for the Association for Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus in London. Toward the end of her life she began writing hymns. Of the more than 70 she wrote, many for children, her most well-known is this hymn. She wrote this hymn after weeding in her garden and realizing how difficult it was to make it free of weeds, a parable of her own as she wrote the hymn text.
The American tune is among the treasures we have from the Sacred Harp tradition. It appeared in the 1820 Southern Harmony and attributed to Bradshaw, although nothing is known about him.
LINKS
Koine
Westminster Presbyterian
St. Paul’s Episcopal Milwaukee
UMH
This hymn treats the text in the last stanza. A lovely tune.
This hymn treats the text in the last stanza. A lovely tune.
NB:
For those planning for Bible study through the year, you might consider the book Jesus the Harmony. It has a poem for every day of the year and Bible references for each poem that put Jesus in what has been called "the red thread of salvation." Many have been using it for daily devotions; others in group Bible studies.
Click here to check it out. https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145
Comments