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Text: John Newton (1725-1807) Tune: New Britain, anonymous Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav'd a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. '   ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears reliev'd; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believ'd!   Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.   The Lord has promis'd good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.   Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.   The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who call'd me here below, Will be forever mine.   When we’ve been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing his praise Than when we first begun.   REFLECTIONS This account of Jesus’ on his way to his crucifixion healing the blind man is filled with insights into the life of faith—that blind Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus is a sign of his faith. Jesus responds to the cry of faith and asks him what he wants. Bartimaeus could simply be begging for alms, but he is not. He wants to be healed and he believes that Jesus can heal him. It is interesting to note that those around the blind man want him to shut up and not make a scene. But the blind man is urgent, he knows what Jesus can do and believes in his powers.   Jesus seems to like that we call to him in desperation. He knows that when we are desperate, we can count on him alone, not our own virtues. This is a true picture of faith. Knowing that we have nothing to bring to the request except our urgency, knowing that Christ can be the one who is able to heal and save. Only when we come to see the powerlessness of our own wills do we cry out in faith. Later, we will confess, with John Newton, “I once was blind, but now I see.” Faith is the belief, without any proof, that Jesus can heal us. So we cry out, in church every Sunday, Lord, have mercy!   HYMN INFO Amazing Grace is probably the most well known hymn in the world today. Written by John Newton, a curate in the Anglican church, it became popular especially during the 1960s after Judy Collins recorded it. Newton had a very rough childhood. His mother, who wanted him to be a pastor, died when he was young. His father was at sea. Because he was an unruly child, his father took him to sea when he was only eleven. There with the sailors, he lived a hard life—he became one of the most profane on the ships, able to swear and curse with such violence that it shocked even hardened sailors. He was pressed into duty by the British navy, and later enslaved to an African. He got free and continued working on slave ships to America. He rose to be ship captain. During a storm at sea, he had a powerful experience of salvation, but continued to captain slave ships, saying later he really had to be more deeply converted to understand how evil his work was. His childhood sweetheart was a woman whose parents were not happy about him as a potential mate for their daughter. Finally, he married her and reformed. He began to oppose slavery and soon became a passionate abolitionist. He began studying Greek and Hebrew and started writing hymns. The Wesleys encouraged him. He became curate in the Olney parish where he took in William Cowper, the writer of “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” Together they published the Olney Hymnal. Amazing Grace was one of the hymns in the book. What tune it had, we do not know. But it did cross the ocean to America. William Walker, editor of The Southern Harmony , put the text to the tune "New Britain." From there it went on to become more and more popular. Walker added the last stanza to Newton’s hymn. It has become a secular standard around the world. Because it doesn’t mention Jesus it has been acceptable to those without faith. Newton without a doubt meant the grace of Jesus. The movie Amazing Grace tells the story of his work with the great opponent of slavery in England, William Wilberforce, who successfully led the drive to have Parliament ban the slave trade. Mahalia Jackson, one of the first to record it, made it into a spiritual. Johnny Cash made it a Country western song, etc. etc. Played with bagpipes it sounds like it did originally in its home in the celtic regions of Britain. My hymn uses the language of the text and the blind man calling to be healed. Amanda's tune and descant is lovely. LINKS Royal Scots Dragoon Bagpipes https://youtu.be/M8AeV8Jbx6M Mahalia Jackson https://youtu.be/ZJg5Op5W7yw Judy Collin’s version https://youtu.be/AtteRD5bBNQ Soweto Gospel Choir https://youtu.be/ZoJz2SANTyo Mormon Tabernacle Choir https://youtu.be/C2arm5ydeJc Howard University Choir https://youtu.be/C5xYvpXYMuk Gaithers https://youtu.be/qNuQbJst4Lk copyright Wayne Leupod, Editions

Text: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) Tune: Sigfried Fietz, et al. By gen­tle Pow­ers faith­ful­ly sur­round­ed, Protected won­drous­ly, con­soled by grace, That’s how I long to live these days to­ge­ther, Close by your side, to start the com­ing year; Our hearts are tor­tured ev­en now by ev­il days, The bur­dens of the past are hard to bear, Oh Lord, grant our scared souls the sal­va­tion, Therefore You have cre­at­ed us and saved. And if You pass the hea­vy cup of suf­fer­ing, The bit­ter cha­lice, filled to the high­est brim, Then we will take it, grate­ful with­out trem­bling Out of Your good and so be­loved hand. But if You will grant us once more the joy to see This world, the splen­dor of its beam­ing sun, Then we will sure­ly all the past re­mem­ber And our whole lives will be Yours alone. Let warm and bright the can­dles’ flames light up to­day, Which You have brought in our gloomy times, Lead us to­ge­ther back again if that can be! We know for sure, Your light shines through the night. When now the si­lence spreads around, help us to hear And list­en to the full em­brac­ing sound Of this world, which un­seen around is wid­en­ing To all Your child­ren’s high­est hymns of praise. By gen­tle Pow­ers won­der­ful­ly shel­tered, Awaiting fear­less­ly what there will be. God is near at dusk and in the morn­ing And with us cer­tain­ly on each new day.’             Dietrich Bonhoeffer, December 19, 1944 Tr. Eckhard Becker Translation used by permission of author   REFLECTION After James and John have asked Jesus whether they can sit at his right and left hand in his kingdom, which embarrasses the other disciples, Jesus speaks vividly of what his kingdom is. It is not the kind of kingdom they imagine. It is of another dimension, one with “gentle powers” completely upside down from their expectations. Even though they think they can drink the same cup as he, Jesus challenges them. They do not know what they are asking. When they drink from his cup, as they will, they will face as much suffering as joy. They will learn that, and we know it as we read the story again. For now they still haven’t gotten it. Bonhoeffer’s hymn, which has been translated into many languages and set to many tunes, dwells on those opposites in a way that points to the kind of kingdom and power Christ would establish. This is appropriately a Christmas hymn as Bonhoeffer wrote it in a Christmas greeting to his family some three months before his martyrdom. It has candles in it, but more than that—it has a particular pleasure of each day in the world, something the Incarnation was all about. These joys however were not undimmed by human tears. Christ suffered for us at our hands, but also suffers with us. The suffering he speaks of is incomprehensible to most of us, but the suffering of the Christian is a given—even as is it for all human beings. Christians live in a great drama in which our Lord, who came to save us from death and destruction, has to submit to the worst suffering that could be meted out to a person—a crucifixion. Add to that, it was for his friend who betrayed him, and the religious and secular powers of the day who wanted him gone. They could not bear his goodness and his wisdom. He had to be destroyed. But even as they destroyed him, he loved them and died for them. His sacrifice made things right for us. And his resurrection is the victory that defeated all his enemies.   Only when we submit to him and serve him, will we find place with him in his kingdom. A promise of joy in the midst of terrible suffering. Thanks be to God for our Lord’s gentle powers.   HYMN INFO This hymn text, “Von guten Mächten,” appeared in Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison , written in the last days of 1944 while he was facing death at the hands of the Nazis.  Since its publication, the hymn has received many tunes and translations. The translation above is by Eckhard Becker, a German writer and composer. He has included his own setting for the text on his website here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhOfybk2N-k The tune most popular in Germany today is by Sigfried Fietz which you can find in the links below.   LINKS Sung and played by Sigfried Fietz https://youtu.be/3l9QEnKsL74?si=vPMUsgz-jEaoUL18   New Choir https://youtu.be/kRJSimmhu3c?si=W565MmWJTadyhfFu Moses https://youtu.be/ZGs3iSP4aJw?si=tGGfaRb2FUum-P4r All Saints Anthem NB For a lovely anthem for All Saints Day click here https://youtu.be/Wh0JdRLgJ-I? si=_KsIIdbBLpYMOHgB

Text:  Henry F. Lyte (1793-1847)                                       Tune: Rowland H. Prichard (1811-1887)   1 Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. Perish ev'ry fond ambition, All I've sought, and hoped, and known; Yet how rich is my condition! God and heav'n are still my own.   2 Let the world despise and leave me; They have left my Savior, too. Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue. And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might, Foes may hate and friends may shun me-- Show Thy face, and all is bright.   3 Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn, and pain! In Thy service pain is pleasure; With Thy favor loss is gain. I have called Thee Abba, Father; I have stayed my heart on Thee. Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, All must work for good to me.   4 Man may trouble and distress me, 'Twill but drive me to Thy breast; Life with trials hard may press me, Heav'n will bring me sweeter rest. Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me While Thy love is left to me, Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me Were that joy unmixed with Thee.   5 Take, my soul, thy full salvation, Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care; Joy to find in ev'ry station, Something still to do or bear. Think what Spirit dwells within thee, What a Father's smile is thine, What a Savior died to win thee; Child of heav'n, shouldst thou repine?   6 Haste, then, on from grace to glory, Armed by faith and winged by prayer; Heav'n's eternal day's before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall close the earthly mission, Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days, Hope soon change to glad fruition, Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.   REFLECTIONS This wonderful hymn is by the author of Abide with me, one of the greatest of all hymns in the English language. It dwells on the issue Jesus has posed to the Rich Young Ruler in the text for next Sunday, how may I get eternal life. The Savior has already told his followers that they must take up their crosses and follow him, that the first will be last and the last first, that they should become as little children in their faith. When the rich young man approaches Jesus, we remember those teachings. It is not clear he has heard them. He seems to think that eternal life can be purchased with his great wealth like a commodity he can add to his rich store of things. Jesus cuts to the chase: even if he has followed the law, which Jesus recommends, he has actually not followed the first commandment that we have only one God. The young man's god is his wealth. When he hears that he must sell all that he has and give to the poor, he goes away with a broken heart. Although his god has failed him in this question, he cannot give it up.   The hymn, however, is the song of one who has given up his or her wealth to follow Jesus and taken up his cross. "Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!/Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!/In Thy service pain is pleasure;/With Thy favor loss is gain./I have called Thee Abba, Father…”   Scripture is filled with stories, from Eve, to Abraham, to Moses, to Jesus, of those who are given the choice of their own gods or the one true god. Our God is, by his own words, a jealous God and wants our devotion above all else. Jesus teaches that over and over again, even suggesting that if we love our families more than God, we cannot follow him. He even says we must hate our families in order to love him. That sounds appalling to many, but it puts into stark language what it means to worship God. And it is for our own good. To worship the one true God is to have things right. The fall came from Eve’s wish to be like God. Every trouble since has come from the temptation to worship gods of our own making. Such worship creates havoc. As our creator well knows. His jeaousy is for our good!   So this hymn teaches us what we must do to follow Jesus and the benefits that accrue from the true worship of God.   HYMN INFO Henry F. Lyte, born in Ireland, studied at Trinity College in Dublin, where he distinguished himself as a poet. He originally thought of becoming a medical doctor, but instead studied theology. He became rector in English parishes where he continued writing hymns. In 1818, on the death of his brother, he had a spiritual experience which utterly transformed his life and work. From then on, he said, he began thinking and preaching entirely differently. This text has several tunes associated with it. The links below feature Ellesbie, from The Christan Lyre , a tune attributed to Mozart. The other most popular is Hyfrodol, the popular Welsh tune by Rowland Prichard.   LINKS Congregation singing with Martijn de Groot https://youtu.be/qn-_bGNALU8?si=auTRjYBo9_Xv_bNR   Scott Bacher Indelible Grace https://youtu.be/NhIo2o3WLnA?si=QpRAwu8VIT9JeyQv   Biblical {Pursuit Southern Harmony sound https://youtu.be/kyb8FjUuZNs?si=64e7dKEkrz5h7f7R   Reformed Praise https://youtu.be/LOM4unf2xK8?si=ge1Jt4YSmmUnsmFB   Enfield Hymn Session https://youtu.be/N3x4TisgzTQ?si=gGWoUBQYjM-ccCEp

Jesus has just told his hearers a hard saying on divorce. People find it difficult to hear. When I preached on it once, a woman stomped out of the church. She objected not only to Jesus’ words, but to the very fact we were talking about it. I supposed that Jesus was simply speaking the truth. Anyone who has divorced and has children knows they cannot split the child into the father’s or the mother’s only. And that the relationship with the other spouse will continue through the children no matter how hard and awful the relationship is. Jesus is speaking the truth.   I suspect most preachers will rush to the end of this text where Jesus says Suffer the Little Children to come unto me and speak of our Savior’s love for children. The close relationship of these two topics is not an accident of Mark’s gospel. Is Jesus showing us how to treat the children after such a calamity? Some say that. Others don't see how the two are related. I think we should take them as a whole. Then we should refresh our understanding of a child’s faith and trust. To read about a song perfect for next Sunday, click this link to a piece on one of the favorite Sunday School songs: The Wise Man Built his House upon the Rock https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-364-the-wise-man-built-his-house-upon-the-rock   HYMN WRITER ANNIVERSARIES LINA SANDELL October is a birthday month for three hymn writers who deserve mention. Lina Sandell was born on October 3, 1832. I featured her in the hymn for last week, Children of the Heavenly Father. LISBETH SMEDEGAARD ANDERSEN This week is also the 90th birthday of Pastor Lisbeth Smedegaard Andersen, Denmark’s most accomplished hymn writer today. In addition to writing many hymns and poems, she has taught us how to look at the great treasury of art that preaches the Gospel to us. Her book on Rembrandt as a modern preacher was a revelation to art lovers who had not looked at the work of Rembrandt as sermons. Unfortunately, none of these works have been translated into English and they should be.. I first met her in 1994 at the 300th anniversary celebration of Hans Adolph Brorson in Løgumkloster, Denmark and have followed her career as a colleague and friend with admiration. She served a congregation in Risskov and then Holmen church, a historic Baroque church, in the middle of Copenhagen. In her retirement she has written many books on Christian art, narratives of her family that intersect with the history of Denmark, as well as hymns and poems, many of which have been set by some of Denmark’s leading composers. During the pandemic she wrote hymns on the prayers of Kierkegaard. She continues writing both hymns and books on biblical themes such as Mary and Jesus, or women in the bible. A real treasure of the church! Happy Birthday!   https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-epiphany-6-february-by-day-the-giant-trees-stand-still-and-quiet   https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-356-march-is-a-time-of-surprise     One of the most interesting of her poetric works is her crown of sonnets (a collection of 15 sonnets), “The Wind Stirs up the Leaves in all the Gardens.” They treat the fourteen stations of the cross. A crown of sonnets is a poetic achievement, one in which the last line of the first sonnet becomes the first line of the next sonnet, and the last sonnet is made up of the fourteen first lines of each sonnet, a tour de force. It has been set to music by Per Skriver for choir, reader and a small string group. I have translated that. Click here to read the translation of the Crown of Sonnets. https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/the-wind-stirs-up-the-leaves-in-all-the-gardens-a-crown-of-sonnets-on-the-fourteen-stations-of-the-cross?rq=smedegaard   Hallgrímur Pétursson October 27, will be the 350th anniversary of Hallgrímur Pétursson death (1607-1674), Iceland’s greatest hymn writer, especially his Fifty Hymns of the Passion.  It will be marked by many events, one of them a performance of an oratorio using Hallgrimur’s hymns in Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik at which I hope to be present. In 2019, the church published my translation of the fifty hymns which I did with the help of the now late retired bishop Karl Sigurbjörnsson. For more on Hallgrímur, click here. (They would make a fine study during Lent.)   https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-334-up-up-my-soul-icelandic-hymns-of-the-passion-passíusálmar Last hymn in the Passion

Text: Lina Sandell (1832-1903) Tune: German folk.   1. Children of the heavenly Father Safely in his bosom gather; Nestling bird nor star in heaven Such a refuge e’er was given. 2. God his own doth tend and nourish; In his holy courts they flourish, From all evil things he spares them, In his mighty arms he bears them.   3. Neither life nor death shall ever From the Lord his children sever; Unto them his grace he showeth And their sorrows all he knoweth.   4. Praise the Lord in joyful numbers; Your Protector never slumbers. At the will of your Defender Every foeman must surrender.   5. Though he giveth or he taketh, God his children ne’er forsaketh His the loving purpose solely To preserve them pure and holy. Tr. Ernest Olson; REFLECTION In the lesson for next Sunday, Jesus warns his hearers not to hurt a little child. The consequences are dire—eternal flames. We should do everything to keep from hurting a child, even maiming ourselves to keep from doing so, Jesus says. Hurting the faith of a little one is just about the worst thing one can do.   Putting that together with the previous conversation in which Jesus suggests that we become as little children in our faith makes the number of children whom we must treat with ultimate care, a great number. We have a Heavenly Father who cares for us as his beloved children and makes us safe. Our hymn today, one of the favorites of all time, makes that clear and rejoices in the safety God provides. Lina Sandell, (1832-1903) a precocious Swedish pastor’s daughter, wrote this classic hymn, the most popular in Sweden today, when she was between 17-19. Legend has it that she was sitting in the large tree in front of the parsonage as she wrote it, looking at the birds of the air and the stars above.   The poem is drenched with scriptural references. She had learned her Bible well. We hear echoes of Romans 14:8 in stanza 3, “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” In Stanza 4, Psalm 121:3--“He who keeps you will never slumber.” In stanza 5, Job 1:21, “The Lord gave and the Lord takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord.”   We might wonder what she, a teen-ager, had to worry about. Much, it turns out. Life in her time, was dangerous. The Sandell family, living in the small village of Fröderyd, in the middle of the woods in Småland, Sweden, had to depend on what it could raise on its farm and the living her father got. Food could be scarce and one of their children died very young. The rocky soil made farming difficult. Life was not easy. Sometimes all they had were the promises of God.   At the time she wrote this hymn, many of her father’s parishioners were fleeing the hard life in Sweden for America. Life was not easy there either, but the pioneers brought Sandell’s songs with them and sang them for comfort in the primitive houses they first built on the farms where they settled.   When she was dying in 1903, thousands of Swedish Americans sent letters to her thanking her for giving them God’s promises to sing as they met the difficulties of their day. They are still true. Rest in them. HYMN INFO There are many performances of "Children of the Heavenly Father" on Youtube in every possible style. My favorite is this one by Carola, a Swedish singer who with organist Iver Kleive of Norway prepared a CD of Sandell’s songs for the 100th anniversary of Sandell’s death in 2003. Kleive is one of Norway’s greatest keyboard artists, he does everything from Rock to Reger. LINKS Iver Kleive/Carola https://youtu.be/i7xjuNQq-mo?si=K-Ajy8d9muiU8kZV Göran Fristorp, a real Swedish troubadour, came to Luther seminary in 1992 to sing Sandell, too. https://youtu.be/XEDUN-xS0yg

Mark 9:30-37   Text: Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944) Tune: Cleland Boyd McAfee (1866-1944)   1.     There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God; A place where sin cannot molest, Near to the heart of God. R/ O Jesus, blest Redeemer, Sent from the heart of God; Hold us, who wait before Thee, Near to the heart of God.   2.     There is a place of comfort sweet, Near to the heart of God; A place where we our Savior meet, Near to the heart of God. R/   3.     There is a place of full release, Near to the heart of God; A place where all is joy and peace, Near to the heart of God. R/   REFLECTION Many of the hymns we love most were written by faithful Christians who were facing some existential crisis filled with great suffering. Emily Dickinsen wrote once, “I like a look of agony/because I know ‘tis true.”  This hymn was written in a moment of agony. The author was deeply distressed by the diphtheria that proved fatal for two of his nieces. He wrote this hymn to find comfort not only for himself but also for the others. It is said that friends and family gathered outside the house and sang it for the girls and their family inside because the home was under strict quarantine. The anxiety, fear and despair of the author are not noted or expressed in the hymn. All we can know is that these words of great wisdom, faith and comfort came out of and spoke to such an awful situation. They are immensely healing. We cannot expect to live a Christian life without suffering—Martin Luther counts it as one of the marks of the church. According to Jordan Peterson, the current spiritual and biblical guru, suffering is what life is and is what causes us to grow. Only by facing our suffering do we truly live. The strife we go through, if we live truthfully and wisely, gives us the faith and serenity to sing this hymn with cheer.   Jesus speaks to his disciples about his coming death and it obviously baffles and terrifies them. It is also disappointing to hear them arguing just after he says this. about who will be the greatest in his kingdom. They still think that Jesus is going to set up an earthly government and they want place in the bureaucracy. Jesus upbraids them with the truth that his is a different kind of kingdom than they are imagining, one where the first shall be last and the last first. He then points to a little child in their midst whose faith is the model he holds up for them.   That is the kind of faith one hears in this sweet hymn for children and their suffering parents. Jesus is the one who brings us “near to the heart of God.” There can be no fear there.   At present we are an anxious and fearful people, very worried about the future. I find it as difficult as any to be serene and calm in the midst of it. so I need hymns like this one. It doe not simply tell me about peace and quiet, and help me through my suffering, it actually gives me "joy and rest/Near to the heart of God.” Peace. HYMN INFO Born in Missouri to a father who founded Park College in Parkville, Missouri, McAfee went to Union Theological Seminary and returned to the college to teach philosophy, and serve as choir director, pastor and dean. He left in 1901 to become pastor of First Presbyterian of the Lafayette Avenue Church of Brooklyn. Later, he taught at McCormick Theological Seminary from 1912-1930. He was moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States for some time. LINKS Kaoma Chende Gospel https://youtu.be/z7b6kyk9QH0 Fountainview Academy https://youtu.be/l4-Jkb3vgSs Greg Howlett/Piano and instrumental https://youtu.be/m4xLq_ssMKQ Erin Bates/piano https://youtu.be/LGAypwuvBpQ

Text: Fanny Crosby (1820-1915). Tune: William Howard Doane (1832-1915) Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all—a healing stream, Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain. R/In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever; Till my ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river. 2. Near the cross, a trembling soul, Love and mercy found me; There the Bright and Morning Star Sheds its beams around me. R/ 3. Near the cross! O Lamb of God, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day, With its shadows o’er me. R/ 4. Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, Hoping, trusting ever, Till I see my Savior’s face, Leave his presence never. R/   REFLECTION Jesus shocks Peter, after his confession that Jesus is the Messiah, with his statement that he was going to die on a cross. This was no way for a messiah to talk, Peter told him. And in terms of world governance, and power, he is right. But Jesus is showing him a new way which ultimately will show the world more power than anything dreamed of—the power over death. There is this irony in Jesus’ claim that those who seek their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives will find them. This makes no sense in terms of worldly calculations, but we know it is true, even in this world. Those intent on a goal, and who think of nothing else, often idolize their goal, and lose their way. Many a leader can go bad, even one who had started with a kind of purity. They can be corrupted and made useless by setting aside their own lofty principles for gain. We can see it in the leadership of our world. Something seems to happen to even the most lofty person when they get power. No wonder Lord Acton's phrase, "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."   The miracle of our faith is that it begins with lowly fishermen and tradesmen in out of way places like Galilee, Nazareth and Bethlehem. Can anything good come out of there?   Well yes, the greatest good of all. God come down to live and die for us. The Gospel of John says the greatest glory of God can be seen in Jesus on the cross. There God’s Son gives up his life to save us. It is his glory, and as the hymn says, can be ours also. "Be my glory ever."   The disciples who saw all this first hand went forth into the world to preach this gospel. None of them ever went back on their testimony. Although all were martyred, they did not fear death and so went out bravely to witness to Jesus’ everywhere. They were not afraid because they had seen the Lord of life defeat death. They had every reason to trust in Jesus and lose their life for him. And what glory followed for them! May it also be for us!   HYMN INFO Of all the thousands of hymns Fanny Crosby wrote, this is the next most popular after "Blessed Assurance." Crosby's good friend, William Howard Doane, had written the melody without a text. When she heard it she knelt down and prayed and came up with this text. Fanny used her married name, Mrs. Francis J. van Alstyne when it was published in 1869. Blind from birth, Fanny enrolled in the New York Institute for the Blind when she was fifteen. She stayed there as a student and then a teacher until 1858. She began teaching English grammar, Rhetoric and American History in 1847. In 1858 she married Alexander van Alstyne, another student and teacher there. Upon marrying, they left the school and established their own home. They had a daughter, but she died in infancy. While the couple remained amicable until his death, they did not live together after this. She was famous--and was said to have met every American president from Lincoln to Wilson. She also met Jenny Lind on her American tour in 1850--Lind sang for the students at the Institute where Fanny taught. Crosby learned from Lind that hymns were the best way to reach people and so she began writing them. Doane was born into wealth and went on to make a great deal of money as an inventor and manufacturer of wood working tools. As the writer of over 2,000 hymn tunes which he also published, he became extremely wealthy and used his money to endow Denison University and Moody Bible Institute with buildings and large sums of money. LINKS Don Shirley's jazz version, an elegant and simple piece https://youtu.be/1L-1trWCQe0 Russian version/amazing! https://youtu.be/GB7V4usZhVQ English/Hastings College Choir https://youtu.be/cQuZd14ZIJ4 Icelandic/Betesda, Ebenezer and Siloa https://youtu.be/4crx9C55Zzc Faroe Islands/Bethesda Choir https://youtu.be/WhU5K-wCIDE

Norsk: Jesus din søte forening at smake REFLECTION The text for Pentecost 16 gives some readers the willies and drives preachers to other texts. Jesus is recorded as saying rather harsh things to this desperate woman. He was not sent to her, she is not part of his mission, is she like a dog? One might ask then why did he go to SyroPhoenicia? It was, for his people, the center of paganism. He very well knew he would be confronted in this way by needy people. And indeed he was.   There is an intense exchange between the woman who wants Jesus to heal her possessed daughter and Jesus. Her logic is impeccable and Jesus realizes that, so much that he changes his mind? That is tricky for many. As God, would Jesus not have known that? My favorite NT scholar Frederick Dale Brun argues that indeed Jesus learns that his mission is to the whole world from her. That is something of a shocking exegesis, but something does happen here. If the food should go to the people it is intended for, she says, one also has to remember that at great meals, crumbs drop to the ground and feed the family pets. More are fed than those intended for it, is her basic argument. All she wants it a crumb. Jesus is persuaded and marvels at her great faith and tells her that her daughter is healed.   While this may be the deeper meaning of the account, the focus on faith needs attention. I know of only one great hymn that treats this woman, the German/Danish hymn Jesus I Long for your blessed communion, in the original to taste your communion, sung by Hans Nielsen Hauge, the great lay evangelist whose work changed Norway, when he had his great life changing experience. While he only got to stanza two before being struck down by a light from heaven, stanza four tells the story of this woman and her faith, especially her prayers. Its conclusions urges us to use her as a model for our prayer—and not give up in our quest for healing. God says Amen to our prayers! Faith is our relationship with Jesus Christ, a two way relationshhip. As in any relationship that is worthy, we long for closer communion with the beloved. That closer communion with Jesus is our prayers. While this woman has one goal in mind—the healing of her daughter—we may simply have a longing to be closer to Christ. Thus the first stanzas which stress that we need to confess our sins and let Jesus heal that rift to bring us comfort. On the second hand, our relationship, like any, ebbs and flows. God knows that we tend to cry out more to him when we need something. Our need is not a failure of faith, but it usually drives us to the source of our faith more quickly than a sunny day. Crying out to Jesus for help brings him to us quickly, with healing in his wings. The Canaanite Woman and her Daughter In a far country, out of Israel, Jesus meets a woman who believes He is “the Lord, the Son of David.” She yells For him to heal her daughter, she needs reprieve, The demon never lets her rest; her cries Irritate the disciples who beg the Lord To send her away. He’s silent. Then replies “I was not sent to you.” She sinks to the floor, “Help me!” A cry as plaintive as it gets. “Even the dogs eat the table crumbs!” Her faith surprises him. He sees a net Singing across the waters, the kingdom come, Her parable opens him to all the earth, Stunned as she sees his wonder show its worth. (From Jesus the Harmony Gracia Grindal Fortress Press 2021   HYMN INFO This hymn comes from German pietism which sees Jesus as Wisdom, Jesus Sophia. It was translated by a friend of Hans Adolph Brorson, Peter Hygom, a pastor near Brorson’s home. It went north quickly and received many Norwegian folk tunes. The one most popular today is a folk tune from Ryfylke in Norway. The second hymn, Just a Crumb, focuses on what poets call a synecdoche, a trope Martin Luther loved—in a small piece of bread one receives the entire kingdom of God. L INKS Sissel—singing with the Norwegian tradition of quarternotes https://youtu.be/nINI6X0FW5c?si=DpAKvdMBAtUiwGyo   Tono Holbækmo https://youtu.be/lG3Dkr0TEY4?si=KvOBlhEThTb6JC8x   For more on Hauge see https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-20-jesus-i-long-for-your-blessed-communion NB: Another hymn on the account

Danish: Hvor dejlig skal Guds kirken stå   Text: Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634-1703)   Tune: Martin Luther (1483-1546) (For text and music see below)   REFLECTION It is easy to miss Jesus’ meaning in Mark 7, the gospel lesson for next Sunday. In teaching the religious leadership of his day about their faith, he gets at their failures. It can be difficult for us to apply his fierce approbations against them to our own lives. We don’t have strict dietary laws, we say, or do we? Today people can become pretty fierce about what they eat, almost making their rules into a saving faith. On other issues that Jesus mentions, we plead innocent. We aren’t open sinners, so we vote to acquit ourselves.   So if we are not terribly transgressive, we content ourselves and ask God to forgive us and then may even wonder why. We have been pretty good, all things considered. But here is where the danger lurks. Open sin, while awful and against God, is maybe not our issue. The lie at the bottom of my self-satisfaction is that I am good enough to please God. I want to be reconciled on my own terms. And that is the fundamental problem—my own sense of worth up against the holiness of God. Gerhard Forde, my colleague at Luther Seminary, would note that God had two problems with us: our sin, and our righteousness. That I could think God would be reconciled to me without my repentance is one of the lies the devil has helped us think is possible. Think of how much God did to get close to us, even the death of his Son. Deciding our way will reconcile us is nothing less than apostasy! It comes from our wicked hearts.   Jesus talks about the human heart and its corruptions—it is not what goes into the body that corrupts it—that will end up in the privy—it is what comes out of the human heart that is corrupt.   There is a mantra among contemporary poets that says, “Write what is in your heart truthfully and poetry will come of it.” Much of this poetry is shockingly sinful, narcissistic, and ultimately boring. While the devil is wily, he is not creative—he can’t be—so our transgressions, while tawdry, are all similar in a dull, but revolting, way. God knows us better than we know ourselves. Making us holy is best done in the congregation with friends in Christ. In the kingdom of heaven on earth, the congregation, God ministers to us and we to each other. As Kingo says in stanza 5, “the secrets of the heart he reads/The wicked cannot be concealed/Their evil ways shall be revealed/Each true believer God well knows,/And Love and grace on them bestows.”   So we pray that God will renew our hearts and fashion them, each secret part, as Kingo has it, so we will be sanctified, on .his terms, not ours. Jesus sees us as we are. He came to clean house, and as he dwells In us, he will.   HYMN INFO Thomas Hansen Kingo, a Danish pastor and later bishop, is counted among the greatest of Danish hymn writers, and the source of much of Dano-Norwegian hymnody. He compiled the great hymnal of 1699 which was used among Danes and Norwegians until the middle of the 19th century. His hymns are still at the core of the current Danish hymnal. This hymn first appeared in Kingo's hymnal of 1699. It was a reflection on 1 Peter 3:8-15, the epistle for the fifth Sunday of Trinity in Kingo's time. It has been set to Luther’s tune for the Lord’s Prayer, Vater Unser. Because it was a teaching hymn and not a hymn of praise to God, it lost its place in American Lutheran hymnals after 1950. F. Melius Christiansen of St. Olaf College, composed an anthem on it that was among his most well known works for many years.   LINKS Calmus Ensemble singing Vater Unser, the same tune as used for the Kingo hymn https://youtu.be/sIZp2NXs5tg?si=iDGHqd-r0iClg5q-

Text and tune: Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)   Sing them over again to me Wonderful words of life Let me more of their beauty see Wonderful words of life Words of life and beauty Teach me faith and duty Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life   Christ, the blessed One, gives to all Wonderful words of life Sinner, list to the loving call Wonderful words of life All so freely given Wooing us to heaven Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life Words of life and beauty Teach me faith and duty Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life Beautiful words, wonderful words Wonderful words of life   REFLECTION Once again our texts focus on the bread of life. By this time even the disciples are troubled by Jesus’ continual reference to eating his flesh. As I was "chewing" on this text for next Sunday, a few connections rose up out of the mists of history for me. For the Hebrews and the Greeks, word is substance. God tells Moses (Deuteronomy 30:14) that his word is very near to Moses, "it is in his mouth and heart." Nothing is as real or near as God who lives in his word which inhabits our beings. We speak of chewing on words and ideas, of digesting them and making them our own. We confess in our creeds and in our life of faith that Jesus is the Word made flesh. So hearing, tasting, speaking, digesting, all bodily functions having to do with concrete stuff available to the senses are also the organs that take in the spiritual and sacred so what is spiritual is also what is physical. They really can’t be separated. So, as Jesus has said, without his flesh in us, through his word and sacrament, we are without life. They come through the same vehicles and become incarnate also in us as we consume them.   Christ’s mission is, through the spirit, to make us holy. He doesn’t do this with the touch of a magic wand, made to transform us into something new. He does it through the cells in our bodies. Most people today may think hearing is abstract, and only what they see is real, but actually, upon further thinking, hearing is believing, and seeing, even if the old saw says it is believing, is often misleading to us, something we learn as we are flooded with images, many of which have been altered so we will be fooled. The doubter Thomas wants to see, but if we read that account closely it is more the voice of Jesus that enters his being and he worships Jesus as his Lord and God.   What we have taken inside of us, heard, tasted, eaten, becomes part of who we are, what our flesh is. When we look at something, we see it as separate from us. We cannot do that to what we hear and eat. People of course can lie to us and we may believe their lies, but ultimately that will be sorted out because one cannot live on what is not true, or what is false. Philip P. Bliss’ repetitive hymn helps us meditate on these wonderful words. Chew on them, speak with a friend about Christ, share him, go to church and hear of Jesus, go to the altar and consume his words into your flesh. Give praise and thanksgiving for his life in you. Jesus had to die of course and be raised so he could make us holy, and it takes a miracle to do so. But it is his promise and he keeps it. Wonderful words, indeed. Sing them over and over again.   HYMN INFO Bliss story is very sad—he was a promising young Gospel composer who was working with Dwight L. Moody and the revivals of the day. He wrote the music for When Peace Like a River and many other beloved hymns. He and his wife were on their way to Chicago when the train crashed new Ashtabula, Ohio. It was one of the worst accidents of its kind. Bliss survived the accident but died while trying to save his wife in the burning train. For a more detailed report on that see this link https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-95-i-will-sing-of-my-redeemer   LINKS Wonderful Words of Life https://youtu.be/PVh--AlfkH4?si=4if4bQlMccSN_zsL   Islington Baptist Church https://youtu.be/PVh--AlfkH4?si=4if4bQlMccSN_zsL   The Gaithers https://youtu.be/q499q89HOpM?si=whH-G0YFK4KiTPmZ

Text and tune: Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) (For copyright reasons I cannot print the text, but you will see it on the links) REFLECTION This song uses much of the language of the text for Sunday and gets at what Jesus is saying in his sermon which shocks his audience. What is he talking about? Cannibalism?   We have spent most of August in John 6 and while to some it seems repetitious and over much, others see it as inexhaustible. And full of surprises no matter how much one has read the chapter. (Scripture is new every morning we are told!) This time, for me, the most surprising thing Jesus says is in verse 53: If we do not eat his flesh and drink his blood we will have no life in us.   To understand this better, we have to look again at his verbs. Because he came down from heaven and was incarnate, he now can come down in the body and blood every day, every moment so we can live and never die. Without this daily bread, Jesus says, we will never live.   This will shock those who do not like the exclusive claims of the Gospel, but here it is. We must eat and drink so our bodies can live, but here Jesus says something about what true life is: without him, we have no life, really no spirit, in us. I sometimes wonder if that is why the world hates Christians? Even in their death, the worldly can see life in Christians. They cannot comprehend that and are offended and bothered by it.   It is also what attracts Christians to each other: We see Christ and his life living in others who have eaten his bread. And part of our calling is to bring that life to the entire world so all can share it with us.   Jesus here is lovingly offering himself and his spirit to all, so that all will have eternal life. No one who eats and believes will be excluded. Imagine that! Jesus is telling them the truth—a truth that will utterly change and bring all who believe him into eternal and joyful fellowship!   HYMN INFO This comes from the worship resources of the Taizé community in France. Over the years, many thousands of people have made a pilgrimage there to sing and worship together and share their fellowship in Christ Jesus. The genius of Berthier's compositions is that they can be quickly learned and sung repeatedly without reference to a hymnal. Latin was the main language and it is used by all, but many of the favorites have been translated into the vernacular. Berthier composed music for the community before he became organist at the church of the Jesuits in Paris and after as well. Robert Batastini of the GIA publishing company, prepared the English version.   LINKS Chris Brunelle https://youtu.be/x_QTrePmuLg?si=oQf1Tv9GxOs0FMTJ   Corpus Christi Evening Choir https://youtu.be/I1szB_qtDpw?si=T00m42HC8c7iawNj   Chet Valley Choir and congregation https://youtu.be/rBmn6cdAnO0?si=or-Fmfhig6VQRJaF   Jaques Berthier https://youtu.be/ruCqg8WjNm4?si=7SrDkG9jSWd0iEhk How Strange these Words Text: Gracia Grindal Tune: Amanda Husberg

Text: 2 Samuel 18:33, King James Version of the Bible     Tune: William Billings (1746-1800) David the king was grieved and moved He went to his chamber, and wept; And as he went he wept, and said, “Oh my son! Would to God I had died For thee, Oh Absalom, my son.”   REFLECTION Hardly anything in Scripture is more poignant than King David’s lament on hearing Absalom, his rebel son, has been killed by a loyal soldier, contrary to David’s explicit instructions. Most parents know this emotion all too well. When a child is ill or suffering some sorrow, we all say we would gladly take the illness or consequences on our shoulders. It is a pain one poet writing about the death of his daughter calls a “heart’s needle.”   We all know the story. David had a quiver full of sons by several wives. Absalom is not the heir apparent, but he wants to be. The whole sordid story is told in 2 Samuel 13-18. Scripture notes how handsome and attractive he was, and his cunning against his father as he was trying to usurp the throne. He had been outraged at the rape of his sister by his older brother Amnon. Absalom finally had him killed. David grieves for Amnon, and Absalom flees. They are reunited after a woman comes and tells a story that causes David to call Absalom back to Jerusalem, but not to David’s sight. After some time Absalom begins to foment a rebellion against his father, winning the hearts of the people by his clever treatment of them. He forms an army to fight David. Finally David has to flee absalom's army and Jerusalem over the Kidron. As he climbs the Mount of Olives weeping, one has forebodings of Jesus doing so many years later. To make a long and complicated story short, after Absalom takes Jerusalem, David musters an army and prepares to go to battle with his son’s army. His own men plead with him not to fight as he is more valuable to them than thousands, they say. During the battle Absalom is caught in the branches of an oak. Joab, David’s loyal servant, kills him. David is sitting between the gates and waiting to hear the results. He sees two runners and assumes the news is good, but also fears for his son.   As one of the runners, a Cushite, approaches he tells him they have won; David asks after Absalom. The Cushite says, “May the enemies of my Lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” At this, David retires to his chamber and weeps. Scripture records the heartrending lament so well and so intimately we feel the reporter must have been there, as some scholars say is likely. Whether that is true, we know this cry of agony is true. While David is upbraided by his general for casting shame on his victorious troops, which David understands and changes his behavior, we see in his grief, the trials of the king, who is also a father. While this not about the Bread of Life text,  I cannot hear David’s grief without thinking of God the Father having to watch his own son dying on a tree. As Scripture says, Jesus has become sin itself. God has to forsake him briefly. While Asbalom is no Christ figure, we do feel the grief. Our Father God sent his only Son down to give himself to us so we, through his sacrifice, can receive eternal life. There is human and divine stuff here. The grief of David for his sinful child, which is so vivid in this song, can give us a small sense for the grief of our Father in heaven, watching his Son die as a criminal.   God in his Son gives everything, even his beloved Son, so we might live forever with him. HYMN INFO William Billings is considered the first great American composer. Born to a tanner in Boston, he supported himself in his father’s vocation as he began composing music. Untrained, but a quick study, he learned to compose very early, producing a collection of hymns in 1770, The New England Psalm Singer . Good friends with Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who engraved his music, Billings supported their efforts in the American Revolution and wrote several songs such as Chester that became something of a national anthem in its time. Billlings wrote most of his own texts and frequently took them directly from the Bible, as he did with this text. In his day, his works were fairly popular, but during the last decade of his life his popularity faded and he and his large family were reduced to extreme poverty. He suffered from several disabilities—his one leg was shorter than the other, and one arm was lame. Today his work is appreciated especially by those who love the Sacred Harp tradition. One can hear that sound in several links provided here. It is a treasured part of the American tradition of song. LINKS Paul Hillier and His Majesties Clerkes https://youtu.be/vOwq3HLMKLY o Cork Sacred Harp Convention—the way it sounded and looked https://youtu.be/LwcAs0wIrik Christopher Wren Singers https://youtu.be/Eui0wWaFT-4 Gerubach—watch the music scrolling along and sing along https://youtu.be/wsli4duIUjg Another setting of the story by Elam Rotem in Hebrew with the Profeti della Quinta https://youtu.be/M3McY3zbdzs