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HYMN FOR PENTECOST 2 His Eye is on the Sparrow
Text: Civilla Durfee Martin (1866-1948) T une: Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932 Jesus teaching the disciples James Tissot 1..Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: //His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;// R/ I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me. 2. “Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see; //His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; //R/ 3. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;| //His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;// REFLECTION Jesus healing the paralytic The more I read Scripture the more it feels like I have never read it before. It is always new and surprising. Jesus in Matthew 10 is instructing his disciples on what they are to do on their mission: proclaim that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and then to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons. Jesus has given the disciples power to do what he has been doing. These miracles are no small thing—raising the dead no less! Doing this is certain proof the kingdom of heaven is near. In his instructions he invests them with his powers. Thus they bring Jesus, the kingodm of heaven, with them to do the works he commends to them. This list of miracles is not in the command he gives in his Great Commission, Frederick Bruner says in his wonderful commentary on Matthew. There we are to baptize and teach all that he commanded, and he will be with us always. Because he is with us, we will bring the kingdom wherever we go, that is sure, but do we do anything but baptize and teach? Or as we go as salt and light, or sheep among wolves, will we be called to act in his name with healing, casting out demons and raising the dead? It isn't clear. Maybe we are wait in each encounter we have with another for a word from the Lord. He tells us not to prepare a speech beforehand to defend ourselves when we are hauled before our persecuters. At that moment we will be given the words to say. It is the mystery and surprise of the Christian life, always to be waiting on the Lord in every new situation. As our hymn has it, I know he watches me. It is not a picnic to do as he commands, either. Doing as he commands will bring persecutions and suffering to us, something Jesus describes vividly. This is what it means to bear our crosses, he says. One has to believe in the dread purposes of the Lord to fathom some part of these instructions with their consequences. Yet we are not to fear. God is watching over us as he cares for the sparrows of the field. We can sing because we are happy in him. Let not your heart be troubled! Ultimately, we can trust that he will keep us safe. HYMN INFO Civilia Martin Civilla Martin and her husband were visiting a married couple. The wife had been bedridden for twenty years, and the husband confined to a wheelchair. When she asked him how they were doing he remarked, “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.” From that exchange came this hymn. Charles H. Gabriel who set it to music was among the more prolific writers of Gospel songs—they think over 7,000--and this is among his most beloved. He grew up on a farm in Iowa where his father was a singing school leader. He learned music from him but was never trained. He served as organist in several churches, one in San Francisco and Chicago where he became the musician with the Homer Rodeheaver Publishing company. He edited over 35 Gospel Song books, plus many other collections. His most famous song after this one is “Brighten the Corner Where You Are.” The song became Ethel Waters’ signature tune. She had come to hear Billy Graham in Manhattan in 1957 and rededicated her life to Christ. Cliff Barrows heard she was there and asked her to sing for them over the next years. She became a regular at the Billy Graham revivals. Ethel Waters and Billy Graham LINKS Ethel Waters version https://youtu.be/Fo3-p3GDV6w?si=vOIF3QU_9T3clYDd Lynda Randle, David Phelps, Reggie Smith https://youtu.be/g5XZK4hDRKg Whitney Houston (her last recording} https://youtu.be/kg81gddHA4M Mississippi Children’s Choir https://youtu.be/Q_8pUqXADTE
HYMN FOR PENTECOST 2 The Summons
Text: John Bell. Tune: Irish folk (For reasons of copyright, I cannot display the text, but it is found in almost every contemporary hymnal today.) Calling of Matthew Caravaggio REFLECTION The Calling of Matthew is one of the most dramatic in the gospels. Jesus appears and sees Matthew in the counting house with the worst of the worst according to the Judean people of the day. He is a traitor to them, serving himself and the Roman government. One could hardly go lower in the opinion of the people around Jesus. Still he walks in, calls Matthew to follow him, and Matthew stands up and leaves everything behind to follow. The call has utterly changed him. He is the kind of person Jesus says he came to serve—he came to minister to sinners, he announces at the dinner after the calling. After the dinner, he will raise Jairus' daughter from the dead and heal the woman with the isue of blood. Matthew will be there to see who Jesus is. Jesus call to Matthew is paradigmatic. All of us are sinners, sinners are all God has to work with. In the story of Kristus kommer (Christ is coming). Asta Nørregaard Matthew and all the other disciples, we see Jesus showing us what it means to follow him. They see him, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, stilling the storm, raising the dead and teaching. As they follow they are gradually being made into disciples—remember Jesus says in his calling to Andrew and Peter that he will make them fishers of men. As they follow, they become salt, light, a city on the hill. And when Jesus leaves and gives the great commission at his ascension, he commands them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach all things that he has taught them. Today many think that means the have a set of goals for transforming the world, but Jesus is not saying that, he says go to your neighbor, the person next to you, and wherever you go you will be bringing Christ with you and he will transform those who hear his word and see his work. To serve the neighbor is to love them. And that means, in Jesus’ terms, to respond in love to the needs of those present to us, not with a set of programs, but actual help for them. In today’s world of efficiency, we make abstractions about what people need and design programs that serve not an individual, but some abstraction. That misses the point: programs dehumanize and make the neighbor abstract. We are to be present to the neighbor and trust that in our own beings Christ is present and leading us to know what the person standing before us needs. Matthew will be learning this in his three year schooling with Jesus. An exciting thought: every encounter is a new one with Christ who inhabits our world in everyone we meet. HYMN INFO John Bell John Bell has been something of the guru of recent contemporary hymnody over the past quarter century. A Scottish pastor and at one time serving the Iona community, he has been noted especially for his use of Celtic folk tunes for his texts. These folk tunes which seem washed in the deep blue waters of the turbulent North Sea can make almost any text sound great, but Bell’s skill with a text, especially in the repetitions one finds in this text, works especially well with this gorgeous Scottish tune. Bell, born in Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, had musical talent from the beginning and intended to a music teacher, but a call to the ministry, especially to serve the poor, changed the direction of his life. He served as associate pastor at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. From there he returned to the Church of Scotland as a youth pastor. He began writing hymns along with his colleague Graham Maule, when he realized there were no hymns on various topics central to the Christian faith. This has become one of the most popular of his hymns and can be found in most contemporary hymnals around the world. It is all about what it means to follow Christ. Note too that it is from the point of view ofJesus who is the speaker calling us, something recent hymns have done, and oddly, many on the call of God to the Christian, such as "I, the Lord of Sea and Sky," and "Borning Cry." LINKS Chet Valley Churches (see the lyrics here) https://youtu.be/uu7ihXeTsMQ?si=YlD83WWPKKVfLTuR First Plymouth Church Lincoln Nebraska https://youtu.be/1EOmW1_gJwY?si=E0nuC0n5_pwgj3F6 The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir https://youtu.be/TY13dATqEKc?si=bThzR97H0vo9zw-_ Orchard Enterprises https://youtu.be/VFXAmB_Iq7k?si=4IfHBYfF_hElyUBn
HYMN FOR THE VISITATION
The Visitation Albertinelli May 31 is the day the church remembers Mary's visitation to Elisabeth. Click on this link to find out more about the festival. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-the-visitation-and-pentecost-2
HYMN FOR TRINITY SUNDAY I Bind unto myself today
The Trinity Andrei Rublev Text: St. Patrick (5th century, probably) Tune: Irish folk 1. I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three. 2. I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith, Christ’s incarnation, his baptism in the Jordan river, his death on cross for my salvation, his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heavenly way, his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today. 3. I bind unto myself today The virtues of the starlit heaven, the glorious sun’s life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even, the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks, the stable earth, the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks. 4. I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead, God’s eye to watch, God’s might to stay, God’s ear to hearken to my need, the wisdom of my God to teach, God’s hand to guide, God’s shield to ward, the word of God to give me speech, God’s heavenly host to be my guard. 5. Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. 6. I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three, of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word. Praise to the Lord of my salvation; salvation is of Christ the Lord! Tr. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) St. Patrick REFLECTION This kind of song uses an old Irish pre-Christian concept, Lorica, which means breastplate. The word is also found in Ephesians 6, urging believers to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Scholars note that it bears the mark of St. Patrick’s Christianity, with its deep sense of the battle between good and evil and the need to cry out every day to Christ for protection and praise. Along the way it tells the story of Christ’s becoming flesh to live with us and bring us salvation. In the middle the Irish blessing and prayer for protection in stanza 5—Christ be all around me so that I am enveloped completely in Christ—in a way clothed in him—but here the clothing is armor against the evil one. Sages have said that the first thing the wicked one does is persuade us that he does not exist. People dabble in magic and unknown spirits because they don’t think there is anything out there. But then they realize they are imprisoned by the darkness. As G. K. Chesterton said when people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in everything. St. Patrick knew the world was filled with spirits of every kind. The only way he could fight the evil one was in Jesus' name, arming himself every day to be kept safe. Whether or not you have a sense of those principalities and powers in your life, this song from ancient Ireland is a good way to remind yourselves of all the ways in which you can be armed for the daily spiritual battles you are fighting. The devil cannot endure Jesus' Name. Say it out loud as you begin your day or end it. Then, like Luther, who also had a keen sense of the enemy in his life, you can go about or go to sleep in confidence that Christ is with you, protecting and keeping you safe. HYMN INFO We know very little with certaintly about St. Patrick's life, exactly when he lived, only that he was the child of Roman Britons. He came to Ireland as a slave with his captors and worked as a shepherd. He learned to speak and write the language during that time. He escaped and then came back as a missionary. He was fundamental to the conversion of Ireland and created a Celtic Christianity that differed a bit from Roman Christianity. Cecil Francis Alexander Cecil Frances Alexander, the writer of "Once in Royal David’s City," and "All Things Bright and Beautiful," plus many more children’s songs, was born in Dublin, and married an Anglican priest who became Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Armagh; she loved all things Irish. She was asked by the Dean at the Chapel Royal of Dublin Castle to do a metrical version of the prayer, or Lorica, as the Dean referred to it. She quickly did so. This is an especially complicated hymn because it basically has three metrical parts so needed at least two tunes, and a chant in the middle. Composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), also born in Ireland, and taught at Trinity College, Cambridge University, set it using two Irish tunes. While it hasn’t quite made the hit parade, it is always there on St. Patrick’s Day or Trinity Sunday, or whenever people need an Irish blessing. Hymnal committees in the past half century have put it into their hymnals and since it has gotten more attention among Lutherans and Episcopalians in this country, especially. LINKS Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne University https://youtu.be/gXj_epqheMw Moises Pacheco/solo https://youtu.be/UuzYaDrwwz8 Concordia Seminary chorus https://youtu.be/DhROzB1rxPY Ramoya https://youtu.be/kJme6cEKoxI
HYMN FOR PENTECOST Holy Spirit, Guide Us/Come Holy Spirit, God and Lord
Text: Gracia Grindal Tune: Amanda Husberg Holy Spirit, guide us, Guides us to the truth. Point to Christ our Savior, Christ who is the truth. Holy Spirit teach us, Teach us there is life. Point to Christ our Savior, Christ who gives us life. Holy Spirit, show us, Show us Christ the way, Point to Christ our Savior, Christ the only way. Pentecost. Emil Nolde REFLECTION Pentecost is the end of the festival part of the year and the beginning of ordinary time, as the liturgical churches call the time between now and Advent 1. Except for Saints Days Mary’s Visitation and Assumption, and All Saints Day, the rest of the time is ordinary. This does not mean that they are banal or without life. Hardly. Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, every day is filled with new life. Because the Spirit is with us, we can see to see the miracles all around us in creation, for us northerners, the glories of the spring, summer and autumn days when all the earth is busy growing our food, clothes, fuel and all we need to live through the long winters. But more than that, the Spirit gives us the life we need to enjoy our family and friends, and ultimately life with God. These are all miracles. A miracle brought to us by our God who, unlike idols humans worship as gods made by their hands, is not a creature, but creator of all things, not a being, but being, I Am who I am or I will be who I will be, love itself, one who gave of himself so we could be friends, and enjoy him forever.. The entire scope of the festivals of the church year is a narrative on how God has done that—by sending his son at Christmas, and dying and rising for us at Easter, and now by his Spirit, sparks new life in us, life that will last forever. He wants us to take pleasure in all his gifts and be what he created us to be, the salt of the earth and light of the world, so that life will also flourish among us here and now. Enjoy, enjoy and take heart—this world with its sin and sorrow is not the last word. Christ is and wherever he is, because of the Spirit there is life abundant! HYMN INFO Amanda Husberg This Pentecost hymn is repetitious, easily memorized and simple—if you look at the end of the stanzas you will see truth, life, and the way, which Jesus is. I wrote it for my set of texts on the Book of Mark after hearing my second cousin from Norway, the missionary Per Kivle, preach on Pentecost in which he spoke of the Holy Spirit as the one who points to God and teaches and leads us. The late Amanda Husberg caught that simplicity with her sweet tune and descant. Husberg in her long life wrote many hymn tunes and other music for the church. After graduating from Concordia College in Seward, Nebraska, she moved to Brooklyn where she lived until she died. Along with playing the organ at her congregation for many years, she made stained glass art that was one of her many hobbies. LINKS For information on the great hymn by Martin Luther on the Holy Spirit, click here. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hym-for-pentecost The Castle Church Congregation singing the hymn in Wittenberg https://youtu.be/PozwJVZts50?si=h-iiY4ufl45s5Xrx Radial by the Ordharc https://youtu.be/rGtnAJfxE18?si=u3M6VbhsfxmVnL-k This link takes you to a blog of mine on the recent book celebrating the publication of the first Lutheran hymnals. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-pentecost-3-and-remarks-on-the-500th-anniversary-of-lutheran-hymnals Text © Copyright 2008\Wayne Leupold Editions. Tune © Copyright 2012 Wayne Leupold Editions
HYMN FOR ASCENSION DAY AND SUNDAY I See You Standing, Lamb of God
Text: Hans Adolph Brorson (1694-1764) Tune: Norwegian Folk tune Ascension of Jesus. From the Rubbula Gospels, 6th century I see you standing, Lamb of God, Now at your Father’s right, But, oh, how painful was your road That led to Zion’s height! And what a burden that you bore; The world’ distress and shame. It made you fall so you could share The woe that none could name. O spotless Lamb, it was your will, In love thus bound to be Upon the cross on Calvr’ys hill, From sin to set us free. With lion strength, your nail-pierced hands Our death the death-blow gave And broken were our prison bands When you broke from your grave. Around your throne a throng does stream In raiment white as snow. Their eyes like suns with radiance beam The Lamb of God to know. The story how He chose to be A servant for our sake, The angels will eternally Sing anthems with your praise. Twelve times twelve thousand now acclaim, Each with their harp in hand Upon their brow, your Father’s name Makes know that happy band. As voice of many waters rise In rapt’rous symphony, To you who won us Paradise Eternal praises be. REFLECTION The ascension. by Giotto Ascension Day is not celebrated in the US much, although the Europeans have traditionally made it a holiday. It has turned into a kind of spring day, in Germany, with spargel (asparagus) in many forms on the menu. It should be, however, a major festival in churches still. It marks the coronation of Jesus as King and his taking up his place beside his Father in heaven, as we confess every Sunday in the creed. The best resource on this is Sarah Hinlincky Wilson’s Forty Facets of the Ascension, available at her website. https://thornbushpress.com/product/forty-facets-of-the-ascension/ Even if you have had to turn the seventh Sunday in Easter into Ascension celebrations, you should make the day special. One way is to study up on this book. The hymn I have chosen uses the language of Stephen in his sermon and ecstatic comments as he is dying—he sees Jesus standing by the Father. This not just an accident of Luke’s prose. He really is pushing a theological point that is worth noting. After Stephen’s exclamation that he sees Jesus in heaven standing by the Father, they go to kill him. It is pure blasphemy to see Jesus as the high priest now standing in the high holy place, heaven’s hill after standing on the holy hill of Mt. Zion. See Psalm 24, etc. There is much more to the story, but it intrigued me that my favorite Danish hymn writer, Brorson, in his Swan Songs, written as he lay dying, used Stephen’s language to describe the hosts of heaven. Most think of this as a hymn for All Saints Day, but in my tradition it was always there for Ascension, because of the first line. Those of us who are long in the tooth remember the embarrassment our generation felt with the idea of heaven up there as the three-story universe had it, so we always wondered where Jesus went as the disciples gazed up at him. Where was he going? After Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet Cosmonaut, became the first man in space, the Soviets noted that he hadn’t seen Jesus in space. (Some say he said that, but the record is not clear on that.) Now scholars are saying Jesus went into another dimension from which he will come again to reign “on earth as it is in heaven.” The biblical writers and scholars struggle to explain that, but we can take it on faith that as Jesus was raised up bodily, so we will be, not as spirits, but as resurrected flesh that Paul struggles to describe or at least hint at in 1 Corinthians 15. All we can do is wait in hope for that day. HYMN INFO Hans Adolph Brorson Hans Adolph Brorson is among the three great writers of hymnody in Denmark. He grew up in Jutland where his father was pastor of the small parish of Randerup. He also became a pastor and later Bishop of Ribe. He served Christ Church in Tønder, a rich city of lacemakers who supported the church where he served as the Third Danish pastor since German was as common as Danish in the church. Brorson began writing Danish hymns in 1732 when he wrote a brief series of Christmas hymns in an effort to restore the central focus of Christmas tide from a drunken holiday to a Christian one. His first little volume of some few hymns—"Your little ones dear Lord are we," "My Heart is filled with Wonder," "In this happy Christmastide," and "I’ve found now the fairest of roses" are still among the most popular hymns for Christmas in the Nordic countries. The last collection he wrote, the Swan Songs, contain many of his more popular hymns on heaven, like "Behold a Host," and this one. LINKS Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Force https://youtu.be/OUEjj74Ugwk?si=CqxnK8gXrp35N176 Susanne Lundeng https://youtu.be/tVcofPtYnW8 Bergen Domkantori https://youtu.be/gzKxp1Dzzx4?si=I1H-3o5m_mPbvOBt
HYMN FOR EASTER 6 and Mother's Day Proverbs 31
The Prophetess Anna (Rembrandt's Mother). Rembrandt 1631 Text: Proverbs 31, paraphrase by Gracia Grindal. Tune: O dass ich tausend Zunge hätte Johan B. König (1691-1758) Her children rise and call her blessed Her husband’s heart is filled with praise. She gives them life, with love confesses Her failures, thanking God for grace. She helps her children, does them good, Her table rich with tasty food. She buys a house and tends the garden And raises produce with her hands. She garners profits from her ventures Gives alms to those who need a friend. And she is clothed in dignity, Warm laughter fills her mouth with glee. Her words are patient, filled with wisdom, In all she says she would be kind. She shares a good name with her husband He sees her keen and steady mind. Her heart rejoices in the Lord, She daily lives within his word. When hardships come, her God she blesses, As evening falls and beauty fades, She prays to be all she professes For on the Lord she daily waits. She is more precious than bright gems, Her faith her shining diadem. Copyright Leupold Editions 2025 REFLECTION Love is the subject of this Sunday’s text from John in Jesus’ last discourses. This Sunday is also Mother’s Day when we celebrate mothers, also about love. The celebration makes some women uneasy—the ideal mother is not easy to be, some, like me, are not mothers, others had a bad abusive mother. Still, the ideal of motherhood is worth honoring as we are instructed to do in the Commandments, Honor your father and mother…. Just because we can't meet the ideal, does not mean we should not celebrate and hope to come nearer the ideal in our own lives, even as we celebrate those who have come close, rather than resent that we are not like an ideal mother. Proverbs 31 lovingly describes such a woman who is worth our admiration. Solomon portrays her as a faithful woman aware of her faults, and always looking to be faithful. Whatever her faults, she prays to overcome them and do better. As a wife, mother and businesswomen, she is diligent. Many young women today are delaying the roles of wife and mother, wanting to be successful in their vocations, which often delays bearing children beyond what nature allows. The statistics show it doesn’t seem to have made them happier. Many women who have thought a child would be a burden report on holding their first child that it has changed them and taught them that submission to the flesh is not a burden, but a blessing. As Jesus says, to find life we must lose it. We can compare the love of God to a mother’s love, something Scripture does in Isaiah 49:15, can a mother forget her child? Or Jesus comparing himself to a mother hen brooding over her children, like the Spirit at the beginning of Genesis brooding over the waters. More common is the image of God as a groom wooing his bride through all of Scripture, making us brides of Christ. These are comparisons, not names. As people of flesh we need analogies, metaphor and similes of what we know to compare to something we cannot comprehend, but need for purposes of our faith. Using our most intimate relationships to compare our relationship to God is poetry which reveals meanings to us rational speech cannot. But still our images and metaphors are weak tea next to the love we receive from God who gave his Son to die for us so that we might be friends with God, who is love itself, and has gone to every length to dwell with us and befriend us. And in creating us as flesh and blood, fashioning us for the making of families, he has given us abiding love in the flesh, he has even set the solitary in families so they can be be tended and nourished by people who care for them. I, as a single woman, living with my nephew and his family, rejoice in this rich benefit as I close out my days here on earth. HYMN INFO Chris Fenner of the Hymnological Archives asked me last year if I had a hymn on Proverbs 31. I said no, but I could write one. With his help, I came up with this text, something of a paraphrase of Proverbs 31, a wonderful text praising a faithful wife and mother. Fenn was working on a daily devotional using a hymn and meditation on it for every day of the year Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship. It can be purchased as a book or an ebook on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Hymns-Devotions-Daily-Worship-Fenner-ebook/dp/B0DKZMYMK7. It is a big beautiful book and well worth meditating on and singing the many hymns in it. A treasury indeed. König, the tune writer, was a Lutheran composer from Frankfurt who sang in the choir directed by George Philip Telemann, He wrote many churchly works, among them Harmonischer Liederschatz, with 1,913 melodies, in 1738. He was a contemporary of Freylinghausen, the compiler of the great pietist hymnal, Geistreiches Gesangbuch 1704. Several of his tunes have lasted until this day. This tune was for the German hymn that resembles Charles Wesley’s O That I had a thousand tongues. See below for the tune with the original German text. LINKS O Dass ich tausend Zunge hätte https://youtu.be/cD52PA6uCwQ?si=0XVjy_r5Ra-KEILB DetlefKorsen https://youtu.be/EV5rlHuPJ2g?si=Z3rJgn55Z5Fo7xw8 Chen Reiss/ Felix Mendelssohn version https://youtu.be/TiWwH5djlXY?si=B_LURUP4AI99LaNf
HYMN FOR EASTER 5 One there is above all others, well deserves the name of Friend
Jesus last discourse with his disciples Duccio Text: John Newton Tune: Charles Gounoud (1818-1893) , or Andreas Peter Berggreen (1801-1880) 1 One there is, above all others, Well deserves the name of Friend; His is love beyond a brother's, Costly, free, and knows no end. They who once his kindness prove Find its everlasting love. 2 Which of all our friends, to save us, Could or would have shed his blood? But our Jesus died to have us Reconciled in him to God. T his was boundless love indeed; Jesus is a Friend in need. 3 When he lived on earth abased, "Friend of sinners" was his name. Now above all glory raised, H e rejoices in the same; Still he calls them brethren, friends, And to all their wants attends. 4 Could we bear from one another What he daily bears from us? Yet this glorious Friend and Brother Loves us, though we treat him thus: Though for good we render ill, He accounts us brethren still. 5 O for grace our hearts to soften! Teach us, Lord, at length to love; We, alas! forget too often What a Friend we have above: But when home our souls are brought, We will love you as we ought. John Newton REFLECTION Most everyone knows a bit about John Newton from his most famous hymn, maybe the most well known in the world, "Amazing Grace." The movie Amazing Grace put Newton in the context of the abolitionist movement in Britain. His story is truly an amazing one. Raised by a godly mother who filled his mind with Scripture verses, but who died when he was seven, the young boy ended up going to sea with his father when he was eleven. This age was not uncommon at the time. Young boys his age were often pressed into service. What they had to endure is legendary, usually filled with cruelty and forced debauchery. Newton tried to desert the Royal Navy ship and was flogged, and taken captive by a cruel slave trader in West Africa. During this time he nearly drowned, fell in love with Mary Catlett whom he would marry in 1750, and began reading Thomas á Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ. His love for Mary kept him sane while he was suffering his captivity by the slave ship owner. He escaped and became a captain of a slave ship himself. In 1754, he gave up the slave trade and became acquainted with Wilbur Wilberforce, the great opponent of slavery in England. Soon he became a fervent abolitionist. While he was working in Liverpool as a tide-surveyor, he came to know John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, the great preacher of his time. Under their influence he began studying for the ministry and was ordained into the Church of England to serve in the Olney parish and then St. Mary Wolnoth in London. While in Olney he lived with and cared for William Cowper whose seasons of insanity made him need the care of Newton. Together they produced a hymnal, The Olney Hymnal which contains many favorite hymns, such as "Amazing Grace," this hymn and Cowper’s "God Moves in a Mysterious Way." Newton became blind toward the end of his life, but did not cease preaching. When told he should, he responded, “Why should this old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?” He never stopped wondering that Jesus, the Son of God, came to be our friend! It really is unfathomable. To be God's friend! This is boundless love indeed! HYMN INFO Charles Gounoud There are several tunes for the text. The British tend to use LUX PRIMA by Charles Gounoud. Gounou, a French composer who wrote operas, the most fmous, Faust. A devout man,he composes church music all his life. He came to admire Bach's music through his acquaintance with Felix Mendelssohn. During the Franc-Prussian War in 1870 he and his family fled to England. When he returned to France, while respected he was considered old hat. Andreas Berggreen’s tune was used in the Concordia, Service Book and Hymnal and the Lutheran Book of Worship. Berggreen’s tune is how I know it. It has a Scandinavian sound that reminds me of many other hymns on Jesus as friend. Berggreen was born in Copenhagen and spent his life there. He studied with Weyse, the composer of "O Day Full of Grace," but was most influenced by J. A. P. Shulz, the composer of the tunes for "Thy Little Ones Dear Lord are We" and "We Plough the Fields and Scatter." Berggreen became an important hymn tune writer for the Icelandic church as well. Over thirty hymns in its hymnal are set to Berggreen tunes. LINKS Gerhard Sundberg Berggreen's tune https://youtu.be/rxX7kxzOVYI Rod Smith https://youtu.be/h6odFds-Q-s Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, Gounoud’s tune https://youtu.be/R2BhQaKBcnQ African version https://youtu.be/jtd3_xvRVGA _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145
HYMN FOR EASTER 4 Savior, Like a Shepherd, lead us
Jesus as shepherd. from the catacombs Text: Dorothy Thrupp (1779-1847) Tune: William Bradbury (1816-1868) 1. Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. 2. We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, Be the guardian of our way; Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, Seek us when we go astray: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray. 3. Thou hast promised to receive us, Poor and sinful though we be; Thou hast mercy to relieve us, Grace to cleanse, and pow'r to free: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee. 4. Early let us seek Thy favor, Early let us do Thy will; Blessed Lord and only Savior, With Thy love our bosoms fill: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still. REFLECTION Until about a century ago, and maybe not even that long ago, most people had a fairly good idea of what sheep and lambs were like in real life. Today most of us think of nursery rhymes and fairy tales where sheep and Bo Peep are cavorting, the lambs very cute. Jesus as shepherd is a sweet picture in those. But anyone who has spent much time with sheep knows they are rather stupid, difficult and completely at sea without the shepherd’s voice. Scripture uses the shepherd image often to speak of God and Jesus. There is of course Psalm 23, and then John 10. In John 10 Jesus takes the image of shepherd and talks about his role with the sheep—as a shepherd whose job it is to keep his flock of sheep together and safe, he will do what it takes, even lay down his life for the sheep. We see this especially in the parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine sheep to find the one lost sheep. To be cared for by such a shepherd gives one a feeling of security and peace. The earliest images of Jesus in the catacombs are of Jesus as a shepherd. The early Christians who hid there to escape the wolves of Caesar and the powers that stood against them knew that their shepherd would keep them, not just in their dire circumstances at the time, but even in death. The images in the catacombs of Jesus carrying the sheep to safety on his shoulders tells the story about as well as any. To think of oneself as a sheep makes the relationship clear. We are helpless and lost without our shepherd. We dare not go out on our own. One of the strangest commands of Jesus to his disciples is that they go out with the good news as sheep among wolves. As Paul tells us, God’s power is always in weakness. Jesus sends us out as the weakest among the fiercest. But we can go knowing that he is our shepherd and has stopped at nothing, not even a cruel death, to show us his eternal power. You can go toward the wolves, he says, because I am with you always. And Lord over death. He is risen! HYMN INFO William Bradbury Dorothy Ann Thrupp, like many women writers of her era, frequently wrote under a pseudonym, Iota. Scholars think she wrote this. Bradbury always looking for Sunday school texts found this in a book of hers. As a young man, Bradbury studied with Lowell Mason in Boston. He traveled to Europe, especially Leipzig, where he studied composition with the great teachers there. When he returned, he moved to Brooklyn where he continued composing and compiling hymnals for Sunday schools. By the end of his life he had edited over fifty such books. Although it was paired with a popular Norwegian tune in the LBW, the Bradbury tune remains popular—one can find grand organ settings, along with jazz and country western on the web. This tune will be sung in many churches this Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday. It really is in the barbership quartet style and well worth a try. Stand around the computer or piano and sing along! LINKS Kaoma Chenda Quartet—for some barbershop and by one singer! https://youtu.be/P_nffQ3HepA Martin Nystrom https://youtu.be/pbdqPm66faE The Haven of Rest Quartet https://youtu.be/b_V_F-u357s The Discover Singers/kind of Swingle Singers style https://youtu.be/YRmRQR_VuYU _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145
HYMN FOR EASTER III Abide with me
Text: Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) Tune: William Henry Monk (1823-1889) Emmaus. Rembrandt 1. Abide with me! fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide! When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. 2. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me. 3. I need Thy presence every passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me. 4. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless: Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness: Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. 5. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. REFLECTIONS Emmaus. Rembrandt This most popular hymn for death and dying is used at funerals so often it is hard to hear its strains without tearing up. Because it uses the phrase “Abide with me,” we also hear the couple walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, asking him to stay for dinner, since the hour is late. Abide with us, they say. Then, as they sit down to eat, Jesus breaks the bread and they see him suddenly revealed in that instant. But he does not linger. In a flash of light, he is gone, but they have recognized him. Now they know he is risen from the dead so they run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others. We have seen the Lord, he is risen! While singing this hymn may seem less than a triumphant hymn for Easter, its last stanza is thrilling. it speaks to us because we know the words from so many occasions where the tears were flowing and we needed the Lord to abide with us. We maybe don’t want to recognize him and then have him disappear. We want him to abide. Maybe he hasn’t disappeared; he is there still in the bread. Through his food he becomes one with us and lives in us as he has always promised to do. Upon realizing this truth, the couple run to tell others. And what they tell is the good news that death has been defeated and Christ has risen from the dead showing he can raise us one day. We hear some of Paul’s great chapter 1 Corinthians 15 in the hymn: "Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?/I triumph still, if Thou abide with me." If we do not believe Jesus has been raised, Paul says, we are most to be pitied. It makes our faith a laughing stock for the main thing in the whole story is that Jesus’ resurrection is the end of the powers of death, sin and the devil. While he abides in us, as he promised to, he also bears in his body the promise of the resurrection, so even as we face that last enemy, we can look with joy on the flash of light before us, as “heav’n’s morning breaks” and the one whom we now know to be our Lord and Savior, is risen from the dead. And he will raise us also from the dead. And abide with us forever. HYMN INFO Henry Francis Lyte Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847), an Anglican minister, who wrote this classic hymn in the 1820s, suffered poor health his entire life. He knew his need for the Lord every minute of the day. It is said he wrote this hymn after attending a dying friend who kept repeating, Abide with me, abide with me. The writer of the tune, Eventide, William Henry Monk (1823-1889), organist, composer and choir master in England’s most prestigious post, edited one of the most famous English hymnals of all time, Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). The hymn has gone around the world. It is considered one of the patriotic hymns of England. It became especially important during World War I. Remembrance Day commemorating the tragic losses of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli, always featured a moving rendition of the hymn. One can hear it in grand highly liturgical services, to folk and rock concerts. Even Elton John sang it in a concert! It is the anthem sung at the Rugby Challenge Cup. I have included a variety of styles and versions here. LINKS St. Olaf Cantorei and Congregation https://youtu.be/kkXI-8no9ZE Australian /Nathan Lay https://youtu.be/32eP-mjRINo Band version at the Anzac Remembrance Day https://youtu.be/a7FUcu5OD3Y Ole Paus/Norway’s Bob Dylan https://youtu.be/ms7lODbNdm0 Thelonius Monk https://youtu.be/RHctGCUS2fE Rugby Challenge https://youtu.be/fg3gCw5mm7c _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145
HYMN FOR EASTER II O Sons and Daughters of the King
I am sorry the last blog did not get through. it is there, but the email system was not working. Hopefully we have fixed it. you can find the most recent blog here https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-ii-o-sons-and-daughters-of-the-king-1
Blog for Easter II
Doubting Thomar The geeks are working on the issue, but For some reason the blog is not being sent out, but it is been there since Monday. click below. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-ii-o-sons-and-daughters-of-the-king-1