Fore Hymn

Sorry

2009-05-06T16:05:00.001+12:00

haven’t lived up to the hope of this blog. ForeHymn will now become an occasional blog (de facto!). Blogging will resume shortly

Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

2009-02-28T10:10:00.000+13:00

Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood;
Thou savest those that on Thee call;
To them that seek Thee Thou art good,
To them that find Thee all in all.

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still;
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,
Wherever our changeful lot is cast;
Glad when Thy gracious smile we see,
Blessed when our faith can hold Thee fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay,
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Chase the dark night of sin away,
Shed over the world Thy holy light.

Bernard of Clairvaux 12th Century transl. from Latin by Ray Palmer 1858

Joy is not really an emotion it is an aspect of character. It is not something we simply feel it is something we experience and demonstrate. Joy is not limited to the happy, light and airy moments of life. It can be known in the depths of sorrow, grief and suffering. Joy is particularly seen in the choosing to delight in the minor mercies when things are hard. Joy is often tangible in the gratitude of those who are forced to live simply because of the geographical, economic and historical circumstances in which they live. Joy is often lacking in the high expectations of comfortable Christians in consumerist societies.

When you have nothing but have Jesus then you have more than plenty. When you have plenty and accept Jesus you could expect Him to bring you more things. When Jesus looked at the rich young ruler He saw a poverty anchored in wealth. When he spoke to the poor He talked about real treasure which does not perish or fade.

Jesus is the wealth of life: in Him, in knowing Him, there is inexpressible, indescribable and irreducible joy for all eternity.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Eph 1:15-23

On Our Way Rejoicing, as We Homeward Move

2009-02-27T09:43:00.001+13:00

On our way rejoicing, as we homeward move,
Hearken to our praises, O Thou God of love!
Is there grief or sadness? Thou our joy shalt be;
Is our sky beclouded? There is light with Thee.

On our way rejoicing, as we homeward move,
Hearken to our praises, O Thou God of love!

If with honest hearted love for God and man,
Day by day Thou find us doing all we can,
Thou who givest the seed time, will give large increase,
Crown the head with blessings, fill the heart with peace.

Refrain

On our way rejoicing gladly let us go;
Conquered hath our Leader, vanquished is our foe;
Christ without, our safety, Christ within, our joy;
Who, if we be faithful, can our hope destroy?

Refrain

Unto God the Father joyful songs we sing;
Unto God the Saviour thankful hearts we bring;
Unto God the Spirit bow we and adore;
On our way rejoicing now and evermore.

On our way rejoicing, as we homeward move,
Hearken to our praises, O Thou God of love!

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1863

Monsell is quickly becoming one of my favourite hymn writers. I love the tone of this hymn, it reminds me of many homeward journeys and how they make me feel.

Approaching home, after a few days or a few weeks away, there is a sense of hope and peace and to be in a place of knowing and being known. Even when family life is fraught there is still a sense of coming home to where we belong. Of course Monsell is talking of the True Home of the Christian – eternity with God.

The heart of the Christian is set on God, in His Triune beauty, and longs to be with Him: even when choosing wrong we know we are choosing badly and turning from, rather than too, our true Home.

We travel with God toward our Heavenly Home and we travel with His people. There will come a time when that Home will be revealed: the hope of it turns our hearts from the insanity of sin and fortifies us with the resolve and resources to make it all the way!

[Jesus said] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:1-6

The Highest Joy That Can be Known

2009-02-26T10:10:00.000+13:00

The highest joy that can be known
To those who heav’nward wend—
It is the Word of Life to own,
And God to have as Friend;
It is the Word of Life to own,
And God to have as Friend.

The Word doth give me wealth untold,
All good it has in store;
My deepest sorrows lose their hold
To joys forevermore;
My deepest sorrows loose their hold
To joys forevermore.

How often when in deep despair
My soul has been restored,
And when the tempter would ensnare
’Twould strength to stand afford;
And when the tempter would ensnare
’Twould strength to stand afford.

It tells me of a love divine,
How Jesus’ blood was shed;
Each day this joyous song is mine
As paths of grace I tread;
Each day this joyous song is mine
As paths of grace I tread.

When stars above shall shine no more
God’s Word is still my light;
When pleasures of this world are o’er,
My joys shall reach their height;
When pleasures of this world are o’er,
My joys shall reach their height

Nils Frykman1886 transl. from Swedish by Signe L. Bennett, 1928

There is a profound simplicity to knowing God in Jesus. All else is worthless in comparison to Him. Knowing Him, truly knowing Him, makes everything else that offers satisfaction and joy a blanched and anaemic false-friend. We find the depths and wealth of joy in knowing Christ in the solid objective reality of His Word: the Word of Life.

Men and women the world over are suffering the harshest penalties that the deepest perversions of the human heart can devise for the sake of having Scripture. I bear it so lightly – there is no threat to my house and home, my family and friends because we have the Bible. We love it too little: familiarity really has bred contempt; or at least a careless dispassion.

I must learn to love again so that I would give my life for the Word of Life!

[Jesus said] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:45-46

O What Their Joy and Glory Must Be

2009-02-25T17:41:00.001+13:00

O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessèd ones see;
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones, rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blessed.

What are the Monarch, His court, and His throne?
What are the peace and the joy that they own?
O that the blessed ones, who in it have share,
All that they feel could as fully declare!

Truly, “Jerusalem” name we that shore,
City of peace that brings joy evermore;
Wish and fulfilment are not severed there,
Nor do things prayed for come short of the prayer.

There, where no troubles distraction can bring,
We the sweet anthems of Zion shall sing;
While for Thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Thy blessèd people eternally raise.

There dawns no Sabbath, no Sabbath is o’er,
Those Sabbath keepers have one evermore;
One and unending is that triumph song
Which to the angels and us shall belong.

Now, in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,
We for that country must yearn and must sigh;
Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,
Through our long exile on Babylon’s strand.

Low before Him with our praises we fall,
Of Whom, and in Whom, and through Whom are all;
Of Whom, the Father; and in Whom, the Son,
Through Whom, the Spirit, with Them ever One.

Peter Abelard, 12th Century translated from Latin John M. Neale 1854

What do we long for as we think of eternity with God? Renaissance painting has much to answer for: fat baby cherubim, effete angels in dresses with wings and harps, a dispassionate God and a people without purpose. Fortunately this is not the Biblical offer, not the Biblical eternity.

Abelard captures much more of the Biblical hope of eternity as he reflects on what it will be like to live there, in the fullness of all God’s promises met in the very reality of the experience of His people. That is a hope worth anticipating, living for and living toward.

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

Revelation 21:22-27

All My Heart with Joy is Springing

2009-02-24T10:10:00.000+13:00

All my heart with joy is springing,
While in air everywhere
Angel choirs are singing.
Hear them to the shepherds telling:
“Christ is born! On this morn
God with man is dwelling.”

To this lower world descendeth,
From above, He whose love
All our sorrows endeth.
He who breath and being gave us,
Quits the skies, lives and dies
In our flesh to save us.

Christ our Lamb so meek and loving
Dries our tears, calms our fears,
All our sins removing;
Christ our Lamb, who suffers with us;
He can quell death and hell,
And to peace restore us.

Hark, from yon dark manger lowly,
Breezes soft seem to waft
Gentle words and holy:
“Sigh no more, away with sadness
Brethren dear; I am here,
Bringing hope and gladness.”

Come ye now, and kneel before Him;
Mortals all, great and small,
Worship and adore Him:
Love your King, whose love invites you:
Lo, His star from afar
To His dwelling lights you.

Ye, whom galling want oppresses
Here ye find comfort kind,
Balm for your distresses:
Noblest treasures here are given;
Riches true wait for you
Poor of Christ, in Heaven.

Ye who strive with fierce temptation,
Sorrow-stung, conscience-wrung,
Here is consolation:
For the woes which men inherit
Christ can feel, Christ will heal
Every wounded spirit.

Kind Redeemer, knit Thee to us;
Quelling sin, reign within,
With Thy grace renew us:
Make us Thine by true repentance;
Let us hear, free from fear,
Lord, Thy final sentence.

Ours be Thy pure love, O Saviour,
Ours Thy faith, strong in death,
Ours Thy meek behaviour;
Here let us, on Thee depending,
In Thee die, with Thee fly
To the bliss unending.

Paul Gerhardt 1656, transl. from German by Benjamin H. Kennedy 1863

It is somewhat fitting that on the eve of lent we think fresh about Christmas! The child who was laid into an animal feeding trough was born to be the Son of God nailed to the cross as The Son of Man. He is our hope – not because of Christmas but because of Easter. We could have had Christmas and celebrated a Divine visitation but Easter transforms the miracle of incarnation into the the wonder of salvation.

Jesus knows our fleshly life: He took it on, as His own, and paid a penalty which was ours and not His that he might grant to us a gift which we could never have deserved. In that gift – eternal life – is the very essence and definition of joy.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:14-16

With Joy We Meditate the Grace

2009-02-23T17:25:00.000+13:00

With joy we meditate the grace
Of our High Priest above;
His heart is made of tenderness,
His bowels melt with love.

Touched with a sympathy within,
He knows our feeble frame;
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For He has felt the same.

But spotless, innocent, and pure,
The great Redeemer stood,
While Satan’s fiery darts He bore,
And did resist to blood.

He in the days of feeble flesh
Poured out His cries and tears,
And in His measure feels afresh
What every member bears.

He’ll never quench the smoking flax,
But raise it to a flame;
The bruisèd reed He never breaks,
Nor scorns the meanest name.

Then let our humble faith address
His mercy and His power;
We shall obtain delivering grace
In the distressing hour.

Isaac Watts 1707-1709

If you are a Christian have you ever been so distressed by your sinfulness that you almost despair of God’s mercy and grace? Ever feel you have been at the extremes of God’s love and on the edge of losing it as a Christian? I have.

In truth I’ve not, at the level of intellectual acknowledgement, doubted grace but I’ve had times where I’ve FEARED that I’ve gone beyond the cross in my sinfulness. What a fool! What sin there is in that fear! Even then, even at the point of questioning the sufficiency of the incarnate Son of God’s perfect sacrifice in pleasing the Father and granting the fullness of new life by the great power of the Holy Spirit.

However we do, we get there sometimes and what is the remedy for such sin upon sin? Resolve to live better? Work harder? Love more? Sing louder? Be nicer?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!

We turn to contemplate grace in all it’s depth – which Watts did 300 years ago and records in this hymn. Even in the depths of despair over our sin, we can be raised to real joy in the goodness and mercy of God anchored in Christ!

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Heb 10:19-23

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

2009-02-22T12:20:00.001+13:00

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

Martin Janus 1661 transl. from German by Robert S Bridges 1844-1930

We need to eat – when we hunger we know our need of food. We need to sleep – when we tire we know our need of rest. We need to drink – when we thirst we know our need of water. We are creatures of need.

There is a need within us that is not satisfied by anything of food, drink or rest; nor even in the abundant luxuries and distractions of life in the 21st century. Some have described this need as a ‘God-shaped hole’ inside each of us. Whilst there is some truth in that, it is simply too reductionist. God does not plug a hole in our lives: he does not simply ‘complete’ us. The most fundamental need of our existence is God: a need for life, eternal life, that we find satisfied in Him.

It is only in Christ Jesus – only in supreme God’s self revelation – do we find the joy of our desires being met. ONLY Jesus is sufficient! Snacking on religion, napping in self-satisfaction and sipping from a cup of half-truths will only make us heart-sick and keep us far from knowing God. We may know light relief in the present but there will be no eternal satisfaction in true joy unless we eat and drink of the true joy of knowing Jesus. We may know comfort, but we will never know true rest unless Jesus is our first, last and greatest joy.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

John 7:37-18

Light of the World, We Hail Thee,

2009-02-21T10:10:00.000+13:00

Light of the world, we hail Thee, flushing the eastern skies;
Never shall darkness veil Thee again from human eyes;
Too long, alas, withholden, now spread from shore to shore;
Thy light, so glad and golden, shall set on earth no more.

Light of the world, Thy beauty steals into every heart,
And glorifies with duty life’s poorest, humblest, part;
Thou robest in Thy splendour the simple ways of men,
And helpest them to render light back to Thee again.

Light of the world, before Thee our spirits prostrate fall;
We worship, we adore Thee, Thou Light, the Life of all;
With Thee is no forgetting of all Thine hand hath made;
Thy rising hath no setting, Thy sunshine hath no shade.

Light of the world, illumine this darkened earth of Thine,
Till everything that’s human be filled with what’s divine;
Till every tongue and nation, from sin’s dominion free,
Rise in the new creation which springs from love and Thee.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1863

I think I would have gotten on well with Monsell – at least if a man can be judged by the hymns he writes. This hymn is in many ways a reflection on the last prayer of Scripture “Come Lord Jesus, Come”. What are we longing for? What are we hoping for?

Are we not waiting for Christ to be all in all? Holding out for Jesus to return and to recreate that which is fallen? Longing for His perfection to replace our sinfulness? Hoping toward that Great Day?

We see now in the pale light of dawn what will soon be the full glare of the noonday sun. Come Lord Jesus, come!

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Revelation 22:16-21

Sing to the Lord a Joyful Song

2009-02-20T10:15:00.001+13:00

Sing to the Lord a joyful song,
Lift up your hearts, your voices raise;
To us His gracious gifts belong,
To Him our songs of love and praise.

For life and love, for rest and food,
For daily help and nightly care,
Sing to the Lord, for He is good,
And praise His Name, for it is fair.

For strength to those who on Him wait,
His truth to prove, His will to do,
Praise ye our God, for He is great,
Trust in His Name, for it is true.

For joys untold, that from above
Cheer those who love His sweet employ,
Sing to our God, for He is love,
Exalt His Name, for it is joy.

For He is Lord of Heav’n and earth,
Whom angels serve and saints adore,
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
To Whom be praise forevermore.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1863

Sing! Sing! One of the striking realities of God’s people is that we sing. Singing has always been a part of what it is to belong to the People of God’s Promise. History is recounted in song, grief is expressed in lament, prayer is made corporate in sung liturgy and thankfulness is given depth and height as harmony and lyrical beauty give it flight.

In the New Testament there is not only an invite to sing but an imperative. We MUST sing and when we do – it is to be deeply rooted in God’s story and springing forth from thanksgiving. Monsell’s hymn is not ignorant of the hard times in which it gratitude is more of a discipline than an easy response, and neither is Scripture.

The content of this hymn is simply this – we can be thankful for so many of the things in life within which we see the bountiful mercies of God but even when they are not so easily seen we can be thankful that we are AT LEAST (which in fact is greater than any other provision) able to give thanks for who God is! Joy is not always easily felt, but it is always the appropriate response.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Col 3:12-17

Lord of the Living Harvest

2009-02-20T10:10:00.000+13:00

Lord of the living harvest
That whitens o’er the plain,
Where angels soon shall gather
Their sheaves of golden grain,
Accept these hands to labour,
These hearts to trust and love,
And deign with them to hasten
Thy kingdom from above.

As labourers in Thy vineyard,
Lord, send them out to be
Content to bear the burden
Of weary days for Thee.
To ask no other wages
When Thou shalt call them home
But to have shared the travail
Which makes Thy kingdom come.

Be with them, God the Father;
Be with them, God the Son;
And God the Holy Spirit,
Most blessèd Three in One.
Make them Thy faithful servants
Thee rightly to adore
And fill them with Thy fullness
Both now and evermore.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1866

It is one of the great privileges to have worked directly with many hundreds (thousands?) of men and women in student contexts in Scotland, South Africa, England, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Ireland, Wales and now New Zealand. Many have been greatly talented, attractive in looks and character, intellectually gifted, eloquent and theologically astute. Many have also struggled to see and know their strengths, lacking confidence, were the least and the lowly: neither gifted intellectually or able to express themselves well in basic conversations let alone theological engagement.

It is a challenge and an encouragement that the Lord Jesus is open to all who will have faith in Him. He does not require looks, prospects, income and respectability before men and women can come to Him: there is no need for a good CV, a decent background or good looks in order to be counted as His.

This hymn reflects on the riches of knowing Christ in the now as we anticipate the “Living Harvest” that is to come. When we are gathered to Him, whether we are awoken from the sleep of death or caught up whilst we still have breath – all of the external things that seem so important will pass and then we will see the true weight of God’s glory in Jesus our Lord and King. He will be the reward and the recompense. His glory will be the succour for our sorrows, the silencing of our complaints and the salvation of our lives.

The fields are still white for the harvest and the labourers are still few. Whether you know yourself to be rich in the privileges and opportunities that this world has to offer or if you are full of weakness and fears and doubts bout your suitability for the task at hand – the task is still at hand! If you are in Christ Jesus, The Lord of the Harvest has called you to Himself. He can, and will and does, use you as you are and as you will become: live for Him now. Live for the Harvest now. Pray God might send you and many others into the Harvest fields of homes and offices and hospitals and factories and churches to continue the work of gathering in His people.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9":36-38

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.” John 4:35-40

I Hunger and Thirst

2009-02-19T09:14:00.001+13:00

I hunger and I thirst,
Jesu, my manna be;
Ye living waters, burst
Out of the rock for me.

Thou bruised and broken Bread,
My life-long wants supply;
As living souls are fed,
O feed me, or I die.

Thou true life-giving Vine,
Let me Thy sweetness prove;
Renew my life with Thine,
Refresh my soul with love.

Rough paths my feet have trod
Since first their course began;
Feed me, Thou Bread of God;
Help me, Thou Son of Man.

For still the desert lies
My thirsting soul before;
O living waters, rise
Within me evermore.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1866

The desert road, through the centre of New Zealand’s North Island, is desolate but beautifully so; dominated by views of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. I’ve often wondered what it must have been like for the first Maori settlers and then the Europeans as they traversed this sizeable chunk of land: more than a days journey on foot (and not covered by the convenience of State Highway 1.

Travelling through the desert is often a source of reflection in the biblical story. God led Abram through deserts and showed him the land that would belong to his descendants. Moses lived in the desert some 80 years in total, the latter 40 leading a rebellious people back and forth to the edge of the land that had been promised to the people of God’s promise: he would eventually die in the desert, only looking at the promised land from afar.

Jesus too led people into the desert – they came in their thousands to hear him preach and teach, to bring the sick who needed healed and the demon possessed who needed freedom. Jesus spoke in parables which were hard to understand but His words brought hope. He spoke of Himself as Bread and Water and Light and Life. He said that He was the true mana from heaven, that His life would establish a New Covenant (new promise) between God and the People of Promise.

Monsell in this hymn expresses what we each know – that faith in Christ does not lead to a life which is free of struggle, suffering, hardship and eventually death. When those things come they do not come because we do not have faith but rather they come into the life of those who live by faith. Sometimes it can feel like we are living in a desert – it might be short lived, a transition point, or a much longer period of life.

When rough times come Monsell’s hymn expresses the beauty of Christ in the ‘deserted’ and ‘barren’ places of life. I particularly like the all sufficiency of Jesus expressed in the penultimate verse. That Jesus is both the Bread of God (the food which sustains us to the end) and the Son of Man (who knows us because He is one of us) is no small comfort when we hunger and thirst, not only for sustaining truth but also for life saving company on the dangerous roads of life.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:36-40

Awake, Glad Soul! Awake! Awake!

2009-02-18T15:49:00.001+13:00

Awake, glad soul! awake! awake!
Thy Lord has risen long;
Go to His grave, and with thee take
Both tuneful heart and song.

Where life is waking all around,
Where love’s sweet voices sing,
The first bright blossom may be found
Of an eternal spring.

The shade and gloom of life are fled
This resurrection day;
Henceforth in Christ are no more dead,
The grave hath no more prey.

In Christ we live, in Christ we sleep,
In Christ we wake and rise,
And the sad tears death makes us weep,
He wipes from all our eyes.

And every bird and every tree,
And every opening flower,
Proclaim His glorious victory,
His resurrection power.

The folds are glad, the fields rejoice,
With vernal verdure spread,
The little hills lift up their voice
And shout that death is dead.

Then wake, glad heart! awake! awake
And seek Thy risen Lord;
Joy in His resurrection take,
And comfort in His Word.

And let thy life, through all its ways,
One long thanksgiving be:
Its theme of joy, its song of praise—
Christ died, and rose for me.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell

It is a strange but remarkable coincidence of my upbringing that I have been to hundreds of funerals. Growing up a Roman Catholic lad in a community where school and church were next to each other I ‘served on the altar’ as an altar boy, which included missing the first hour or so of school on a fairly regular basis to assist at funerals, as well as normal mass.

Funerals of old and young, strangers and people who I’d known (as much as children know adults in the wider community). There are a few that stand out in my memory – one of a child from my school, younger than me, who had been killed on electrical rail lines; a child who was a close neighbour who had died from a genetic condition; a large and elaborate funeral (standing room only) for a ‘pillar’ of the church and my own grandmother’s funeral.

They were all sad occasions – accompanied by the same handful of hymns (abide with me, the Lord’s my Shepherd – which will make an appearance on this blog at some point) – some, like funerals of other children, intractably sad. I’ve been to a fair few funerals since – family and friends; they too have been sad. But how does Christian hope make a marked effect in the life of those grieving.

Monsell’s hymn expresses and applies the reality of Christian hope in the face of the grave. Jesus’ death and resurrection transforms our graveyard experiences. We know that death is vanquished, emptied of power and Death itself, in Christ, has died.

But what of those who die without hope in Christ? Can we who live hoping in Christ grieve with such confidence? I want to say yes. See what Monsell makes clear? Christ will wipe all tears away – at the end of time, there will be the end of mourning and it will be done justly, gracefully and powerfully.

“But what about those I love?” His love for them is greater. “What about eternity away from the lost” His justice is what I hope in, what we hope in, and so we will not mourn the justice of God in judging and salvation; we will rejoice in it!

Every graveside, every funeral, reminds us who know the Lord Jesus, the Lord who was once dead and now Lives never to face death again, that one day He will return and empty graves and call to account and bring salvation and reveal the glory of the Living God! We weep here and now and in doing so we anticipate the ending of all tears!

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Romans 14:7-12

Fight The Good Fight With All Thy Might

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Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength, and Christ thy Right;
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.

Run the straight race through God’s good grace,
Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its way before us lies,
Christ is the Path, and Christ the Prize.

Cast care aside, upon thy Guide,
Lean, and His mercy will provide;
Lean, and the trusting soul shall prove
Christ is its Life, and Christ its Love.

Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear.
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1863

How do we encourage the downhearted? What do we say in the midst of defeat? “cheer up, it could be worse”, “there’s plenty more fish in the sea” or (in particularly Kiwi mode) “harden up”?

Monsell in this well known hymn employs 4 means of encouragement.

Fight with all your strength – but know that the strength with which you fight comes from relationship to God in Christ Jesus.
Know where you are headed and how you are getting there – the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ is not simply the way we become Christians, it is also the way we walk and the destination to which we are headed.
In real weakness lean upon the strength of the Loving Saviour and discover the depths of His Love and Salvation.
When you are fearful remember the reality that everything for the Christian is a way that leads to more of Jesus.

How great is that? What is more these words are a reflection on the final words of the apostle Paul – he faces apparent failure with many having deserted the gospel and him, he faces real weakness with winter coming and he faces real fear as he must give an account of himself before Caesar. In Jesus there is a great hope for us all.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

To Thee, O Dear, Dear Saviour

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To Thee, O dear, dear Saviour!
My spirit turns for rest,
My peace is in Thy favour,
My pillow on Thy breast!
Though all the world deceive me,
I know that I am Thine,
And Thou wilt never leave me,
O blessèd Saviour mine.

In Thee my trust abideth,
On Thee my hope relies,
O Thou Whose love provideth
For all beneath the skies;
O Thou Whose mercy found me,
From bondage set me free,
And then forever bound me
With threefold cords to Thee.

My grief is in the dullness
With which this sluggish heart
Doth open to the fullness
Of all Thou wouldst impart;
My joy is in Thy beauty
Of holiness divine,
My comfort in the duty
That binds my life in Thine.

Alas, that I should ever
Have failed in love to Thee,
The only one who never
Forgot or slighted me!
O for a heart to love Thee
More truly as I ought,
And nothing place above Thee
In deed, or word, or thought.

O for that choicest blessing
Of living in Thy love,
And thus on earth possessing
The peace of Heav’n above;
O for the bliss that by it
The soul securely knows
The holy calm and quiet
Of faith’s serene repose!

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1863

There is a great deal in our cultures that reinforces this inward trajectory of thought and energy; much that commends it as good. “Self belief” seems to be the rubric of validity for what is helpful and true; that only with '”self-belief” will there be any peace in a persons life. There is a problem here though, that sort of self-belief is the antithesis of Biblical faith; I’d go as far as to say that sort of self-belief is the enemy of faith in Jesus Christ.

Martin Luther saw sin for what it was – a turning in on the self, focussing on the self in open rebellion to God. When we are most caught up in our own sinfulness, it is then that we are most caught up in ourselves – our own thoughts, desires, hopes, dreams, aspirations, comfort and importance. It is then in self-satisfaction that sin is most keenly seen in the everyday.

For the Christian though there is someone who we do believe in; that obviously is Jesus Christ. Our faith in Him is the exact opposite of “self-belief” it is the surrender of self, knowing that there is no good within ourselves, to Him who is only good. Our confidence before God is not within ourselves, it is not about how we feel about approaching God in prayer and praise and work and service and thought and deed.

Our confidence before God is only in Jesus. Monsell captures it brilliantly in this hymn – we have now found rest in Jesus, if we have entrusted our lives to Him. We need to stop believing that we can do – that we can impress God and present ourselves before Him as people he must love because of what we can do, have done and will do. We need to stop believing in ourselves and rest our faith in Jesus. He will bring us before God as His own, because of who He is, what He has done and what He has promised.

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew’s Gospel 11:25-30

Sinful Sighing to Be Blest

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Sinful, sighing to be blest,
Bound, and longing to be free;
Weary, waiting for my rest:
God, be merciful to me.

Holiness I’ve none to plead,
Sinfulness is all I see,
I can only bring my need:
God, be merciful to me.

Broken heart and downcast eyes,
Dare not lift themselves to Thee;
Yet Thou canst interpret sighs:
God, be merciful to me.

From this sinful heart of mine
To Thy bosom I would flee;
I am not mine own, but Thine:
God, be merciful to me.

There is One beside Thy throne,
And my only hope and plea
Are in Him and Him alone:
God, be merciful to me.

He my cause will undertake,
My Interpreter will be;
He’s my all, and for His sake,
God, be merciful to me.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell 1857

I’ve written in kiwichronciles about this hymn, it is strangely one of my favourite hymns of all and yet I’ve never sung it nor heard it sung. As I began this blogject* I wondered how long it would take me to get to Monsell’s hymn. I’ve finally succumbed but as I did I wondered what other hymns the writer of this particular hymn had penned. The answer was many – so this week all the hymns will be by John S.B. Monsell.

I not only love the meter and rhyme but, more importantly, its devastatingly brilliant confession of the state of the human heart before God. Without the saving work of Christ, we have no plea, no appeal, no quarter for mercy to work in us. In Him we are rich in mercy beyond our wildest and boldest imaginings.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:3-9

*blogject – a project with specific goals recorded in a blog.

O Jesus, King Most Wonderful

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O Jesus, King most wonderful,
Thou Conqueror renowned,
Thou Sweetness most ineffable,
In Whom all joys are found!

When once Thou visitest the heart,
Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanities depart,
Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, Light of all below,
Thou Fount of life and fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire!

Thy wondrous mercies are untold,
Through each returning day;
Thy love exceeds a thousand fold,
Whatever we can say.

May every heart confess Thy Name;
And ever Thee adore;
And seeking Thee, itself inflame,
To seek Thee more and more.

Thee may our tongues forever bless;
Thee may we love alone;
And ever in our lives express
The image of Thine own.

Bernard of Clairvaux 12th Century transl. from Latin by E.Caswall

Jesus is the centre of the Christian hope – indeed to talk of being Christian without talk of Jesus, and a life transforming love of Him, is to empty 'Christianity’ of ALL that is Christian. Yet, all too often, I hear talk of God without talk of Jesus.

This ‘God-talk’ is in terms of ‘that’s when God came into my life’, ‘the Bible tells us to follow God’ and ‘God loves me and that’s why he died for me’. From students to church leaders I honestly think I’m hearing the name of Jesus used less and less. There is great danger in the loss of Jesus from our conversations and our ‘God talk’.

Bernard of Clairvaux speaks from the past with force in the present. This hymn concisely express why talking of Jesus is vital; truly vital that is – for He, belief in Him, brings Life in all it’s fullness.

When we speak of God, let us focus well and truly on how God has revealed and glorified Himself – in Jesus. When we sing to God, let us approach Him in the way that He has made open – through Jesus blood in the Spirit’s power. When we pray, let’s approach Him with the boldness granted to us – as His rightful children, the family and body of Jesus Christ.

Let us put away ‘God talk’, for it in we hide the offense of Christ Crucified, cushion ourselves from offending friends necessarily and obscure the hope of being saved through faith in Jesus Christ, The Son of God, saviour of the World.

As we do, and as we speak of the Triune God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ we will live and speak the hope of glory until that day when His glory will be shown for all to see, when every tongue and every heart will confess Jesus Christ as Lord – either as a defeated and judged sinner outside of grace or as sinners saved by grace!

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

1 John 3:1-3

O Jesus I Have Promised

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O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me! The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear;
My foes are ever near me, around me and within;
But Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self will.
O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee
That where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be.
And Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

O let me see Thy footprints, and in them plant mine own;
My hope to follow duly is in Thy strength alone.
O guide me, call me, draw me, uphold me to the end;
And then in Heaven receive me, my Saviour and my Friend.

John E. Bode 1868

1989 saw me start university. It also saw the release of the film “Dead Poets Society” (if you’ve not seen it you really should). There is a key scene toward the end of the film, I cannot now sing Bode’s hymn without thinking of that scene. I could describe it – but you’re better seeing it.

Following Jesus is not some light and momentary thing: it is the most life defining, life changing decision any man or woman can make. But Christianity is not for the well, the brave, the strong and the mighty – coming to Jesus robs you of any of those delusional pretensions.

It is not that I am strong that Christ Jesus called me to Himself. It is not that I am heroic that Heaven saw the need for my endeavours. It is not my intellectual capacities or my winsome character (both of which are severely limited) that drew God to me!

It is all and only for Christ. It was not valiant of me to decide to follow Jesus – there is no one else, nowhere else, to go – no voice to listen to, no wisdom to gain and no pilgrimage to go on. Jesus calls and we follow because in Him alone is life and hope. He calls us and we go and are totally changed by Him; into His likeness, to His glory, in His presence for all eternity.

Jesus is my Captain – it is a privilege to serve Him. That privilege is life itself.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

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O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

Samuel Trevor Francis 1875

It’s one of the greatest privileges of the last 20 years, of being involved in student ministry, to have met Christians from all over the world. There are two things which never fail to pleasantly surprise me: the sure conviction of the love of God, through Christ Jesus, extending to everyone who will believe in Him and also the joy, unshakeable joy, it brings.

In 1991 I landed with 24 other Brits in Johannesburg for a 4 week trip organised by Youth for Christ and Tearfund. The team/trip was entitled ‘through different eyes’ it would change me profoundly. We met with 20 or so of our African peers, most from South Africa and some from Zimbabwe to talk through culture and the gospel. We toured Soweto in a bus early on in that trip as we drove past abject poverty (in which many of the African team members lived) they started singing ‘soon and very soon we are going to see the King’. It moved me to tears then, thinking about it still does.

In 2003 I landed in Kuala Lumpur accompanied by Nick Brennan (now working in Otago region with TSCF) for what should have been a South East Asia regional conference. The slight snag was that there was a SARS epidemic raging and the Asia wide conference had to be cancelled, however the Malaysian students were called together and they came. A hugely diverse group of students ethnically and culturally gathered and sang, and talked and ate and ate and ate together. Meeting men who had grown up in jungle villages in Borneo as well as women were city girls, loving KL, the unifying love of Christ at work in them was impressive.

In 2005 I landed in New Zealand for the first time and the lessons are still being learned. Samuel Trevor Francis’ words express my confidence and my hope that in my life, through the cracks and the blemishes of character as well as the strengths that God has built into me, the deep deep love of Jesus would speak to others – my family, my next door neighbours and everyone else – because it is precisely this love which has given me the hope and reality of eternal life.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

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Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.

There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.

To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.

Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.

Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.

Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honours to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!

Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.

The sceptre well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.

With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.

As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distils,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.

The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.

The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.

Isaac Watts 1719

The reality of Jesus’ Lordship is not simply some ‘religious’ or pietistic reality. It is not something that is true for those of us who believe in Jesus: it is absolute truth which spans geography, cultural diversity, language barriers and every other sort of barrier. In fact the Lordship of Jesus flies in the face of any and every barrier which would defy his Lordship.

Some of the words and phrasing in this great hymn causes us to visibly (or metaphorically) squirm in our seats. We want it nuanced for today; “but it is 300 years later, we express truth differently today.” Oh we do and all too often we Christians rob Christ (as if we could) of His rightful place and remove (what idiocy to try) His rightful offence of claiming Lordship over the whole earth and all time and on beyond that too!

In moral difficulty Christ is Lord. In cross-cultural complexities Jesus is Lord. In any given place and time: be it of peace and prosperity or war and degradation, the Lordship of Christ is not diminished by the circumstances.

He is the Only Ruler under whose authority the order of creation is sustained. Jesus holds reality together at the quantum level (what’s more he understands what that means!) and keeps the billions of galaxies in the universe moving in the finest of balances.

Jesus, God revealed, is Lord at a global and cosmic level; because this is true and because of His Lordship demonstrated at the cross of Calvary and the tomb in the garden we can know Him, not simply as LORD but as our Lord and Saviour. What amazing and saving knowledge that is! What hope there is in Jesus who will come to judge and to save! What joy at anticipating the day when who Jesus really is will be seen by every human eye and heart that has ever been given the privilege of life!

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Colossians 1:15-20

All to Jesus, I Surrender

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All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

Refrain

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

Refrain

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

Refrain

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Saviour,
I surrender all.

Judson Wheeler Van DeVenter 1896

My early days of living as a Christian were all emotion. When I felt like I was growing as a Christian I became quite anti-emotion and I was surrounded by similar sceptics. Essentially emotion was bad and logic (cold logic!) was good. But there is a mistake in that. We ARE emotional creatures: as we respond there will therefore be emotion, won’t there?

The reality is that the moments of deepest and complete submission to Jesus in my life have been REALLY emotional . They’ve been about losing things that I have loved (rightly or wrongly) and trusting myself, my future, my past - ‘me’ – to Him. In recognising who He is, I have been silenced, empowered, encouraged, humbled, exalted, broken, healed, restored, overjoyed, sobered and sent… Sometimes the emotion has been well settled and steady, at times overwhelming.

On one or more occasions Judson DeVenter’s hymn has crystallised not only what I’ve done, giving words to my surrender, but also what I’ve hoped for: an acute awareness of His presence through the Holy Spirit.

Some reading this will be concerned about ‘dangerous emotion’ in the hymn and what I’ve said – emotion is only dangerous when it ‘trumps’ Scriptural truth, but so too is logic dangerous in the same sense. If you are one such sceptic I wonder what your honest response would have been as Mary poured out a whole years worth of earnings in submitting to and honouring Jesus. Dangerous emotion? Illogical response? Or what?

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Mark 14:3-9

Jesus! The Name High Over All

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Jesus! the Name high over all,
In hell or earth or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.

Jesus! the Name to sinners dear,
The Name to sinners giv’n;
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It turns their hell to Heav’n.

Jesus! the prisoner’s fetters breaks,
And bruises Satan’s head;
Power into strengthless souls it speaks,
And life into the dead.

O that mankind might taste and see
The riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me
Would all the world embrace.

O that my Jesu’s heavenly charms
Might every bosom move!
Fly, sinners, fly into those arms
Of everlasting love.

Thee I shall constantly proclaim,
Though earth and hell oppose;
Bold to confess Thy glorious Name
Before a world of foes.

His only righteousness I show,
His saving grace proclaim;
’Tis all my business here below
To cry “Behold the Lamb!”

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His Name,
Preach Him to all and cry in death,
“Behold, behold the Lamb!

Charles Wesley 1749

“One day life in your name will run out. If you are lucky, your name will be inscribed on a piece of stone and your remains, your very dead remains, will lie underneath that cold stone and life in your name will be over.

“Life in Jesus Name will never run out. Jesus has already died and death could not hold Him. If you give life in your name over to life in Jesus Name then you will have eternal life.”

I first heard Nigel Pollock use this illustration at a week of events at Manchester University in the mid 1990’s. I was struck by the powerful truthfulness and the force of the image. That week saw a good number respond to the call to choose life, to have eternal life, in Jesus name.

It’s not the word “Jesus” which is special: indeed Jesus (Hesus) is a very common name in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world. ‘Jesus’ is actually the Anglification of the Greek rendering of the Hebraic name Yeshua. So it is not the noun itself. It is who bears the name.

Jesus: Jesus of Nazareth, called Christ/Messiah (Anointed One) who was born by miraculous birth, lived a perfect but ordinary life until the age of about 30 when He began a ministry declaring that God had come among the people of the earth, indeed to His own chosen people, in order to make justice and mercy possible offering truth and grace in equal measure. Jesus of Nazareth, God in human flesh, healed and taught and taught and did great wonders and taught that the Kingdom of God had come as the King who is God walked the earth. Jesus of Nazareth who surrendered Himself willingly to corrupt human courts and was unjustly condemned to a wicked death so that the very ones whose guilt stood as a record of just condemnation might know a way to come to be reconciled to God. Jesus of Nazareth who died on a cross and lay in a tomb and rose from death, never to face death again and conquering over all that is evil whilst offering forgiveness of sins to all who would come to Him. Jesus – Risen and Ascended Lord over all things in heaven and on earth: who is returning to judge the living and the dead.

THIS is the name that is high over all others. THIS is the Name who offers eternal life. THIS is Him, and only Him, in whose Name life will never run out.

I have come to love Him and to love His Name. I pray that the last word which passes my lips will be His Name; for I am sure that as I open my eyes the other side of the grave, it will first thing passed my renewed mouth; a cry of release from sin and of hope realised – Jesus, the Name High Over ALL!

“…if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4: 9-12

At Thy Feet O Christ We Lay

2009-02-08T16:26:00.000+13:00

At Thy feet, O Christ, we lay
Thine own gift of this new day;
Doubt of what it holds in store
Makes us crave Thine aid the more;
Lest it prove a time of loss,
Mark, it Saviour, with Thy Cross.

If it flow on calm and bright,
Be Thyself our chief Delight;
If it bring unknown distress,
Good is all that Thou canst bless;
Only, while its hours begin,
Pray we, keep them clear of sin.

We in part our weakness know
And in part discern our foe;
Well for us, before Thine eyes
All our danger open lies;
Turn not from us, while we plead
Thy compassions and our need.

Fain would we Thy Word embrace,
Live each moment on Thy grace,
All our selves to Thee consign,
Fold up all our wills in Thine,
Think, and speak, and do, and be
Simply that which pleases Thee.

Hear us, Lord, and that right soon;
Hear, and grant the choicest boon
That Thy love can e’er impart,
Loyal singleness of heart;
So shall this and all our days,
Christ and God, show forth Thy praise.

William Bright 1867

Where does your greatest allegiance lie? What is your greatest hope? How do we know?

I guess it is in the losses and the gains of life. Both failure and success uncovers the true state of our hearts. What happens when things go well, your plans work out, your work satisfies and is praised, you do good and are good? What happens when life takes a nose dive, when loss is irreparable and trouble (real trouble not inconvenience) comes to stay a while?

Where do your internal eyes turn? Do you praise yourself in success and wonder where God is in the midst of trouble? Are you thankful in joy and in sorrow – thankful for knowing God?

There is SO much that competes for our affections, our allegiances. Mostly it is our own good, our comfort, that competes most fiercely. We may extend ‘our’ good to our families, our friends or even our church and (at a stretch) our theological buddies. Is our highest allegiance to God in Christ? Is it? Really?

Make the choice (first time or afresh); life is from Him and for Him. In Him and Him alone is eternal life. It comes only through faith in Jesus: faith in Jesus as Saviour, Lord and King. Jesus – our first, last and highest allegiance: through good and bad.

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” John’s Gospel 17:1-5

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

2009-02-07T10:10:00.000+13:00

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savoir, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savoir, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

Joseph M. Scriven 1855

I stood looking out over the North Sea; my heart full of confusion and pain. It was my second year at university in St Andrews, Scotland. I was depressed and confused, it was one of the lowest times of my life (to date)! A good friend stood at my side and asked me a penetrating question, “What is the worst thing that could happen right now?”

I didn’t have to reach far into my imagination, “That I’ll end up in the local mental health hospital.” In admitting it out loud I felt like I’d just taken a step further in that direction. Tears streamed down my face. I felt totally alone and beyond help.

“Would Jesus be there?” came yet another question from my wise friend. “Yeah,” I admitted. “I guess He would.”

At that moment a light went on somewhere in my heart and mind. Jesus would be there. Jesus is there, here, right now. “Walking in the darkest places is pretty scary when you are by yourself,” my friend continued “Walking with someone else means it becomes an adventure.”

He gently chided my self-pity and encouraged me to see that there were good friends around who would walk with me in the darkest of situations but the reality is the The Great Friend, the LORD Jesus, is always close at hand in the lives of those who live for Him.

Whether turmoil is internal or external, whether we are fighting our inner selves or caught in the ferocity of war and persecution there is the assurance of the friendship of Christ Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit and the steady presence of The Heavenly Father in those who know him by faith.

I once heard a story told of Richard Wurmbrand, who spent many years in Soviet prisons for his preaching of Christ where it was illegal. He was told he was to be put in solitary confinement. He replied, to the fury of his captors, that it would be impossible to do so for Jesus would always be with him, regardless of the depths to which they stooped. That is our assurance and hope in even the darkest of situations.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The Hymn for Conquering Martyrs raise

2009-02-06T11:15:00.001+13:00

The hymn for conquering martyrs raise,
The victor innocents we praise,
Whom in their woe earth cast away,
But Heav’n with joy received today;
Whose angels see the Father’s face
World without end, and hymn His grace;
And while they chant unceasing lays,
The hymn for conquering martyrs raise.

A voice from Ramah was there sent,
A voice of weeping and lament,
When Rachel mourned the children’s care
Whom for the tyrant’s sword she bare.
Triumphal is their glory now,
Whom earthly torments could not bow,
What time, both far and near that went,
A voice from Ramah there was sent.

Fear not, O little flock and blest,
The lion that your life opprest!
To heavenly pastures ever new
The heavenly Shepherd leadeth you;
Who, dwelling now on Zion’s hill,
The Lamb’s dear footsteps follow still;
By tyrant there no more distrest,
Fear not, O little flock and blest.

And every tear is wiped away
By your dear Father’s hands for ay;
Death hath no power to hurt you more,
Whose own is life’s eternal store.
Who sow their seed, and sowing weep,
In everlasting joy shall reap,
What time they shine in heavenly day,
And every tear is wiped away.

O city blest o’er all the earth,
Who gloriest in the Saviour's birth,
Who are His earliest martyrs dear,
By kindred and by triumph here;
None from henceforth may call thee small,
Of rival towns thou passest all:
In whom our Monarch had His birth,
O city blest o’er all the earth!

‘The Venerable’ Bede transl. from Latin by John M. Neale

It seems this week that I’ve been thinking about corporate worship in the context of suffering. This morning I received an email reflecting on the outbreak of persecution of Christians in Orissa in the latter half of 2008.

Martyr literally means ‘witness’ but has been used through generations in the church of someone who dies for the sake of their witness, their hope, in Jesus. We often think of Martyrdom as something that happened in the past tense – rather than something which is happening. As I write this (and you read) there are thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ who are socially and economically oppressed, who languish in jail, who are punished, tortured and murdered simply for their hope in Jesus.

The email this morning and the hymn above marry together a sense of not forgetting those whose blood has been shed for the sake of the gospel. The hymn comes for the late seventh or early eighth century and has no less relevance today. What follows is a passage to ponder as you read the list of names, a rollcall of honour, to those whose lives were taken in the Orissa persecution of 2008.

[Jesus said] “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 12:10-19

ORISSA DISTRICT

24th August
1. Rasananda Pradhan of Rupagaon village
25th August
1. Bikram Naik of Tiangia village
2. Dasaratha Pradhan of Tiangia village
3. Surendra Naik of Tiangia village
4. Jaka Naik of Budamaha village
5. Gapana Nayak of Budamaha village
6. Nanamati Naik of Bakingia village
7. Rajesh Digal of Bataguda village
8. Sunaphulo Nayak of Tiangia village
26th August
1. Akbar Digal of Sulesaru village
2. Gunduri Nayak of Budamaha village
3. Bastina Mantry of Bhalipada village
4. Meri Digal of Barakhama village
5. Nabaghana Nayak of Paderkia village
6. Prafulla Nayak of Badimunda village
7. Sideshwar Digal of Sulesaru village
8. Pastor Samuel Naik(Nayak) of Bakingia village
27th August
1. Pastor Gayadhar Digal of Phiringia village
2. Pastor Dibya Sunder Digal of Sipaeju village
3. Pastor Daniel Nayak of Bakingia village
4. Bidyadhar Digal of Dugabadi village
5. Trinath Digal of Tiangia village
6. Sadananda Pradhan of Telapali village
7. Anthou Digal of Telapali village
8. Parikhita Nayak of Telapali village
9. Kasiben of Raikia burnt to death
10.An Adventist believer of Digi village beheaded
11.Baxi Bandhu of Lumungia village
30th August
1. Romani Naik of Bakingia village; mother of Samuel Naik burnt alive
2. Daniel Naik of Bakingia village
3. Michael Naik of Bakingia village
31th August
1. Baxi Bandhu of Lumungia beheaded
9th September
1. Mathew Naik of Sarangada village
2. Purander Mallick of Nilungia village
20th September
1. Iswar Digal of Gatringia village
30th September
1. Meghanath Digal of Bisipada village
2. Priyatamma Digal of Bisipada village
3rd October
1. Shyam Sunder of Sindhpali village
28th October
1. Father Bernard Digal of Sulesaru village
24th November
1. Leunsio Digal died in Daringabadi Relief Camp
25th November
1. Lalita Digal of Dobali village
16th December
1. Jubraj Digal of Ganjamendi Village
2. Janamati Nayak of Bakingia village
3. Jecob Digal of Petapanga village
4. Kamolini Nayak of Mondakia village
5. 12 year old girl died in a relief camp in K.Nuagaon
6. Romesh Digal of Bakingia village
7. Joseph Digal (Place unknown)
8. Khogeswar Pradhan
9. Pastor Daniel Mallick of Bakingia
10.Mishra Digal of Balliguda
11.Sureshon Nayak

GAJAPATI DISTRICT

26th August
1. Mukunda Burdhan of Mukundapure
2. Kumuda Bardhan of Mukundapure village
3. Unknown person from Parlakhemundi village
2nd December
1. Dhanyavad Lima in Ramgiri Relief Camp
Nawarangpur
25th August
1. Unknown person killed from Papahandi village Nayagarh
31st August
1. Abhimonyu Nayak of Barapalli village Rayagarh
30th August
1. Ramakant of Ramannaguda village
2. Balu of Ramannaguda village

Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth

2009-02-05T22:23:00.001+13:00

Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest Thy virgin birth:
Let every age adoring fall;
Such birth befits the God of all.

Begotten of no human will,
But of the Spirit, Thou art still
The Word of God in flesh arrayed,
The promised Fruit to man displayed.

The virgin womb that burden gained
With virgin honour all unstained;
The banners there of virtue glow;
God in His temple dwells below.

Forth from His chamber goeth He,
That royal home of purity,
A giant in twofold substance one,
Rejoicing now His course to run.

From God the Father He proceeds,
To God the Father back He speeds;
His course He runs to death and hell,
Returning on God’s throne to dwell.

O equal to the Father, Thou!
Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
And darkness breathe a newer light,
Where endless faith shall shine serene,
And twilight never intervene.

All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the Holy Paraclete

Ambrose of Milan transl. from Latin by John M. Neale in 1862

The words that we sing on a Sunday morning, or wherever and whenever we gather with God’s people, really matter: at times they matter enough to die for. The words of this hymn were penned in a context of strife over the nature of who Jesus was: fully God and fully human OR half-God and half-human. Ambrose lived in dangerous times and waded into the midst of theological and socio-political tensions. He regarded truth more highly than his own safety.

Ambrose argued hard and long for the reality of what scripture teaches – fully God and fully human. In this hymn that Scriptural truth is proclaimed and celebrated.

“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

2009-02-04T17:37:00.001+13:00

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Martin Luther (Life/Hymns) (1527) transl. from German by Frederick H. Hedge 1853

It is less than fashionable, and even objectionable, to refer to God in militaristic terms today. The songs of today speak of wonder, love, devotion, praise – of God’s great love, His ability to save, comfort, redeem, cleanse, heal and give life. We sing of sheltering under His wings, in the shadow of His love and under His mighty hand. We don’t think of them in military terms – Luther lived at a time when trusting in God, as He reveals Himself in His Word, was a matter of life and death.

For most of us reading this (maybe I flatter myself writing ‘us’!) we live in comfort – fearing at worst scorn or other relatively small emotional losses of relationship – we find little comfort in the battle hardened singing of this song. But there are many around the world who look to God for victory in the midst of ferocious danger and savage opposition.

This hymn was written in the midst of the social and political upheaval which had arisen out of the European Reformation. Luther had lost friends to the flames of persecution and suppression and faced the prospect of them for himself. The words of Ps46 lie at the core of this hymn.

We sit in ease and comfort and think the call to ‘be still and know that I am God’ is somehow at odds with the proclamation that God is a God who leads His people into a battle. We would do well to listen to the hymns of the past and the voices of God’s people suffering around the world: Our God is a Mighty Refuge because He is the Mighty Warrior who has beaten the Evil One and will one day judge him, subdue him and consign all evil to an eternity of God’s justice.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. (Selah)

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Selah)

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Selah)

Psalm 46

Encouraged By Thy Word

2009-02-03T10:10:00.000+13:00

Encouraged by thy word
Of promise to the poor;
Behold, a beggar, LORD,
Waits at thy mercy’s door!
No hand, no heart, O LORD, but thine,
Can help or pity wants like mine.

The beggar’s usual plea
Relief from men to gain,
If offered unto thee,
I know thou would’st disdain:
And pleas which move thy gracious ear,
Are such as men would scorn to hear.

I have no right to say
That though I now am poor,
Yet once there was a day
When I possessed more:
Thou know’st that from my very birth,
I’ve been the poorest wretch on earth.

Nor can I dare profess,
As beggars often do,
Though great is my distress,
My wants have been but few:
If thou shouldst leave my soul to starve,
It would be what I well deserve.

’Twere folly to pretend
I never begged before;
Or if thou now befriend,
I’ll trouble thee no more:
Thou often hast relieved my pain,
And often I must come again.

Though crumbs are much too good
For such a dog as I;
No less than children’s food
My soul can satisfy:
O do not frown and bid me go,
I must have all thou canst bestow.

Nor can I willing be
Thy bounty to conceal
From others, who like me,
Their wants and hunger feel:
I’ll tell them of thy mercy’s store,
And try to send a thousand more.

Thy thoughts, thou only wise!
Our thoughts and ways transcend,
Far as the arched skies
Above the earth extend:
Such pleas as mine men would not bear,
But God receives a beggar’s prayer.

John Newton 1779

If Truth is true – it is true in each and every generation and in all cultures.

How un-postmodern of me! Let me say it in narrative and make it more relational; but it still won’t make it palatable.

John Newton knew himself all too well and he knew the cries of beggars in his day: ‘spare someone who has fallen on hard times a little of what you have’. He knew the human heart and its false and fickle ways. No less so today. Once in a Cape Town, South Africa cafe a woman approached me, she looked wretched, dirty and smelly. She handed me a piece of paper, on it was scrawled “I am deaf and mute, God would bless you if you spare me a little of your money so that I can buy some milk for my children”. Many times in Leeds, England, I was approached to help people ‘just to get the bus home/call my dying mother/take my dog to the vet’.

Many beggars appeal to pity and better nature on the basis of ‘there but for the grace of God’. Ease your conscience… give and make yourself feel better.,, even if you know you’re being conned. I saw the woman from Cape Town later that same day, she was laughing and talking with a man, sharing a cigarette – neither deaf nor mute. The appeals for help to get home came mostly from men who could have compromised my sobriety with their personal fumes and had no intentions of catching busses or contacting dying mothers unless either of those possibilities lead directly to more alcohol and/or drugs. (Don’t get me wrong – I’m not judging those individuals, just expanding on the words of the hymn and the insight they give us. Truth is begging for money to buy alcohol is no more or less respectable than working full time with eyes set on getting drunk at the weekend as a ‘good night out’)

John Newton knew better and his words 320 years later shed light for us. Our appeal is not for ‘help’ but for rescue. We are not respectable, once in a while beggars, who need to get back on our feet. We are not quiet and gentle folk reduced by the random happenstance of life or the cruelty of others.

We are rebels who have ruined ourselves and chosen our ruin as though it were life itself. We have revelled in our rebellion, dressed it up, painted it fancy colours and taken it out for walks. We have fed our rejection of God as our Creator, Lord and King upon the fat of our pride and the saccharine sweetness of our own foolishness. Our breath wreaks of death and destruction – we open our mouths and as though corpses lay hidden in our inner beings the intoxicating stench of death pours forth.

And thus is our lot explained and inescapably true. No matter the historic age, regardless of cultural baggage, the appeal is the same. With nothing in our hands, nothing within or without to make us palatable to God we cry out for His saving mercy which dawned clear and beautiful in the coming the the Sovereign King in the Suffering Servant: Jesus.

We beg pleading only God’s Glory in Christ Jesus by the Spirit’s enabling – we plead his goodness and grace, not our misfortune and worthiness. The sort of weak cry that provokes wrathful scorn in people (for it truly is wretched) – begging for our life before the Lord of Life Himself.

We beg, but we do so (if indeed we do beg of Him at all) not full of self-pity, thinking that He must respond because He is so tender hearted, but rather because He has acted and spoken and promised succour to all who do come in faith. We beg for life itself and in Christ God reconciles us to Himself and so gives us Life in all its fullness. Jesus is the only Saviour. You may beg to differ, but you’d be wrong.

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Mark 10:46-52

Just as I am

2009-02-02T16:55:00.001+13:00

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Hath broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove,
Here for a season, then above,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Charlotte Elliot 1835

It should come as no surprise that hymn after hymn is accompanied by a contextual note which speaks of a particular grief or struggle out of which arose the occasion of the writing of the words (and sometimes tunes) which we sing today. What is surprising is that for many this hymn, by Charlotte Elliot, should feel so trite: her life says otherwise.

There are many who have been dealt to heavily in suffering – just yesterday I heard of two young men, each battling cancer: one a tumour in the brain, the other in his bowel. Both are men of faith both are ‘too young’ to be facing such battles and yet they do.

It is a great comfort that in the highs and lows of life we have an assurance of God’s total knowledge of us – not simply with regard to His omniscience (as if that were not enough?!?!?!) but also that having lived in the flesh and blood realities of this world, He knows us as our True Friend and Brother. When we come to Him, there is no pretence at perfection – there is either fear and shrinking back in His total discovery of who we are or better, the response of faith, to come with boldness and confidence in response to His call and promise. If we were to wait till we were ‘well enough’ to be accepted by Jesus there would not be days long enough to keep that pause: if you are to come at all, it is as yourself and without anything held back: He knows us as we truly are.

Indeed He knows us as we truly are and has therefore TRULY dealt with the issue as it really is. There is no mincing about, no subtlety, at the cross – the price of our reality is laid bare. Jesus is stripped naked, beaten, spat up and reviled by the religious and irreligious alike. He is judged by God on our behalf – taking our unrighteousness and offering in its stead His perfect record; so it might be counted ours, just as He had counted what was rightly ours as truly His.

We approach God in the full reality of who we are, ‘wrapped’ in the full reality of who Jesus is and what his death and resurrection have attained on our behalf – now THAT is worth singing about. Charlotte Elliot had it right – her words carry on her tear soaked and vital testimony to the Truth.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

2009-02-01T22:04:00.001+13:00

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

George Matheson 1882

I remember well the offense of being told that my best was not good enough for God. I was 15, my then girlfriend’s mother was a ‘born again’ Christian and into my devout Catholicism she dropped the idea that no matter what I could or would do to impress God it would fall short. I was so angry, offended and devastated: it was a seed of truth that took root and fed into a despair that first took me into more sin and finally led me to look to Christ for forgiveness.

Matheson’s hymn was born of his own life of general suffering and specifically something that happened to him in the run up to a family wedding:

My hymn was com posed in the manse of Innelan [Argyleshire, Scotland] on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying over night in Glasgow. Some thing happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some in ward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correct ion. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a day spring from on high.

How amazing that the limitations of the human life can actually teach us of the true nature of God! Even life at its worst is not devoid of hope. People who critique Christians and dismiss us often do so with a linguistic sneer and an implication that we only believe because we are too weak to face life on our own. But the truth is that ‘life on our own’ is weakness at it’s height, in fact it is death without hope. Surrendering life ‘on our own’ for life in Jesus Name is facing up to life as it is.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69

Immortal Invisible

2009-01-31T11:02:00.001+13:00

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

Walter C. Smith 1876

God is unknowable. As a second year Divinity student at St Andrews University we had a series of lectures on the unknowability of God: that we intuit that God is there, through our response to the nature of existence, but that God, or what we might seek to call God, is unknowable.

At the time I was quite caught and struck by the idea. God is so vast, so beyond human comprehension, so totally other – that to speak of knowing God is both the depth folly and the height of pride. It all made sense and still makes sense as long as you don’t think about, listen to or give any weight to Scripture.

God is unknowable, unless He reveals Himself. God is beyond our reach, unless He reaches down. God is too vast for us to see Him, unless he makes Himself accessible to our eyes. He has done all this in Christ Jesus.

Walter Smith expresses the joy of knowing the otherwise unknowable God - the privilege of truly being known by Him and living with the Hope of one day fully knowing – in this great hymn. What a hope we have. What a joy it brings. What life He has given to all who hope in Jesus!!!

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Hebrews 11:1-4

And Can It Be?

2009-01-30T10:10:00.000+13:00

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Saviour in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Charles Wesley 1738

In then most familiar paths there are often unseen or unknown treasures that we fail to pay attention to. I would not dare to count how many times I’ve sung this hymn since coming to Christ (though i do know how many times I’ve sung it since coming to New Zealand – namely NONE!). Saying that though, I have never sung the fifth verse that Wesley penned.

I can sort of see why it has been left unsung – it speaks of feeling the Saviour ‘in my heart’ which would seem to reduce Jesus to some pietistic existential experience BUT the lines prior to it surely cure that ‘sentiment’ and make it an expression of hope filled grace? To sing of the blood atoning of Christ, quenching the wrath of hostile heaven would be a breath of fresh air from the past into Christian gatherings which sing of Christ’s thought on the cross being ‘of me above all’.

Our thoughts in worship should be well taught and transformed hearts in the face of the staggering reality that YES, YES, YES – it can be that we might know God through the atoning blood of Christ, in the power of the Spirit and thus approaching the Father with great confidence. Confidence not born of ourselves but as we the twice-born children of God come to Him, by His Promise, according to His Word for the praise of His Glory!

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:19-25

Young Men and Maidens, Raise

2009-01-29T10:10:00.000+13:00

Young men and maidens, raise
Your tuneful voices high;
Old men and children, praise
The Lord of earth and sky;
Him Three in One and One in Three,
Extol to all eternity.

The universal King
Let all the world proclaim;
Let every creature sing
His attributes and Name!
Him Three in One and One in Three,
Extol to all eternity.

In His great Name alone
All excellencies meet,
Who sits upon the throne,
And shall forever sit;
Him Three in One and One in Three,
Extol to all eternity.

Glory to God belongs;
Glory to God be given,
Above the noblest songs
Of all in earth or heaven!
Him Three in One and One in Three,
Extol to all eternity.

When did you last sing of the Trinity? Not implied or assumed, but sung of Him who is Three in One and One in Three? When did you last sing a song which has, as it’s main aim, to extol other Christians to think on and revel in the Glory of God?

So many songs of today are about MY response to ‘God’. These songs stir the heart and many of them could be sung by any old theist – you don’t have to believe in the Father, Son and Spirit to sing them, you don’t have to be in relationship to God in Three Persons: Diverse and One.

Wesley’s hymn stirs the heart alright – a clarion call to consider who God is, as He is. The Great Mystery revealed supremely in the Son of Man, made plain as the Father of All Peoples and the Spirit of Creation. This is our God. He is worthy of our praise – not because of what He has done for us, but rather for who He is. His gracious action for us, His invitation to us, makes His glory all the more plain to our dim eyes.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36

O That I Could Repent

2009-01-28T10:10:00.000+13:00

O that I could repent!
O that I could believe!
Thou by Thy voice the marble rent,
Thou by Thy voice the marble rent,
The rock in sunder cleave!

Thou, by Thy two-edged sword,
My soul and spirit part,
Strike with the hammer of Thy Word,
Strike with the hammer of Thy Word,
And break my stubborn heart!

Saviour, and Prince of Peace,
The double grace bestow;
Unloose the bands of wickedness,
Unloose the bands of wickedness,
And let the captive go:

Grant me my sins to feel,
And then the load remove:
Wound, and pour in, my wounds to heal,
Wound, and pour in, my wounds to heal,
The balm of pardoning love.

For Thy own mercy’s sake
The cursèd thing remove;
And into Thy protection take
And into Thy protection take
The prisoner of Thy love:

In every trying hour
Stand by my feeble soul;
And screen me from my nature’s power,
And screen me from my nature’s power,
Till Thou hast made me whole.

This is Thy will, I know,
That I should holy be,
Should let my sin this moment go,
Should let my sin this moment go,
This moment turn to Thee:

O might I now embrace
Thy all-sufficient power;
And never more to sin give place,
And never more to sin give place,
And never grieve Thee more!

Charles Wesley 1749

I don’t know about you but these words capture my experience of the Christian life – knowing that under the surface of my turning away from all wrongdoing there needs to be a more fundamental sea change.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German Pastor & Theologian, co-conspirator in the failed plot to kill Hitler and perhaps Christian Martyr) spoke of repentance as the most acute form of pain anyone can face – for it is to face oneself as we are: in God’s sight rather than our own. To repent therefore is a God-given thing – it is a work of God in our lives. Here, in this hymn, Wesley captures it well – essentially ‘bring me to brokenness of seeing me as I am and then heal me as I am that I may know you’.

What better song is there to sing? I don’t mean this hymn, but the Christian heart crying out to be wounded, cleft in two even, for the sake of knowing Christ better?

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:21-25

What Shall I Render to My God?

2009-01-27T10:10:00.000+13:00

What shall I render to my God
For all His mercy’s store?
I’ll take the gifts He hath bestowed,
And humbly ask for more.

The sacred cup of saving grace
I will with thanks receive,
And all His promises embrace,
And to His glory live.

My vows I will to His great Name
Before His people pay,
And all I have, and all I am,
Upon His altar lay.

Thy lawful servant, Lord, I owe
To Thee whate’er is mine,
Born in Thy family below,
And by redemption thine.

Thy hands created me, Thy hands
From sin have set me free,
The mercy that hath loosed my bands
Hath bound me fast to Thee.

The God of all redeeming grace
My God I will proclaim,
Offer the sacrifice of praise,
And call upon His Name.

Praise Him, ye saints, the God of love,
Who hath my sins forgiven,
Till, gathered to the church above,
We sing the songs of Heaven.

Charles Wesley

“What is enough? How do I know if I’m doing enough?” was a question a good friend asked me over coffee and a cake toward the end of last year. It’s a natural question. When we look at how much God has done for us, the question arises ‘what can i do in return?’

There is nothing that we can do – nothing! – to repay what God has done for us. In essence that very thought is the source of all sin: what can I do to take the place of God? We are sinful creatures to our core, even in accepting God’s Grace, so as we display our sin we also all the more give evidence of the lavishness of God’s Glory in His redeeming Grace.

We can do nothing – not words, deeds, motivations; not in sacrificing belongings, ambitions or even our lives – that would be a fit price to repay God so that he must accept us. That which is a correct response is a life of gratitude and humility. That life is neatly summed up in this hymn – our response to grace is to take it more and more and in doing so look forward to the Great Day of Salvation when we will sing to God, by His Grace, of His great Glory.

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:6-7

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

2009-01-26T10:10:00.000+13:00

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Charles Wesley 1747

Charles Wesley had a dislike of people changing his lyrics (he passionately disliked the ‘mending’ of his verse by others to suit their own theological pedantries or tastes). Above is the original text of a well known and much sung hymn. I think though that the moving of some of the text into a more commonly recognised vernacular strengthens some hymns in their ‘transportation’ through time. What is most striking here though, is not the minor changes in words, but the vast and powerful resonance with the present reality of living as a Christian – of how we experience and know Jesus through faith.

I love many of the new songs that come to the people of God each year from all around the globe – but we lose too much when we shed the treasures of past corporate worship when we throw them over simply for the sake of novelty and ‘keeping fresh’. Sometimes the very reason that we are singing songs 250 years on is precisely BECAUSE they hold treasure and help us to treasure that which is most valuable in the Christian life.

In this hymn, Charles Wesley helps us to see and treasure Christ as the Loving Saviour of the unloving and undeserving – causing us to treasure Jesus all the more. Jesus will come one day and complete in those who love Him the perfection of His love: truly transforming us into the image of His likeness for all eternity.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:7-12

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

2009-01-25T10:10:00.000+13:00

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Charles Wesley

The centrality of Jesus in the Christian hope is so obvious that it is barely worth restating in words and deeds. It is for this very reason that we need to assert it anew, each day, each week, each year – if we don’t, if we allow our hearts and minds to settle for what we think is most obvious and then ‘move on’ to less obvious things then we will become easily blinded to that which is most important.

This two verse hymn from Wesley is most often sung at Christmas. The last two lines speak powerfully of what is most important at the heart of Christian hope. Jesus’ merit – His perfection in every way, but ultimately as the sinless sacrifice atoning for sin – is what grants us a saving relationship with God.

I love the profundity and simplicity of these two verses from Wesley. I love that they make it possible to proclaim simply the depth of our hope. They make it clear that our hope rests not on ourselves, not in our respectability or contemporaneous appeal, not in our moral fibre or our social standing. We do not hope in ourselves, our hope is in Jesus.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:23-26

O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

2009-01-24T15:20:00.001+13:00

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honours of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Saviour come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

In Christ your Head, you then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Glory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, living life
I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Saviour mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,
Ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in heaven I knew
When written on my heart.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own
Your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

Awake from guilty nature’s sleep,
And Christ shall give you light,
Cast all your sins into the deep,
And wash the Æthiop white.

Harlots and publicans and thieves
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew
In holy triumph join!
Believe the Saviour died for you;
For me the Saviour died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Charles Wesley 1739

It is an amazing coincidence that this well sung hymn was written in commemoration of Wesley’s first anniversary of coming to know Jesus for himself. It’s a coincidence because John Newton wrote the hymn we now know as Amazing Grace as his first anniversary hymn. I love the move from the universal truth (that God’s praise could not be exhausted by a thousand languages because of the person and work of Christ Jesus) to personal reflection (that as a sinner set free the praise of God is our appropriate and essential occupation) and onto a general appeal to all (encompassing even the dregs of society – harlots, publicans, theieves, murderers and the rest of the ‘hellish’ crew) as a sinner saved, and not as a pharisee judging (with me your chief) to discover the delight of knowing salvation.

It makes me smile to feel the joy and hear the appeal that Charles Wesley gave. It humbles me to see the sombre joy with which he wrote – really free, not frivolously freed, and thus truly joy-filled worship. This hymn has led to me post a series of Wesleyan hymns in the coming week.

[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 8:9-14

Before the Throne Of God Above

2009-01-23T10:10:00.000+13:00

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One with Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Saviour and my God!

Charitie L. Bankcoft 1863

This older hymn has become more widely known again with revised lyrics and (much better) music (youtube video below). I love this hymn, not only for its rousing melody but more for its teaching of the extrinsic righteousness of Jesus applied to the believer.

I, we, do not dare to come to God pleading our own cause, our own righteousness, for if we did the argument would soon be over, our silence would be absolute and our hope would be lost. But pleading of Christ’s righteousness, our strong and perfect plea, there is boldness and confidence to enter into relationship with God and to face the accusations of our wrongdoing (and justly so) by the great accuser, Satan himself, and not fear ANY reproach for Jesus has borne the penalty in Himself on the Cross.

In Jesus there is boldness and confidence because, through faith in Jesus Christ, God has counted His righteousness as our own just as Christ counted our unrighteousness as His own at the Cross – and so the debt is paid, the accuser silenced and life hid with Christ on high, is ours and ours forever.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8

Truly God is Good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

2009-01-22T11:02:00.001+13:00

Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

“Asaph”

It is somewhat striking that there is a hymn book given us by God that all but a few churches and church traditions make regular use of. The hymn above is known and accessible to us as Psalm 73.

I love the honesty of this hymn – sung thousands of years ago – resonating strongly with the experience of Christians today. A quick scan of the international and national news tells us that wicked prosper. One small example is here, but there are grander examples – the once closest to my heart/mind at the moment is of Robert Mugabe.

There have been losses of Christian men and women in these last few years, faithful servants and honourable leaders who have died, from our perspective, far too early. And yet, in Zimbabwe lives an old man who has bled his country dry, mocked justice, shunned integrity and vomited bile upon his own people. Why does God allow all of this?

This hymn reminds me, reminds us all, that our gaze is not to be on the wicked but upon the God of mercy, grace and justice. The God who is all knowing, all sovereign and ever watchful. Those faithful men and women who have trusted Christ will receive honour and glory – whereas for Mugabe and for many like him (and like us!), unless there is real repentance from wickedness and real joy in righteousness there will come death and then judgement.

True enough – wickedness will perish but those who follow God’s Righteousness in Christ Jesus, will not perish but have eternal life in Him!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Litany of the Four Last Things: Heaven

2009-01-21T10:10:00.000+13:00

Where Thy Saints in glory reign
Free from sorrow, free from pain,
Pure from every guilty stain
Bring us, Holy JESU.

Where the captives find release,
Where all foes from troubling cease,
Where the weary rest in peace,
Bring us, Holy JESU.

Where the pleasures never cloy,
Where in Angel's holy joy,
Thy redeem'd their powers employ,
Bring us, Holy JESU.

Where in wondrous light are shown,
All Thy dealings with Thine own,
Who shall know as they are known,
Bring us, Holy JESU.

Where, with loved ones gone before,
We may love Thee and adore,
In Thy Presence evermore,
Bring us, Holy JESU.

Early on in my work alongside students, indeed as a student myself, Nigel Lee spoke to me about a hunger for heaven and what is says about spiritual maturity. I can't remember his exact words but I remember the tone and gravity with which he said it. He'd asked how I was doing and we chatted about what I'd been learning - mostly about how my hope and hunger for eternity with Christ had deepend over the previous summer. He commented that it is when the hunger for Heaven awakens and deepens in someone, in a congregation even, that it is a real sign of the work of the Holy Spirit and a breakthrough in Christian maturity. I was deeply encouraged and have found it to be true in my life and the lives of others.

There are many 'thermometers' I use to take my spiritual temperature. The clearest indicator is my hunger and thirst for Heaven. It speaks of my relationship in the NOW as I long for the then. We love Jesus now, even though we do not see him, how much more will we love Him when we come face to face. The last words of the Bible feed our hunger to be with Him, not something we can acheive ourselves - but we wait for him with an eye on the skies.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Revelation 22:16-21

Litany of the Four Last Things: Hell

2009-01-20T10:10:00.000+13:00

From the awful place of doom
Where in rayless outer gloom
dead souls lie as in a tomb,
Save us, Holy JESU.

From the black, the dull despair
Ruin'd men and angels share,
From the dread companions there,
Save us Holy JESU.

From the unknown agonies,
Of the soul that helpless lies,
From the worm that never dies,
Save us, Holy JESU.

From the lusts that none can tame,
from the fierce mysterious flame,
From the everlasting shame,
Save us, Holy JESU.

It is near impossible to write lyrically about the depths of the foulness of hell. These four stanza's could seem trite, but sung in the light of Scripture's depths how do we sing of what we have been saved from? How do we lift our voices in humble pleas for salvation without seeming like the self-content religious bigots? How can we together sing of the rightness of God's justice and coming judgement?

Maybe it is too hard this side of eternity - but the tone of this litany, this prayer, is right and I mourn the total absence of such content in the songs I've sung in the 20 or so years of being a son of the King (never mind the preceding years of being a devout servant in a church). What is certain is that those whose hope is in "Holy Jesu", the Risen and Ascended Saviour, Lord and King will one day sing of His victory over evil in consigning it to eternal destruction and judgement.

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” Revelation 19:1-4

Litany of the Four Last Things: Judgement

2009-01-19T10:10:00.000+13:00

When Thy summons we obey,
On the dreadful Judgement Day,
Let not fear our soul dismay:
Hear us, Holy JESU.

While the lost in terror fly,
May we see with joyful eye
Our Redemption drawing nigh:
Hear us, Holy JESU.

May we see Thee on Thy Throne,
As the SAVIOUR we have known,
And have follow'd as our own,
Hear us, Holy JESU.

May we then. among the blest,
Who Thy Name on earth confess'd
Hear Thee calling us to rest;
Hear us, Holy JESU.

Judgement is not often mentioned in the contemporary writings of today's worship leaders. We know God judges individuals, groups, congregations, nations and the earth - that is the basis on which we hope in Christ. Without God's just rule our world is simple anarchy - the loudest, strongest or the popular(ist?) make the calls as to right and wrong. We have seen the tragedy of that in the death camps of Hitler, the Rwandan genocides, the immersion of Europe and North America into materialistic bliss and poisonous tensions leaking out of the middle east.

When Jesus comes, he comes to save and to judge, to heal and destroy, to gather His own to Himself, and to cast those who do not own Him into the utter darkness. Jesus is Judge and Saviour and his beauty as both is wonderful and terrible to behold. We need to recapture something of this in our corporate worship today.

"For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days..." Mark 13:19-20

Litany of the Four Last Things: Death

2009-01-18T10:10:00.000+13:00

We are dying day by day;
Soon from earth we pass away;
LORD of life, the Thee we pray:
Hear us Holy JESU.

Ere we hear the Angel's call,
And the shadows round us fall,
Be our SAVIOUR, be our all:
Hear us Holy JESU.

Wean our hearts from things below,

Make us all Thy love to know,

Guard us from our ghostly foe:

Hear us Holy JESU.
.

Shelter us with Angel's wing,

To our souls Thy pardon bring;

So shall death have lost its sting:

Hear us Holy JESU.

In the gloom Thy light provide;

Safely through the valley guide;

Thee we trust, for Thou hast died:

Hear us Holy JESU.

There is little as sobering as death - it is undeniably the great barrier to hubris and silencer of lofty philosophical relativism. We all die, but all do not die the same.

For those who know and love Jesus - death, though a big deal is no big drama: even when it comes hasty and unexpected. This is because Jesus IS the one who has died and has come out the other side, leaving a gaping hole in the finality of death. For Christians death is no longer a source of terror under the justice, mercy and promise of God. Even when grieving for the ones we love who go into death without the hope of Christ, our hearts are comforted still (even then!) by God's justice. There will be nothing in death that will tarnish the Life and Light of God, revealed in Christ. I trust Jesus now, I will trust Him then! I trust Him according to His promise now, will I then call Him to account according to my concepts of justice and truth? Revelation speak of Him as the One who will wipe away every last tear - there will be no mourning in Heaven.

It is well summed up in the last but one line of the final stanza: "Thee we trust for Thou hast died"

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lamp stands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Revelation 1:12-17

Litany of the Four Last Things

2009-01-17T10:10:00.000+13:00

GOD the FATHER, GOD the SON,
GOD the SPIRIT, THREE in ONE.
Hear us from Thy heavenly throne,
Spare us, HOLY TRINITY.

JESU, Life of those who die,
Advocate with GOD on high,
Hope of immortality
Hear us, Holy Jesu.

THY Whose Death to mortals gave
Power to triumph o'er the grave
Living now from death to save,
Hear us, Holy JESU.

Thou before Whose great white Throne
All our doings must be show,
Pleading now for us, Thine own
Hear us, Holy JESU.

Thou Who Death was borne that we,
From the power of Satan free,
Might not die eternally
Hear us, Holy JESU.

Thou Who dost a place prepare,
That in heavenly mansions fair,
Sinners may Thy glory share,
Hear us, Holy JESU.

This (and the next four posts) comes from my dusty tome of hymns. I'm guessing it's an Anglican book of hymns, perhaps methodist or presbyterian. The rhythms and patterns of the year are marked out in the book in mostly helpful ways and there are different forms of sung corporate worship. This litany , which although it is about the "Four Last Things" is in 5 parts and focuses on the coming King and what precedes of accompanies that coming, those singing it - do so, responding together calling for prayer to be heard and God's promise to be kept.

The focus here is rightly that in the midst of anticipating the future our gaze is doubly fixed: not only on what is coming but on what has been. Jesus will come to judge and save because he came to be judged in order to save. Each stanza of this sung prayer has that hope filled double-vision. We too must keep our eyes focussed in two directions: to the past of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and to the future promise of salvation for eternal life in Him who is the resurrection.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." 2Timothy 4:7-8

Here is Love

2009-01-16T10:10:00.000+13:00

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.

Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

Wm Rees/Wm Williams

From the Welsh .

I first sang this hymn at a UCCF staff conference in the mid 1990's. The words came out of the Welsh revival 105 years ago. The words remind us to look to Christ as the definition of God's love, we do not understand God's love and so look to Christ, we do not feel God's love and then see it in Jesus - Jesus IS God's love demonstrated, on the cross, in the grave, now risen and ruling as Lord.

I love the image of God's Love and Justice 'kissing', reconciled and satisfied, at the cross of Jesus.

The final two verses seem to be a later addition - reflecting on the effect of knowing God in Christ in the Christian's heart: pleading for grace and transforming power in living by the Spirit's guide under Scripture's authority.

That we might experience the awakening that God so graciously poured out in response to His work in the hearts of the people of Wales! That we might be the sort of people who would ask God to bend us to His will! That we might look to the love of God and pursue Him with all the strength He gives us!

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-3

Take My Life

2009-01-15T10:51:00.000+13:00

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

Frances Havergill - Feb 1874

This hymn is a simple prayer and undoubtedly familiar to many. Though simple in its meaning, it is the heart of the Christian submission to the Lordship of Christ, itself described by Jesus as 'dying'. It is not easy to die to self and live in Jesus.

Sinful nature is desperate for life, it will grasp the greatest of our good intentions and turn them inward and smother them in self-centredness and so ruin their outcome. Sin in us will arise and awaken when all other strength is diminished and spent. Our sinful nature must be poisoned by great drafts the Truth of God's Word, weakened in being exposed to the beauty of God's holiness and made sick in the transforming of the heart by the renewing of the mind in the submission of self to Jesus.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:24-28

Rock of Ages

2009-01-14T15:23:00.001+13:00

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eye-strings break in death
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” Ex 33:18-23

For us, thousands of years after Moses, we who know God are more privileged than he was. For we see God's glory in the fullness of Jesus, God's Son in human flesh. We are hidden in him, covered by Him - Jesus has robbed the deathly fear from God's glory on our behalf. His death for us has taken God's great weight of rightly wrathful glory and swallowed up its bitter penalty.

Jesus is now our refuge: if we are His, He is the very rock in which we stand - else that bitterest of all things, the wrath of God, maintains the power judge us and rightly condemn us truly for all eternity. No effort, no human glory, compares to God's perfection - we come without worth, wealth or wisdom and ask for grace. The great glory of God, in grace, clothes us with all the beauty and purity of Jesus. Hid in His great love, clothed in His death and resurrection we are therefore safe in the most unsafe of all places - the hands of the Holy God. Safe in Him and therefore safe indeed.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

Faiths Review and Expectation - Amazing Grace!

2009-01-13T10:36:00.001+13:00

Amazing Grace ! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me ! I once was lost,
but now am found.
Was blind but now I see.

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear;
Till a new object met my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw one hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood;
Who fixed his languid eyes on me,
As near his cross I stood.

Sure, ne’er untill my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to change me with his death,

Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair;
I saw my sins HIS BLOOD HAD SHED,
And helped to nail Him there.

Alas, I knew not what I did,
But all my tears were vain;
Where could my trembling soul be hid,
For I the LORD had slain.

A second look He gave that said;
“I freely all forgive” !
This blood is for my ramson paid,
“I died that thou mayest live.”

'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that Grace appear,
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers,toils and snairs,
I have already come;
Tis Grace hath bro’t me safe thus far,
And Grace will lead me home.

The LORD has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
His will my sheild and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But GOD who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun;
We’ve no less days to sing GOD’S praise,
Than when we first begun !

John Newton 1779

What tricky ground the most familiar paths can be! John Newton penned a hymn, which he named "Faith's Review and Expectation" which we mostly know as "Amazing Grace". Delving into its history some say it had 15 verses, others 13, others 12, others 6 and is most commonly sung as a 4 verse hymn when it is sung today. The verses that (almost) all agree were penned by Newton are in bold above but all 13 verses are there.

It is a hymn sung at every point - celebrating baptism, weddings (again one of the hymns are my own wedding), funerals as well as the ordinary sunday experience of corporate worship. It is a hymn recently 'refreshed' in corporate singing as part of the soundtrack to the film "Amazing Grace" , with Chris Tomlin adding a chorus to the hymn:

My chains are gone - I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

It is a personal favourite for many and I think rightly so. It expresses gratitude and reflects on truth. John Newton was right. This hymn causes one to reflect on the glories of Christ at work in the life of the Christian and looks forward to the hope of increasing clarity in knowing the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

Faith's review and expectation indeed! The additional verses and the recent chorus don't detract from Newton's original reflection and add to the review and expectation of the generations that have passed between the words hitting page and tunes hitting vocal chords: in private prayer and public congregation these words, that tune, has helped me and millions of others, to rejoice in the grace of God made freely available to sinners like you and me.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

John 1:14, 16-17

Behold Us, Lord, A Little Space

2009-01-12T10:10:00.002+13:00

Behold us, Lord, a little space

From daily tasks set free,

And met within thy holy place

To rest awhile with thee.
.

Around us rolls the ceaseless tide

Of business, toil, and care;

And scarcely can we turn aside

For one brief hour of prayer.

.
Yet these are not the only walls

Wherein thou mayst be sought;

On homeliest work thy blessing falls,

In truth and patience wrought.

.
Thine is the loom, the forge, the mart,

The wealth of land and sea,

The worlds of science and of art,

Revealed and ruled by thee.

.
Then let us prove our heavenly birth,

In all we do and know;

And claim the kingdom of the earth

For thee and not thy foe.

.
Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought

As thou wouldst have it done,

And prayer, by thee inspired and taught,

Itself with work be one.

John Ellerton 1870

The dusty book that inspired this particular blog has, to my eyes, some slightly eccentric or thought provoking sectioning of hymns. This one is in "Supplemental Hymns" and the subsection "Mid-Day for a City Church".

I love it - I love more the thought that at the heart of the day is the declaration of the unity of life under the Lordship of Christ. There is no difference between prayer and toil - for work, correctly understood, and rightly done - all is for the glory of God.

I think I first grasped this reality in the setting of a library built to celebrate James V1 of Scotland/I of England whilst studying theology at University. An easy reach you might think. It wasn't. I was ploughing my way through some impenetrable philosophical writing on the development of the concept of self from the classical to the (post)modern age. I began asking for God to make the work easier - I came to ask that the work I was doing would be for Him, to Him and in Him. If only I'd known this hymn, it's verse could have given the transition from head to life better expression in these words.

God does not dwell in buildings, he never has. God is not sought in 'sacred' work, as if it existed. God is known by men and women as Lord over every area of life and work. He is LORD. Those of us who live by faith in Him, live under His all-encompassing claim of Lordship.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Col 3:23-24

Dear Christians, one and all rejoice

2009-01-11T10:10:00.000+13:00

Dear Christians, one and all rejoice,

With exultation springing,

And with united heart and voice

And holy rapture singing,

Proclaim the wonders God hath done,

How his right arm the victory won;

Right dearly it hath cost him.
.

Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay,

Death brooded darkly o’er me;

Sin was my torment night and day,

Therein my mother bore me.

Deeper and deeper still I fell,

Life was become a living hell,

So firmly sin possessed me.

.
My good works could avail me naught,

For they with sin were stainéd;

Free-will against God’s judgment fought,

And dead to good remainéd.

Grief drove me to despair, and I

Had nothing left me but to die,

To hell I fast was sinking.

.
God saw, in his eternal grace,

My sorrow out of measure;

He thought upon his tenderness—

To save was his good pleasure.

He turn’d to me a Father’s heart-

Not small the cost—to heal my smart

He gave his best and dearest.

.
He spake to his beloved Son:

’Tis time to take compassion;

Then go, bright jewel of my crown,

And bring to man salvation;

From sin and sorrow set him free,

Slay bitter death for him, that he

May live with thee forever.

.
The Son delighted to obey,

And born of Virgin mother,

Awhile on this low earth did stay

That he might be my brother.

His mighty power he hidden bore,

A servant’s form like mine he wore,

To bind the devil captive.

.
To me he spake: cling fast to me,

Thou’lt win a triumph worthy;

I wholly give myself for thee,

I strive and wrestle for thee;

For I am thine, thou mine also;

And where I am thou art. The foe

Shall never more divide us.

.
For he shall shed my precious blood,

Me of my life bereaving;

All this I suffer for thy good;

Be steadfast and believing.

My life from death the day shall win,

My righteousness shall bear thy sin,

So art thou blest forever.

.
Now to my Father I depart,

From earth to heaven ascending;

Thence heavenly wisdom to impart,

The Holy Spirit sending.

He shall in trouble comfort thee,

Teach thee to know and follow me,

And to the truth conduct thee.

.
What I have done and taught, do thou

To do and teach endeavor;

So shall my kingdom flourish now,

And God be praised forever.

Take heed lest men with base alloy

The heavenly treasure should destroy.

This counsel I bequeath thee.

Martin Luther 1524

Martin Luther wrote at length of the freedoms Christ has won for those who place their hope and life in Him. He faced a corrupt political situation so wrapped up in the clothing of the church of his day (and vice versa) that his call to reform that which was corrupted lead to THE Reformation - not a remodelling of what was, but a church shaped anew by what had been forgotten, laid aside or rejected of Scripture's high call to God's people.

German, as a language, is not given to brevity but it is great in precision. This hymn , one of Luther's many, focuses on the work of Jesus and is far better in the German than the English: not that I'm offering to translate it afresh! The hymns and songs of the day were used to teach and exhort the men and women in the newly forming churches of the reformation. This explains a didactic tone which would not sit too well in our church gatherings today.

But I think WE* are poorer for not singing some of the great hymns of the past to one another - songs which exhort us to look to Jesus, correct our self centredness, rebuke our sinfulness and remind us of the great and finished work of Salvation done for us and in us through faith in Jesus, the Son of God, through the power of His Holy Spirit! Four hundred years down the line and we are too forgetful, too easily distracted, too dispassionate and too self-obsessed to learn the lessons which Luther learned, which Jesus entrusted to all who would follow Him 2000 years ago:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

Col 3:16

*If at this point you think 'but we do in my church' 1.be thankful and sing those hymns with gusto! 2.don't be smug and pray! :o)

Happiness Thy Lovely Name / Object of My First Desire

2009-01-10T10:10:00.002+13:00

Happiness! thou lovely name,

Where's thy seat? O tell me where!

Learning, pleasure, wealth and fame,

All cry out, "It is not here."

Not the wisdom of the wise,

Can inform me where it lies,

Nor the grandeur of the great

Can the bliss, I seek, create.

Object of my first desire,

Jesus! Crucified for me.

All to happiness aspire,

Only to be found in Thee:

Thee to praise, and Thee to know,

Constitute my bliss below:

Thee to see, and Thee to love,

Constitute my bliss above.

Lord it is not life to live,

If Thy presence Thou deny;

Lord! If Thou Thy presence give

Tis no longer Death to die.

Source and giver of repose,

Singly from Thy smile it flows,

Peace and happiness are Thine,

Mine they are if Thou art mine.

Whilst I feel Thy love to me,

Every object teems with joy;

Here, O may I walk with Thee,

Then into Thy presence die!

Let me but Thyself posses,

Total sum of happiness!

Real bliss I then shall prove,

Heaven below, and heaven above.

Augustus Montague Toplady

Just a week into the project and I get a request to include a hymn unknown to me and hardly used at all now if the sparcity of hits on a google search are anything to go by. Rachel and Pete sang this at their wedding and Rachel suggested it for inclusion here. I'm so glad she did!

Toplady is better known as the author of "Rock of Ages" but this hymn, barring the use of eighteenth century language, is SO contemporary to our age of hedonism and a relevant corrective to Christian songs which place happiness in our immediate feelings rather than in our condition before God in Christ Jesus. I'm slightly puzzled as to why I've never sung this in church or conference: I guess if I'd been at Rachel and Pete's wedding I wouldn't be able to say that.

Not only was it sung at their wedding but Pete has written music for it to be sung to. I found the lyrics here but Pete's version starts at verse 2. Either way the music is beautiful and the words powerful, you can check out the new musical setting in the video below. I especially love the lyrics of the third verse, a compelling reality and a heart strenthening truth!

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account."

Paul writing to the church in Philippi - chapter 1:21-13 (emphasis mine).

God moves in a mysterious way

2009-01-09T10:00:00.000+13:00

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

William Cowper 1774

These are dangerous days. Financial ruin has hit many of the big financial hitters - like rich Goliaths they lay beheaded in the dust. War is seemingly all around and although in lands far distant from our own the reality presses in: we see Israeli and Palestinian mothers and children, fathers and sons, weeping and enraged in grief. We see the smiling bestial callousness of African rulers and warlords spreading poisonous words of false comfort while their people die before their very eyes. We see all this played out alongside the narcissism of the cult of celebrity on our news programmes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... The ironies are endless, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watch it all is not easily dismissed.

Where is God? Where is he in the midst of this troubled world? In Britain a host of atheists have sponsored bus adverts that tell people not to worry, but to happily crack on with their lives, because God 'probably' doesn't exist. That is trite nonsense and is forgetful of suffering, war and disaster in the world. It makes me furious, so too do trite answers of the Theist or the Deist.

The God of the Bible, THE GOD, who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ, is Sovereign over and within suffering - be it personal loss or global disaster He is Loving, Ruling, Right and Good. We may not be able to work it out, but this hymn by William Cowper expresses our confidence well - we trust not in our perspective but in His, for the times of plenty and of scarcity too. Pity the world were you or I God. Praise God who is God and rules this world in ways that are not subject to our imaginings of self-centred sense of justice and peace! That He is inscrutable to us should, at a very deep level, encourage us!

"And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains." Mark 13:5-8

Alleluia! Alleluia!

2009-01-08T12:00:00.003+13:00

Alleluia, Alleluia!
Hearts to Heaven and voices raise;
Sing to God a hymn of gladness
Sing to God a hymn of praise.
He, who on the Cross a Victim,
for the world's salvation bled,
JESUS CHRIST, the King of Glory,
Now is risen from the dead.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Death at last has met defeat.
See the ancient powers of evil
in confusion and retreat.
Once He died and once was buried;
now He lives forevermore
JESUS CHRIST, the world's Redeemer,
whom we worship and adore.

Christ is risen, Christ the firstfruits
of the holy harvest field,
which will all its full abundance
at his second coming yield.
Then the golden ears of harvest
will their heads before Him wave,
ripened by His glorious sunshine
from the furrows of the grave.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to GOD on high;
Alleluia! to the Saviour,
who has won the victory;
Alleluia! to the Spirit,
fount of love and sanctity:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
to the Triune Majesty.

Christopher Wordsworth 1862

I am city born and bred but there is something of the image and metaphor of the Harvest which captures my heart and mind. That Jesus is the first-fruits of The Resurrection, and therefore (to mix metaphors flagrantly) this anchors our hope in Him as The Resurrection and The Life. If we follow Him in life – we follow Him into death and out the other side. If we entrust our lives to Him then He lavishes His life upon us. If we look to Him in faith, He looks upon our faith and we are counted as without spot or blemish in His sight.

There are times when life seems 'unpicked': nasty, messy and unsolvable. It is at these times that I am most clearly reminded that my measure for how well things are going are not in me, not intrinsic to me, but rather are located somewhere else, in someone else. JESUS is my security in God, for eternity, without shade or hint of change and with the steadfast promise that He will do what He has promised to the glory of the Trinity!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,to the praise of his glory…" Ephesians 1:3-14

Be Thou My Vision

2009-01-07T10:10:00.000+13:00

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Dallan Forgaill (translated from the Irish by Mary E. Byrne, Versified by Eleanor H.Hull)

These words arise out of mythological church history and yet resonates so strongly with the heart correcting love of the LORDship of Christ that it feels very contemporary to Christian singing it. Much has been said about the words of this hymn and it's relation to a prayer known as St Patricks Breastplate, whatever it's link (or not) to Patrick it is an ancient text, probably from the 8th century and was originally written in ancient Gaelic by an Irish believer.

These words, to various tunes and rhythms, have lifted Christian hearts and eyes in asking for perseverance in living for Jesus. I have sung this hymn in large churches and small groups, in the loud and fervent passion of thousands of students gathered together and in the quiet of funerals and memorial services. It always seems apt because it always speaks of the confidence that comes through knowing Jesus.

There is not one line, not one phrase, that causes me to think 'can i mean this?'. Granted there is, in this age of good and rightful awareness of gender ex/in-clusivity in language, a slight hesitation around the use of 'true son' and 'man's empty praise' - but understood in context it is not offensively exclusive.

I love this hymn and it was sung at our wedding. It will also be sung at my funeral (should the Lord not return before then) and speaks of The Great Hope which Jesus has given us through His death and Resurrection.

High King of Heaven,

my victory won,

May I reach Heaven’s joys,

O bright Heaven’s Sun!

Heart of my own heart,

whatever befall,

Still be my Vision,

O Ruler of all!

My Song is Love Unknown

2009-01-06T21:16:00.000+13:00

My song is love unknown,
my Savior's love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
O who am I
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?

He came from his blest throne
salvation to bestow,
but men made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But O my friend,
my friend indeed,
who at my need,
his life did spend.

Sometimes they strew his way,
and his strong praises sing,
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then "Crucify!"
is all their breath,
and for his death
they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and 'gainst him rise.

They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away;
a murderer they save,
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet steadfast he
to suffering goes,
that he his foes
from thence might free.

Here might I stay and sing,
no story so divine:
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine.
This is my friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend.

Written by Samuel Crossman in 1664

This hymn was sang at my wedding. Read from post-romanticism (1850ish onwards) these words can feel trite and shallow. But read in context and sung with depth these words are not the 17th century equivalent of Jesus is my boy/girl-friend; it is not 'romantic' in that sense. These are words born in the midst of a struggle with conscience and a striving for integrity. You can read a precie of Crossman's life here.

What I love in these words is the sense of wonder, awe and joy at being so loved in Christ; that same joy and wonder which has caused many to pen and sing hymns of reverent joy through all the ages of the Church thus far, and will mark our singing for all the ages to come!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever. Amen.

(Romans 11.33-36)

Father we thank Thee who has planted

2009-01-05T10:00:00.000+13:00

Father we thank Thee who has planted
Thy holy name within our hearts.
Knowledge and faith and life immortal
Jesus The Son to us imparts.

Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
Didst give man food for all his days,
Giving in Christ the bread eternal;
Thine is the power, be Thine the praise.

Watch o'er Thy Church, O Lord, in mercy,
Save it from evil, guard it still,
Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
Cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.

As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
Was in the broken bread made one,
So from all lands Thy Church be gathered
Into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.

This ancient hymn is taken from the Didache and is one of the earliest we know of. I love the manifold play of the image in the final verse - from the many comes one bread: so too in a scattered and diverse Church comes to Christ as His people, One Body, united to do and be according to His great pleasure and praise.

I love the parallelism of the last verse to the first - God has planted and in us is reaping a harvest of righteousness. How amazing to have the privilege to live for Him in this way? How striking an honour to be counted among God's harvest? How sobering, how inspiring, how humbling, how terrible and how great is it to belong to God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? And yet it is all in answer to the plea of the Son before the Father:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." John's Gospel, Chapter 20, verses 20-23

We Have Not Known Thee As We Ought

2009-01-04T14:09:00.000+13:00

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learn'd Thy wisdom, grace and power
The things of earth have fill'd our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
LORD, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.

We have not fear'd Thee as we ought,
Nor bow'd beneath Thine aweful eye,
Nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
Remembering that GOD was nigh.
LORD, give us faith to know Thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved Thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by Thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly long'd Thy Face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and own the love Thou art.

We have not served Thee as we ought,
Alas! the duties left undone -
The work with little fervour wrought -
The battles lost, or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.

When shall we know Thee as we ought,
And fear, and love, and serve aright!
When shall we out of trial brought
Be perfect in the land of light!
LORD, may we day by day prepare
To see Thy Face, and serve Thee there.

We live in troubling days - I don't simply mean the thunder clouds of financial doom and gloom, the depressing and heartbreaking realities of war and unrest around the world - we live in days where 'I' has become the most important word in life.

The ipod and iphone and itunes capture the mood of this generation. We are obsessed with what we want, with ourselves, our self-empowerment, and the choices and opportunities that are presented us each one of us. Church is all too often pandering to the i-feed culture of satisfaction. The hymn above challenges us to look again at our obsession with ourselves.

It is first in the plural, the communal, the 'we' of an all inclusive self-critique. Secondly it's standard for weighing up how we are doing is not self-satisfaction but rather the perfection that awaits the people of God in his presence of The Future promised in Jesus: the standard is God Himself.

We are God's people and do we not need a healthy shot in the arm (and kick up the... erm... bum) that will awaken us to the reality that God is not the centre of OUR universe rather it is HIS universe in which our chief purpose is to give Him praise and glory due to Him.

We will always, this side of eternity, be too weak, too feeble, too selfish, too much ourselves to fear, to love and serve Him as we ought; but we may do so in ways that anticipate the Day of perfection!

"...It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son..." Revelation 20:6-7

Who is this?

2009-01-03T10:20:00.000+13:00

Who is this, so weak and helpless,
Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable shelter'd
Coldly in a manger laid?
'Tis the LORD of all creation,
Who this wondrous path hath trod;
He is GOD for everlasting,
And to everlasting GOD.

Who is this - a Man of Sorrows,
Walking sadly life's hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping?
'Tis our GOD, our glorious SAVIOUR,
Who above the starry sky
Now for us a place prepareth
Where no tear can dim the eye.

Who is this - behold Him shedding
Drops of Blood upon the ground?
Who is this - despised, rejected,
Mock'd, insulted, beaten, bound?
'Tis our GOD, Who gifts and graces
On His Church now poureth down;
Who shall smite in righteous judgment
All His foes beneath His Throne.

Who is this that hangeth dying,
While the rude world scoffs and scorns:
Number'd with the malefactors
Torn with nails and crown'd with thorns?
'Tis the GOD Who ever liveth
'Mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city
Reigning everlastingly.

We must never lay aside the wonder of who Jesus is. There is much in the contemporary churches which all too quickly puts aside wonder in favour of intimacy in worship and substitutes high energy praise songs for deeply convinced and convicted songs of awe. This hymn is one of those that rather than sung TO God is to be sung to one another - the church reminding herself of the nature of our Lord. Who is it that we serve? Is it the god of our own imagination or The God who is perfectly revealed as One in Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit to whom we can be reconciled by entrusting our lives through surrender to and hope in Jesus?

If it is the god and idol of our idle minds we are lost and without hope. If it is the One True God then we have a hope in us which sustains and transforms us until that Day when we will be with Him in His glory.

"On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” "Acts 4: 5-12

There is a Blessed Home

2009-01-02T21:50:00.002+13:00

There is a blessed home
Beyond this land of woe,
When trials never come
Nor tears of sorrow flow;
Where faith is lost in sight,
and patient hope is crown'd,
And ever lasting light
Its glory throws around.

There is a land of peace,
Good Angels know it well;
Glad songs that never cease
Within its portals swell;
Around is glorious Throne
Ten thousands Saints adore
CHRIST, with the FATHER ONE
AND SPIRIT, evermore.

O joy all joys beyond,
to see the LAMB Who died,
And count each sacred Wound
In Hands and Feet, and Side:
To give to Him the praise
Of every triumph won,
And sing through endless days
The great things He hath done.

Look up, ye saints of GOD,
Nor fear to tread below
The path your Saviour trod
Of daily toil and woe;
Wait but a little while
In uncomplaining love,
His own most gracious
Shall welcome you above.

The heart lifting and heart rending reality of this hymn is that we live in the here and now as but a shadow of there and then. It might seem that the author has a bit of a 'downer' on life here but that would be to mishear the tone of the words. To know Jesus is to live in the Great Wait - for we wait for Him! This is made clear in the letter to the church in Colossae (Col 3.1-12)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practicesand have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Go To Dark Gethsemene

2009-01-01T20:07:00.002+13:00

Go to dark Gethsemane
Ye that feel the Tempter's power,
Your Redeemer's conflict see,
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment-hall
View the LORD of life arraing'd;
Oh, the wormwood and the gall!
Oh, the pangs his soul sustain'd!
Shun not suffering, shame of lass;
Learn of Him to bear the cross;

Calvary's mournful mountain climb
There, adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of times,
GOD'S OWN Sacrifice complete
"It is finish'd" hear Him cry;
Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

This is a hymn entirely unknown to me - I discovered it in a dusty and battered hymn book picked up recently from the bottom of a pile of books at a second hand shop. The capitalisation and punctuation is as it lies in the book, no author is given and neither is there a date of authorship.

I love the 'look' to Jesus in temptation, suffering and death as the model for our lives. Jesus is much more than an example to us, but he is at least that. As I read the words of this hymn the words of Hebrews 4:11-16 came to me...

..Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need...

I am thankful that the one who we look to for Salvation is the One who understands our frailty and has dealt with in in justice, mercy and so grants us confidence to come to Him for grace in temptation, suffering or death; or every and any other circumstances of life.