Category Archives: Faith

Hymns That Speak to Me Right Now (II)

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A hymn that you hear on a lot of Christian hymn compilations is “Softly and Tenderly”. It is one of those hymns that people think of when they hear the words “altar call” and a number of famous Christians including Martin Luther King Jr. had it sung at their funerals.

A story from the Net Hymnal page for it: When the world-re?nowned lay preach?er, Dwight Ly?man Moody, lay on his death bed in his North?field, Mass?a?chu?setts, home, Will Thomp?son [the hymn’s composer] made a spe?cial vi?sit to in?quire as to his con?di?tion. The at?tend?ing phy?si?cian re?fused to ad?mit him to the sick?room, and Moody heard them talk?ing just out?side the bed?room door. Re?cog?niz?ing Thomp?son??s voice, he called for him to come to his bed?side. Tak?ing the Ohio po?et-com?pos?er by the hand, the dy?ing evan?gel?ist said, ??Will, I would ra?ther have writ?ten ??Soft?ly and Ten?der?ly Je?sus is Call?ing?? than an?y?thing I have been able to do in my whole life.??

The words (with the refrain bolded):

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He??s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?

Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.

Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.

Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

The first two lines of the refrain are probably some of the best sentiments put to music in Christianity — “come home, come home, you who are weary, come home.” How awesome and wonderful is it that our God is calling us to come home to his presence when we are so weary and beaten bloody by the world? The last two lines aren’t so bad either — “earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!”

As always, here’s a YouTube video of the song. It’s a duet with Selah and Cynthia Clawson. The tune is what is sung at the beginning. Selah comes in doing harmony toward the middle. I chose this one not because I like the harmony but because it was almost impossible to find any other ones where it was sung in a non-twangy country way.

Lenten Hymn Sunday (IV)

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We continue our foray into Lenten hymns (or at least hymns I like that are cool) with “Jesus Lover of My Soul” which has another lovely Welsh hymn tune called Aberystwyth. (The Welsh do cool things with hymnody.) It is in a minor key and flows well as long as the organist/pianist takes it at a good clip. (It becomes positively dirge-like otherwise.)

The words (with a third verse I have never heard sung):

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.

Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall??Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand, dying, and behold, I live.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy Name, I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity.
(HT: Cyberhymnal)

Both Michael Card and Fernando Ortega cover it but I prefer the recording by Michael Card from his album Starkindler because he takes it at a decent clip and pairs it with some Celtic jig music.

For comparison, here is Fernando Ortega’s recording from BEGINNINGS which takes it at a more normal speed and is more contemplative. (The YouTube video refuses to appear.)

St. Patrick’s Lorica

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It’s St. Patrick’s Day today and I had insomnia on Friday at 3 a.m. as I was putting together post seeds so you’re getting a two-fer. I actually did my senior seminar paper on Celtic Christianity so I could give you a MASSIVE post. However, I think that just a few lines of analysis will suffice. 🙂

This prayer is known as a lorica, a prayer recited for one’s protection. I’ve also read accounts calling it a caim which is an encircling prayer that surrounds you like a prayer shawl or armor. If you want a biblical basis, go read Ephesians 6:10-20 which is the passage described as “the armor of God”.

There is also a folk legend that has St. Patrick reciting this as he was going to fight a nasty wizard. Some accounts have him turning into a deer so that the wizard’s henchmen couldn’t kill him enroute so it is also known as “The Deer’s Cry”. The Irish word for “deer” is similar to the Irish word for “God” which is another explanation that I’ve seen for that name.

Now let this enfold you:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

If I Stand

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One musician who continues to have a profound affect on me to this day is the late Rich Mullins. His life was amazing and he had a great musical career but I think the greatest thing he did was move to a Navajo reservation to teach music to the children. He didn’t live in a fancy house — he lived in a hogan. After his death, his family started Kid Brothers of St. Frank to provide art, music, and drama camps for Native American youth as well as create a traveling music school to go to the farthest reaches of the reservations.

His songs “Awesome God” and “Sometimes by Step” (“O God You Are My God”) are a worship standard in pretty much every Protestant church/camp/ministry as well as a number of Catholic ones. His faith bridged the divide and he had a devotion to St. Francis of Assisi although he never converted to Catholicism. (He did go through RCIA.)

There are several of his songs that I post every so often because they reflect my feelings. The one that really reflects my faith on a daily basis is “If I Stand”. The chorus (the bolded portion which is repeated twice at the end) is as capable of reducing me to tears today as it was when I heard it 13 years ago:

There’s more that rises in the morning
Than the sun
And more that shines in the night
Than just the moon
It’s more than just this fire here
That keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger
Than this room

And there’s a loyalty that’s deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegiance
I owe only to the giver
Of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

There’s more that dances on the prairies
Than the wind
More that pulses in the ocean
Than the tide
There’s a love that is fiercer
Than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother’s
When her baby’s at her side

And there’s a loyalty that’s deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegence
I owe only to the Giver
Of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

Here’s the recording that I have:

I also found a video of him performing it live at Wheaton College:

Hymns That Speak To Me Right Now (I)

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I’ve said before (I think) that one of the ways the Lord speaks to me is through music. Much of the music I listen to is stuff like Fernando Ortega and Michael Card who do settings of hymns and I love those two in particular because they don’t skimp on the verses.

I downloaded “Hymns” by Michael Card and I like all the songs on it. He does an excellent job of pairing the music with interesting instrumentals (example: an Irish jig tune with “How Firm A Foundation”) and one hymn on there has been really speaking to me. It’s a shape-note hymn that dates to the early 19th century and he does four of the five verses (he skips the second one in the lyrics posted below).

Why do I love it? It’s speaking to me about the necessity of us helping each other out. I mean, “tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found” is sage advice. The first two lines of the last verse should be committed to memory or at least painted onto every church’s entrance: “Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too; let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.” I mean, how cool is it that God promises to make all things new!

Anyway, here are the words:

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.

Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses?? sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, Oh pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.

Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He??ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we??ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
(HT: Cyberhymnal)

Here’s an instrumental version by Fernando Ortega:

The hymn done shape-note style:

The closest thing I could get to congregational singing (and only 2 verses):

7 Quick Takes — Fruit of a Grumpy Week

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7 Quick Takes

It’s been a tough week for blogging. AT&T screwed with our Internet and forced me to have to put posts on hold while I found alternate methods of posting them. When I did get back to posting, I found I had tremendous writer’s block. Oy vey…

— 1 —

I just saw that “The Big Bang Theory” is being pre-empted by some stupid basketball games. I don’t care who is playing — this is simply unacceptable. The egregiousness of this is on par with CBS News cutting into NCIS: Los Angeles to announce election returns.

— 2 —

Our router seems to be having hiccups. It worked perfectly fine in Montana and I don’t think it has anything to do with being 2.5 years old. I’m wondering if it’s issues because of the weather (again, it’s curious) or what it is. The package said not to let it near cordless phones or microwaves but as I don’t know of another phone jack in the house, I’m not sure we have a choice. It’s kind of irritating because I’d *like* decent wi-fi. (And yes, I’m aware that this is yet another first world problem.)

— 3 —

I’m finding that I could probably quote and analyze the entirety of every Sojourners article I read. They manage to speak to me on a level that I rarely find in faith-based publications. There have been articles on discourse, tithing, and retention of 20somethings that are just brilliant beyond anything else I see on those subjects.

— 4 —

I got the rest of the devotionals written for the family friend of my in-laws. Again, I ended up with weird passages from Acts and in some cases, it was a struggle to find ways to make them applicable. I’ve been asked if I’m going to post any of them on here and the answer is probably “no” because they’re going to be part of a book and I don’t want to deal with copyright issues.

— 5 —

Daniel is doing better. Those who are on Twitter with me know that he and I made a trip to Urgent Care yesterday at UCD Pediatrics. He had been coughing and after our nap (he fell asleep on top of me and I was “forced” to take a nap with him), he had a low grade fever. This a kid who can go from normal to critical in the period of an hour so I called the advice nurse at UCD Pediatrics and asked her sweetly for a same-day appointment. They had one so I got us dressed, packed what I’d need overnight (basically figuring that he wouldn’t be admitted to the hospital if I came prepared), and drove to Sacramento. The med student who saw us first could hear him wheezing and breathing quickly but her attending couldn’t, mostly because my precious sweetling was in full-on tantrum mode by the time she came in. Her thought was that his cold/allergies exacerbated his asthma and advised us to keep giving him his inhaler over the next 24 hours. (During his tantrum, he worked himself into a gagging fit and coughed up a decent chunk of phlegm so I think that was part of it.) They told me that it was good that I brought him in considering his history (two hospitalizations in a year) but that they wouldn’t have to admit him. Yay. We came home, bathed him, and spent the evening bonding.

— 6 —

We’ve got a busy couple days ahead of us. We’re headed up north to have dinner with friends tomorrow night and on Saturday, we’re headed to my evil twin’s house for my dad’s birthday celebration. (Yes, he was actually born on St. Patrick’s Day and we are indeed Irish.) He should already have received his present (a gift certificate from Oceanside Photo and Telescope) but I should probably find an irreverant card. (It’s not a milestone birthday so that narrows it down a bit.)

— 7 —

Do you love babies? I do. I also love their mommies. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy disorder that strikes 5-8% of pregnant women in some shape or form. The only cure is to deliver the baby and if it happens early enough in the pregnancy (earliest is 16 weeks), the baby will not survive. Help mommies keep their babies in the womb longer — sponsor me

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Relating to Others

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I admit that with my Internet issues yesterday and Tuesday as well as Daniel’s Urgent Care visit yesterday, I haven’t had my mind on spiritual things. In fact, I was spitting nails Tuesday and breathing fire over the phone when they told me it would be 7-10 days before we’d have Internet at the parsonage. (They got it restored this evening.) The lack of Internet so incredibly inconvenienced me as I pretty much operate online and Jon didn’t have much spare time yesterday for me to go to the library or to $tarbux. We did, however, find a way for me to patch into Metanoia’s internet so I could check email this morning and get the incredibly necessary stuff offline.

Now able to be online and blog live, I have to admit that I discovered how completely dependent I am on the Internet for many things in my life including connecting with people. It is so much easier to function over Facebook and Twitter — I’m an introvert so I’d rather not deal with people in real life. However, I need to learn to relate to people one-on-one better and that means actually seeking out meaningful relationships with people in the congregation. The only problem: I’m the youngest married woman and the other ones live very different lives from me. (I do have a few people who understand me and with whom I can chat.) This is, however, the impetus for change.

Pray for me as I figure this out.