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O7. Reflections: Mar.17

Jesus, the Son of God

Graphic Bob New Glasses 2015HOW TO USE THIS BLOG
1) The Almanac. Click on the month you want in the side-bar, then the specific date. The blog will tell you what happened in hymn history on that day.
2) Reflections. There is always a current article on a hymn. But you can find many others by clicking on the Index tab. (More being added all the time.)
3) Topical Articles are opinion pieces on many aspects sacred music.
4) To Donate. If you can help with the cost of developing and maintaining this site, click on the “Support” tab above and the page will show you how.

Also see 30+ Ideas for Promoting Hymn Singing in your church. As others have contributed ideas, this wonderful resource has grown to over 80 items now. And, for more than three dozen reasons why congregations should still use hymn books rather than merely projecting words on the wall, see The Value of Hymn Books.

Words: Garfield Thomas Haywood (b. July 15, 1880; d. Apr. 12, 1931)
Music: Garfield Thomas Haywood

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (none)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Note: This hymn is also called O Sweet Wonder, using a phrase from the chorus. I can recall singing it with a men’s choir, many years ago. For us, it was a worshipful song, sung with quiet reverence. Judging by the many renditions on YouTube, it’s a favourite of African American congregations. that’s great, but some versions are loud, frantic, and frenetic. To me, anyway, that just doesn’t seem to fit the mood of awed wonderment.

Garfield Haywood, lived most of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana, and served there as a pastor for many years. But it some point there was a split in his denomination over the doctrine of the Trinity. Haywood sided with those who took the unorthodox view that there is no such thing. That God can be the Father, the Son or the Spirit, changing Himself into one or the other, as the need requires–a view called modalism.

The modalists have a problem with the baptism of Jesus, where all three Persons of the Trinity are involved (Matt. 3:13-17). And when the Lord Jesus prays to His heavenly Father (Jn. 17:1ff) He’s not talking to Himself! All three Persons of the Triune Godhead were involved in creation (Gen. 1:1-2; Job 26:13; Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17). The Scriptures declare that there is one God (Deut. 6:4; Jas. 2:19), but He eternally exists in three co-equal Persons, each with a unique role in the Godhead (e.g. Matt. 10:32; 28:18-19; II Cor. 13:14; Eph. 2:18; I Pet. 2:1; I Jn. 2:1).

They are familiar words: sweet, and wonder. Some form of one or both is common in our daily speech. Sweet is either how we like our coffee (or not), or it’s used of something dear or precious to us. A wonder, in everyday use, is something marvelous and exciting.

Both words are found many times in our hymns. There is How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (John Newton, 1779), and Sweet Hour of Prayer (William Walford, 1845). Then we have Great God of Wonders (Samuel Davies, 1769)–not to mention other forms of that word in I Will Sing the Wondrous Story (Francis Rowley, 1886), and Wonderful Grace of Jesus (Haldor Lillenas, 1918).

But around 1914, Garfield Haywood produced a gospel song entitled Jesus, the Son of God. Ten times in the repeated refrains, it refers to Jesus Christ as a “sweet Wonder,” a striking and unusual phrase. Though the words have been used together to advertise cake, and baby care equipment, as far as I’m aware, this sacred song is the only one, in thousands of them, in which those words are put together to describe the Lord.

Before we look at Garfield’s words, consider what we have in Scripture. The word “sweet” is used over one hundred times in the Bible. When not speaking of what is sweet to the taste, it’s describing something that is pleasing, delightful or thrilling in varying degrees. Thus we have, for example, sweet meditation (Ps. 104:34); sweet sleep (Prov. 3:24); sweet friends and friendship (Prov. 27:9; Ps. 55:14); and sweet words (Prov. 16:24; Ps. 141:6), with a particular application to the Word of God (Ps. 119:103).

As to wonders, three words in the New Testament are associated with the supernatural works of God. Acts 2:22 says of the Lord Jesus that He was “approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.” Miracles translates the Greek word dunamis, meaning powers, because they are a demonstration of the power of God. (We get our word dynamite from it.) They are also signs, in the sense that they are signposts pointing to Christ’s identity, and to the authenticity and trustworthiness of His message.

Finally, wonders is a word found in the Bible nearly one hundred times. Christ’s miracles are called wonders, as they were events beyond the full understanding of His observers, and they awakened awe and reverence toward the Lord. The word is also used of the plagues God poured out on the land of Egypt, when Pharaoh refused to let the enslaved Israelites depart (Acts 7:36), and it’s used of the supernatural works of God through Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:12).

Even though Pastor Haywood seems to have taken the erroneous modalist position, I believe he is right about Christ in his song. He continued to believe in the deity of Christ, whom the book of Titus refers to as “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13). Haywood’s song says:

CH-1) Do you know Jesus,
Our Lord, our Saviour,
Jesus the Son of God?
Have you ever seen Him,
Or shared of His favour?
Jesus the Son of God.

O sweet Wonder! O sweet Wonder!
Jesus the Son of God;
How I adore Thee! O how I love Thee!
Jesus the Son of God.

CH-5) Then some day from heaven,
On clouds of bright glory,
Jesus the Son of God
Will come for His jewels,
Most precious and holy,
Jesus the Son of God.

Questions:
1) What can you think of, concerning the Lord Jesus, that fits the description “sweet Wonder”?

2) What other hymns do you know that exalt Christ using memorable imagery and picture language?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (none)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

Graphic Bob New Glasses 2015HOW TO USE THIS BLOG
1) The Almanac. Click on the month you want in the side-bar, then the specific date. The blog will tell you what happened in hymn history on that day.
2) Reflections. There is always a current article on a hymn. But you can find many others by clicking on the Index tab. (More being added all the time.)
3) Topical Articles are opinion pieces on many aspects sacred music.
4) To Donate. If you can help with the cost of developing and maintaining this site, click on the “Support” tab above and the page will show you how.

Also see 30+ Ideas for Promoting Hymn Singing in your church. As others have contributed ideas, this wonderful resource has grown to over 80 items now. And, for more than three dozen reasons why congregations should still use hymn books rather than merely projecting words on the wall, see The Value of Hymn Books.

Words: a 14th Century Bohemian Latin carol (Surrexit Christus Hodie)
Music: Llanfair, by Robert Williams (b. Oct. 27, 1782; d. July 5, 1818)

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Robert Williams)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Note: This was originally a Latin hymn from the fourteenth century called Surrexit Christus Hodie (meaning literally “Risen Christ Today”). It was first translated into English in 1708, and with a number of changes and additions it became the fine resurrection hymn, Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, Alleluia (not to be confused with Charles Wesley’s great hymn, Christ the Lord Is Risen Today). In 1749, John Arnold in the Compleat Psalmist took the first stanza of the original, and added two more that weren’t tied to the Latin version at all. The doxology which ends the version in the Cyber Hymnal was added by Charles Wesley.

“Alleluia,” repeated sixteen times in the hymn, is the Greek form of Hallelujah, an exclamation and shout of joy, in Hebrew it’s Halal (praise) Jah (a shortened form of Jehovah or Yahweh). It translates the frequent Old Testament phrase, “Praise the Lord!” (e.g. Ps. 106:1).

A small house fire can usually be managed and put out with a fire extinguisher. But a spreading fire in a building, one that’s beyond easy control, can quickly imperil lives. It poses multiple hazards, not only from the flames, but from the suffocating smoke, and sometimes from explosions, poisonous chemicals in the air, or falling debris. When such a fire is detected, it’s time to get out!

Hospitals, schools, offices, and other public buildings that have many rooms and corridors, usually have an escape route mapped out and posted on the wall in various places. Sometimes there are also fire escapes, steel steps down the outside of the building. Many facilities have regular fire drills so the exit procedure can be practiced.

One of the most tragic fires in American history occurred in 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in New York City. (A shirtwaist is a woman’s tailored dress shirt or blouse.) One hundred and forty-six people died. Mostly women, Jewish immigrants as young as fourteen, working long hours for a pittance. Some were killed by the fire, others by smoke inhalation, and still others by attempting to jump from windows to the ground, eight to ten floors below.

The deadliest industrial fire in the city’s history, the restored building, now a part of New York University, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. The reason for the structure’s notoriety goes beyond the tragedy of the many deaths. It concerns the reason why it happened. Employers had locked the workers in!

Workers’ rights never seem to have been considered. Owners wanted to prevent employees from taking unauthorized breaks, or slipping out with shirts or material they’d stolen. The folly and thoughtless cruelty of this, and the tragedy that followed led to the enacting of new laws and safety standards that continue to benefit workers today, far and wide, with better worker conditions, and proper exit provisions in time of emergencies.

But there’s another kind of exit we need to look at, an even more famous one: the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave. Mentioned prophetically a few times in the Old Testament (e.g. Isa. 53:10; Ps. 16:10, cf. Acts 2:22-28), it becomes a major theme of the New Testament. Our eternal salvation depends upon it. The Bible is emphatic about that. “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (I Cor. 15:17).

“Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). He thus paid the debt we owe God, so that we, through faith in His sacrifice, might receive the gift of eternal life (Jn. 3:16). But if He’d stayed dead and buried it would mean He was an ordinary mortal, and no divine Saviour at all. His “exit” from the grave was necessary. And He was “declared [and proved] to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

As Man, He died. But as God the Son He had power over death. He said, “I have power to lay it [My life] down, and I have power to take it again” (Jn. 10:18). After His ascension back into heaven, Christ presented Himself to John, early in the book of Revelation, in His glorified state, saying, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades [the realm of the dead] and of Death” (Rev. 1:18).

The present hymn provides another way to rejoice in our wonderful Saviour’s victory–a victory we share, by faith in Him.

CH-1) Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia!

CH-2) Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save, Alleluia!

Questions:
1) Why is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus so important to us?

2) What is your favourite Easter hymn?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Robert Williams)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Safe Am I

Graphic Bob New Glasses 2015HOW TO USE THIS BLOG
1) The Almanac. Click on the month you want in the side-bar, then the specific date. The blog will tell you what happened in hymn history on that day.
2) Reflections. There is always a current article on a hymn. But you can find many others by clicking on the Index tab. (More being added all the time.)
3) Topical Articles are opinion pieces on many aspects sacred music.
4) To Donate. If you can help with the cost of developing and maintaining this site, click on the “Support” tab above and the page will show you how.

Also see 30+ Ideas for Promoting Hymn Singing in your church. As others have contributed ideas, this wonderful resource has grown to over 80 items now. And, for more than three dozen reasons why congregations should still use hymn books rather than merely projecting words on the wall, see The Value of Hymn Books.

Words: Mildred Leightner Dillon (b. Jan. 29, 1912; d. Sept. 2, 2007)
Music: Mildred Leightner Dillon

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (none)
The Cyber Hymnal (Mildred Dillon)
Hymnary.org

Note: In 1937, Bill and Mildred Dillon had already been involved in fruitful service for the Lord. Both wrote choruses and gospel songs. Mildred was a gifted pianist, and Bill, specializing in band instruments, taught music at Wheaton College for a couple of years. Then something happened that almost ended Mildred’s life.

Terrorism is a term that has entered our common vocabulary, being in the news day after day. It’s not a new word,however, but comes from the French word terrorisme, used in the French Revolution (1789-1799).

That historical time provided the venue for Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities, where he describes it as “the season of Light…the season of Darkness…the spring of hope…the winter of despair.” Especially during two years known as the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), 300,000 supposed enemies of the Revolution were arrested, and some 40,000 of those were beheaded. The guillotine became the horrific symbol of those days.

Terror is an intense fear or anxiety. But today’s terrorism is not so easy to fit into a brief definition, as there are a number of variables. Perhaps we could say it involves: Criminal acts intended to provoke terror in the public. Behind these is often an ideological aim, the promotion and advancement of an extreme religious or political agenda.

The acts aren’t always aimed at specific individuals or a specific group; they can be indiscriminate. Contrary to the bombing of the US navel base at Pearl Harbour sixty years before, the attacks by terrorists in 2001 happened on this continent. And though they were carried out by Islamic extremists, Moslems, as well as non-Moslems, were among the slain.

It was a watershed event, and has been followed by mass killings in restaurants, malls, schools, airports, theatres, and more. This has fostered the realization by many that no place is safe. While we may not live in constant terror, there is a prevailing sense of unease as a result. What’s next? Who will be  targeted next?

The individuals whose lives are written about in the Bible were no strangers to terror. The word is used there over fifty times. So, did people of faith suffer similar anxieties? And is there no remedy to be found, no place of safety? Yes there is, in the hands of God. Many Scriptures speak of God’s unfailing protection and care. For example, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). And we have this promise:

“I [Jesus] give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:28-29).

Many of our hymns express the same theme. But it is about a little chorus (of less than fifty words) that I write here. These articles focus particularly on the traditional hymns and gospel songs of the church, but I’ve dealt with shorter songs from time to time. This one has a remarkable history.

Mildred Dillon and her husband Bill were gospel musicians, serving the Lord with a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. One night at choir practice, each person in attendance was asked to recite a recently memorized Scripture verse. Mildred, the group’s pianist, forgot hers, and quickly thumbed through her Bible to find another. Her eyes fell on Psalm 91:11, which she personalized in reading it:

“He shall give His angels charge over [me], to keep [me] in all [my] ways.”

That promise was soon put to the test. A powerful storm was picking up outside, rattling the windows of the church. Then, suddenly, a tornado struck the building, including its fifty-foot chimney, and eighteen tons of brick crashed through the roof and fell on Mildred at the piano. It took a dozen men half an hour to free her.

She was rushed to the hospital. Covered with cuts and bruises, her back broken, for a time doctors didn’t expect her to survive, but by God’s grace she did. And it was during her over two months in the hospital in 1937 that Mildred Dillon wrote the words for a chorus. In all, fewer than fifty words long, it begins:

Safe am I, safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand.
Sheltered o’er, sheltered o’er
With His love for evermore.

She had words, but no tune. Then, a year later, she and Bill embarked on the Ile de France for England, engaged to assist, with their music, pastor, evangelist and hymn writer Paul Rader, in a series of meetings. In mid-Atlantic the ship was struck by a violent storm. As the waves pitched the ship, Mildred was knocked down.

Though not injured, she was filled with fear, but the Lord brought peace to her soul as she thought of her experience the previous year, and the verse, Psalm 91:11, and the words she’d composed in the hospital. “I’m still safe in the hollow of Your hand,” she thought. Later she went to a piano on board, and composed the tune.

Over the years since 1938 the Dillons received around fifteen hundred letters, expressing appreciation for the little song, telling of ways it has blessed others. Now, both Bill and Mildred are safe at home with the Lord in heaven.

Questions:
1) What experience have you had in which you sensed the special protection of the Lord?

2) Have you been able to turn that experience into a blessing for others in some way?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (none)
The Cyber Hymnal (Mildred Dillon)
Hymnary.org

Shining for Jesus

Graphic Bob New Glasses 2015HOW TO USE THIS BLOG
1) The Almanac. Click on the month you want in the side-bar, then the specific date. The blog will tell you what happened in hymn history on that day.
2) Reflections. There is always a current article on a hymn. But you can find many others by clicking on the Index tab. (More being added all the time.)
3) Topical Articles are opinion pieces on many aspects sacred music.
4) To Donate. If you can help with the cost of developing and maintaining this site, click on the “Support” tab above and the page will show you how.

Also see 30+ Ideas for Promoting Hymn Singing in your church. As others have contributed ideas, this wonderful resource has grown to over 80 items now. And, for more than three dozen reasons why congregations should still use hymn books rather than merely projecting words on the wall, see The Value of Hymn Books.

Words: Johnson Oatman, Jr. (b. Apr. 21, 1856; d. Sept. 25, 1922)
Music: John Robson Sweney (b. Dec. 31, 1837; d. Apr. 10, 1899)

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Johnson Oatman)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Note: There is some discrepancy as to who wrote this song. Oatman published his version in 1895. But Hymnary.org displays a hymn book page from 1902 (of a song version copyrighted in 1899) written by Charles Inglis, coupled with an “Old Melody” harmonized by C. C. Case (Charles Clinton Case). I have no more information on Charles Inglis. The Wordwise Hymns link speaks of Inglis as the author, but it seems like his was a reworking of Oatman’s earlier work.

The tune arrangement is only slightly different (using dotted eighths and sixteenth notes several times). The words in the first to stanzas are the same. But then there are changes. Inglis uses Oatman’s third stanza as his second. He skips Oatman’s second stanza altogether, which is a loss, as it talks about the cross. Inglis’s last two stanzas are different, and they do have merit.

3) Shining for Jesus in a world of sin;
Shining for Jesus, bringing lost ones in;
Shining for Jesus, glorifying Him;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

4) Shining for Jesus while He gives me grace;
Shining for Jesus while I run the race;
Shining for Jesus, till I see His face;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

Suspended in the blackness of space above our heads, exotic and mysterious, earth’s storied moon has been the subject of speculation down through many centuries.

In AD 79, Greek author Lucian wrote what he called a True History of a war between aliens on the moon and the sun. Dante, in his Divine Comedy, published in 1321, claimed the moon is inhabited by the souls of those who have broken vows during their lifetime. In his 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon, H. G. Wells described a moon inhabited by hostile creatures who capture the men who land among them.

Fantasies all. But we often don’t make good prophets, or even good guessers, when it comes to scientific development. Aerospace engineer, Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) once said, “I’m convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.” It didn’t happen. And though it was an amazing achievement for Apollo 11 to actually reach the moon in 1969, the reality of what was discovered is much less spectacular than human imagination or the conjectures of science fiction suggest.

We watched on television as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the moon’s surface, with his “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” And we saw what he saw. Endless vistas of barren rock and moon dust. There were no native inhabitants to be found, no animals, no plants, no sign physical life. It’s a dead thing, a pile of ancient rock. And unlike the stars which generate their own light, the moon can only reflect the light of the sun–which is itself a star.

The moon is mentioned many times in the Bible. When it was created it was described as “the lesser light,” when compared to the sun (Gen. 1:16). Nevertheless it’s a glorious sight, on a clear night, to look up and see that shining silvery orb. In a way, it humbles us. “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:3-4).

Not only are human beings created to bring praise and honour to the Lord. It’s the same for the sun moon and stars. “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light!” says the psalmist (Ps. 148:3). They do this not by a conscious choice or spoken words, as we do, but simply by being what God has created them to be, fulfilling the purpose for which the Almighty designed them.

Our Creator sovereignly appointed the sun to mark the days (by sunrise and sunset), and “He appointed the moon for seasons [appointed times]” (Ps. 104:19). The meaning of that is likely this: Israel used a lunar calendar, with months thirty days long. Their annual holy days were scheduled according to the months as defined by the phases of the moon (Lev. 23:4-44).

The nature of the moon has a further spiritual application. Of Christians it is said, “Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). But, like the moon, we do not shine with our own light, for we have none, spiritually. We are to be reflectors of the light of the Son of God, the One who declared, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12). By God’s grace, we are to “shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life [the message of God’s Word]” (Phil. 2:15-16).

Johnson Oatman published a gospel song about that in 1895. It says:

CH-1) Shining for Jesus everywhere I go,
Shining for Jesus in this world of woe;
Shining for Jesus, more like Him I grow;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

Shining all the time, shining all the time;
Shining for Jesus, beams of love divine;
Glorifying Him every day and hour;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

CH-2) Shining for Jesus, for He died for me;
Shining for Jesus, for He set me free;
Shining for Jesus, let the whole world see,
Shining all the time for Jesus.

Questions:
1) In your view, what things are involved in “shining for Jesus”?

2) What things can cause our light to be dim?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Johnson Oatman)
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org