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P7. Reflections: Apr.17

Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord

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: Psalm 55:22 and 16:8, adapted by Julius Schubring (1806-1889), a pastor friend of Mendelssohn’s, for the composer’s oratorio, Elijah, for which it was translated into English by another friend of the composer’s, William Bartholemew
Music: Felix Mendelssohn (b. Feb. 3, 1809; d. Nov. 9, 1847)

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Felix Mendelssohn)
The Cyber Hymnal (Felix Mendelssohn)
Hymnary.org

Note: Though Felix Mendelssohn died of a stroke before his thirty-ninth birthday, he has given us a wide range of beautiful music. The oratorio Elijah is a true masterpiece.I encourage you to listen to a recording of it–or better still attend a performance of it if you can.  It was first performed in Birmingham, England, August 26th, 1846. The composer had written to Julius Schubring who worked on the original text:

“The personages should act and speak like living beings–for heaven’s sake let them not be a musical picture, but a real world, such as you find in every chapter of the Old Testament.”

There is, in the Cyber Hymnal page on the composer, a wonderful story about him, which is given a striking and practical spiritual application. Worth reading.

Our traditional hymns and gospel songs were written over a period of twenty centuries, by hundreds of men and women, who represent a broad spectrum of religious beliefs.

During that long period it has not been unusual for the world’s greatest classical composers to contribute to the music used with our hymns. In some cases, one of their compositions has been adapted to make a hymn tune. Other times they wrote the melody specifically for the purpose. While it is going too far to suggest that these men were all evangelical, born again Christians, each had a strong sense of the presence and power of God in the world.

Among the masters of music whose names are found in many of our hymn books are: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), Franz Joseph Haydn (1737-1806), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

Several of these composers also created what are called oratorios. An oratorio is a long musical composition, usually based on Scripture or a religious theme, and involving solo voices, a choir, and an orchestra. An oratorio differs from an opera in that it’s performed without action, costumes, or scenery. Handel’s Messiah from 1741 is the most familiar and perhaps the most sublime example. Over more than two hours, it covers the life of Christ with moving and memorable music.

The greatest oratorio of the nineteenth century, Elijah, was created by Felix Mendelssohn. He was the son of wealthy Jewish parents who had put their faith in Christ, and Felix himself was a dedicated Christian. He married Cecile, a pastor’s daughter and a great woman of prayer, and the couple had five children. For Mendelssohn, the Bible was the cornerstone of daily life, and much of his music found its inspiration there.

His use of the Bible in Elijah was, however, slightly different from what we see in Handel’s Messiah. Handel’s oratorio uses passages precisely quoted from both Old Testament and New that directly relate to Christ, either prophetically or in the story of His life. But Mendelssohn’s Elijah, while setting the prophet’s life to music, as it’s recorded in First Kings chapter 17 through Second Kings chaper 2, inserts passages of commentary here and there, Bible verses from outside the story that help us understand it.

In Elijah’s day, Israel was ruled by the idolatrous King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. The latter, in particular, was responsible for leading the nation into Baal worship. Elijah’s confrontation on Mount Carmel with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal is one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture (I Kgs. 18:17-40), and Mendelssohn’s surpassing skill as a composer gives it an effective musical setting of exhilarating power.

Elijah’s appeal to the Lord on that occasion is taken right from the passage: “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word” (I Kgs. 18:36). According to inspired Scripture, Elijah spoke those words. But what comes next is not from the passage itself.

As though to encourage Elijah, who stood alone in the conflict, a quartet of voices, representing angels, sings the quietly beautiful song Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord, based on Psalm 55:22 and Psalm 16:8. It is found in some hymnals.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
And He shall sustain thee.
He never will suffer the righteous to fall;
He is at thy right hand.
Thy mercy, Lord, is great and far above the heav’ns;
Let none be made ashamed that wait upon Thee.

Casting our burdens on the Lord is something every believer can do, and it’s a theme taken up by Peter in the New Testament as well, when he says we should habitually be “casting all [our] care [our worries and anxieties] upon Him, for He cares [is concerned] for [us]” (I Pet. 5:7). In that way we are strengthened for life and for service for Him–as the psalmist puts it:

“It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works” (Ps. 78:28).

Questions:
1) What burden have you recently given over to the Lord? With what result?

2) Why do we seem to hesitate so long at times with turning our cares and trials over to God?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns (Felix Mendelssohn)
The Cyber Hymnal (Felix Mendelssohn)
Hymnary.org

Sitting at the Feet of 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: J. H. T. (details unknown)
Music: Constancy, by Asa Hull (b. Jan. 18, 1828; d. Apr. 4, 1917)

Links:
Wordwise Hymns
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org

Note: This is a lovely hymn inspired by the experience of Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Published in the nineteenth century (Hymnary,org has the earliest version printed in 1868), we only know the initials of the author: J. H. T. (or J. H.).

Asa Hull wrote many hymns and hymn tunes. His tune Constancy is also used in some hymn books for the hymn All for Jesus. As noted in the Cyber Hymnal, the tune Wycliff, by John Stainer also fits both texts. It’s a superior tune, in my view, but in this case will require treating the hymn as having six four-line stanzas.

It’s an odd expression, one that doesn’t necessarily mean what it says. We speak of sitting at someone’s feet, or at someone’s knee, but it may have nothing to do with our posture or position.

To say a young man sat at the feet of Professor So-and-So, means he was a pupil of the professor’s, someone whose teachings he was eager to absorb. Often the phrase also implies that the student admires and respects the teacher. But he may be sitting at a classroom desk, or before a computer, or simply reading a book, or watching a DVD. Any or all of these might involve sitting at the feet of another.

However, for Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the position became a literal reality. In fact, each time she’s seen in the Gospels, she is at the feet of the Lord Jesus. She sat at His feet to learn (Lk. 10:39); she came to His feet to express her grief at the death of her brother (Jn. 11:32); and she came to His feet to worship, after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 12:3).

It is with the first of these we are concerned here (Lk. 10:38-42). When the Lord Jesus visited in their home, we see quite a contrast between the two sisters. Martha was bustling about, preparing a meal, and the Bible says she was “distracted,” preoccupied and fretful, about all she had to do. So much so she complained that Mary wasn’t helping her (vs. 40).

And what was Mary doing during all of this? She “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word” (vs. 39). Her presence there was an expression of her love for the Lord, and of her delight in His teaching. It also showed something of her desire to believe and obey His message to her.

Martha, no doubt, had good intentions. She wanted to have the very best meal to set before her Guest. But the Lord gently rebuked her for all her hurrying and scurrying: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her [by you, or anything else]” (vs. 41-42).

“One thing is needful [i.e. necessary].” Jesus would not be with them much longer, as far as His physical presence was concerned. Eating a fine meal with Him had its place, but the spiritual food He could provide just then was much more important. To put a priority on listening and learning from Him was a good thing, and it still is.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Ps. 1:1-3).

What are some ways we can sit at Jesus’ feet today? We can go to church and listen to the Word of God taught. We can talk with spiritually minded friends, and pray with them. We can attend a Bible study and discuss the Scriptures. We can attend a Bible college. We can put a priority on having a time of daily devotions, when we study and pray on our own. Memorizing and meditating on verses of Scripture are valuable too. All such things are spiritually important, and we must not let other priorities lead to neglecting them.

CH-1) Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
Oh, what words I hear Him say!
Happy place! so near, so precious!
May it find me there each day.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
I would look upon the past;
For His love has been so gracious,
It has won my heart at last.

CH-2) Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
Where can mortal be more blest?
There I lay my sins and sorrows
And, when weary, find sweet rest.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
There I love to weep and pray,
While I from His fullness gather
Grace and comfort every day.

CH-3) Bless me, O my Saviour, bless me,
As I sit low at Thy feet.
Oh, look down in love upon me;
Let me see Thy face so sweet.
Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus;
Make me holy as He is.
May I prove I’ve been with Jesus,
Who is all my righteousness.

Questions:
1) What is your favourite or most profitable way to sit at the feet of Jesus?

2) What have you learned there at His feet in the past week?

Links:
Wordwise Hymns
The Cyber Hymnal
Hymnary.org