Hymn Reflections
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Lakeland, FL
March 10 ,2024
Abide With Me ELW 629
Sing Verse 1
But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. (Luke 24:29 KJV)
Relive the thrill expressed by the two Emmaus disciples when their spiritual eyes were opened and they first realized that they were in the presence of their risen Lord. Use this hymn to help you.
The author of this text, Henry F. Lyte, was an Anglican pastor. Though he battled tuberculosis all of his life, Lyte was known as a man strong in spirit and faith. It was he who coined the phrase "it is better to wear out than to rust out."
During his later years, Lyte's health progressively worsened so that he was forced to seek a warmer climate in Italy. For the last sermon with his parishioners at Lower Brixham, England, on September 4, 1847, it is recorded that he nearly had to crawl to the pulpit. His final words made a deep impact upon his people when he proclaimed, "It is my desire to induce you to prepare for the solemn hour which must come to all, by a timely appreciation and dependence on the death of Christ."
Henry Lyte's inspiration for writing "Abide with Me" came shortly before his final sermon, while reading from the account in Luke 24 of our Lord's appearance with the two disciples on their seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus on that first Easter evening. How the hearts of those discouraged disciples suddenly burned within them when they realized that they were in the company of the risen, the eternal Son of God!
Tune: EVENTIDE by composer William H. Monk
William Monk was born in London in 1823 is best known for his music editing of Hymns Ancient and Modern. He also adapted music from plainsong and added accompaniments for Introits for Use Throughout the Year, a book issued with that famous hymnal. Beginning in his teenage years, Monk held a number of musical positions. He became choirmaster at King's College in London in 1847 and was organist and choirmaster at St. Matthias, Stoke Newington, from 1852 to 1889, where he was influenced by the Oxford Movement. At St. Matthias, Monk also began daily choral services with the choir leading the congregation in music chosen according to the church year, including psalms chanted to plainsong. He composed over fifty hymn tunes and edited The Scottish Hymnal and Wordsworth's Hymns for the Holy Year as well as the periodical Parish Choir.
Sing Verses 4 & 5 (Published in 1655 hymnals)
It Is Well With My Soul ELW 785
Sing Verse 1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
Ask yourself if you can truthfully say, "It is well with my soul," no matter what the circumstances may be that surround you.
Inner peace through an implicit trust in the love of God is the real evidence of a mature Christian faith. Only with this kind of confidence in his heavenly Father could Horatio G. Spafford experience such heartrending tragedies as he did and yet be able to say, "It is well with my soul."
Spafford had known peaceful and happy days as a successful attorney in Chicago. He was the father of four daughters, an active member of the Presbyterian church, and a loyal friend and supporter of D. L. Moody and other evangelical leaders of his day. Then, a series of calamities began, starting with the great Chicago fire of 1871 which wiped out the family's extensive real estate investments. When Mr. Moody and his music associate, Ira Sankey, left for Great Britain for an evangelistic campaign, Spafford decided to lift the spirits of his family by taking them on a vacation to Europe. He also planned to assist in the Moody-Sankey meetings there.
In November 1873, Spafford was detained by urgent business, but he sent his wife and four daughters as scheduled on the S.S. Ville du Harve, planning to join them soon. Halfway across the Atlantic, the ship was struck by an English vessel and sank in twelve minutes. All four of the Spafford daughters--Tanetta, Maggie, Annie, and Bessie--were among the 226 who drowned. Mrs. Spafford was among the few who were miraculously saved.
Horatio Spafford stood hour after hour on the deck of the ship carrying him to rejoin his sorrowing wife in Cardiff, Wales. When the ship passed the approximate place where his precious daughters had drowned, Spafford received sustaining comfort from God that enabled him to write, "When sorrows like sea billows roll . . . It is well with my soul." What a picture of our hope!
Tune VILLE DU HAVRE composed by Philip P. Bliss
Philip P. Bliss left home as a young boy to make a living by working on farms and in lumber camps, all while trying to continue his schooling. He was converted at a revival meeting at age twelve. Bliss became an itinerant music teacher, making house calls on horseback during the winter, and during the summer attending the Normal Academy of Music in Genesco, New York. In 1864 he went to Chicago in the employ of Dr. George F. Root, the musician, where he was engaged in conducting musical institutes, and in composing Sunday School melodies. Originally a Methodist, he became, about 1871, a choirman of the First Congregational Church, Chicago, and the Superintendent of its Sunday Schools. Bliss's tragic death at the age of thirty-eight happened near the end of 1876 in a train wreck while he was traveling with his wife to Chicago.
Sing Verse 4
(Published in 469 hymnals)
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross ELW 803
Sing Verse 1
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him. (John 19:17-18)
Can you say with Isaac Watts: "my soul, my life, my all"?
While preparing for a communion service in 1707, Isaac Watts wrote this deeply moving and very personal expression of gratitude for the amazing love that the death of Christ on the cross revealed. In Watts's day, texts such as this, which were based only on personal feelings, were termed "hymns of human composure" and were very controversial, since almost all congregational singing at this time consisted of ponderous repetitions of the Psalms. The unique thoughts presented by Watts in these lines certainly must have pointed the eighteenth century Christians to a view of the dying Savior in a vivid and memorable way that led them to a deeper worship experience, even as it does for us today.
Young Watts showed unusual talent at an early age, learning Latin when he was five, Greek at nine, French at eleven, and Hebrew at twelve. As he grew up, he became increasingly disturbed by the uninspiring psalm singing in the English churches. He commented, "The singing of God's praise is the part of worship most closely related to heaven; but its performance among us is the worst on earth." Throughout his life, Isaac Watts wrote over six hundred hymns and is known today as the "father of English hymnody." His hymns were strong and triumphant statements of the Christian faith, yet none ever equaled the colorful imagery and genuine devotion of this emotionally stirring and magnificent hymn text.
One Sunday afternoon the young Isaac Watts was complaining about the deplorable hymns that were sung at church. At that time, metered renditions of the Psalms were intoned by a cantor and then repeated (none too fervently, Watts would add) by the congregation. His father, the pastor of the church, rebuked him with "I'd like to see you write something better!" As legend has it, Isaac retired to his room and appeared several hours later with his first hymn, and it was enthusiastically received at the Sunday evening service the same night.
Although the tale probably is more legend than fact, it does illustrate the point that the songs of the church need constant infusion of new life, of new generation's praises. With over 600 hymns to his credit--many of them classics like "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"--Isaac Watts has rightfully earned the title, "the father of English hymnody."
Tune HAMBURG composed by Lowell Mason
Lowell Mason was an American music director and banker in the 19th century who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1,600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known work includes an arrangement of "Joy to the World" and the tune Bethany, which sets the hymn text Nearer, My God, to Thee. Mason also set music to Mary Had A Little Lamb. Besides writing thousands of hymn tunes he was a church choir director, the president of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, and a leading figure in music education.
Sing Verse 4 (Published in 1971 hymnals)
Amazing Grace ELW 779
Sing Verse 1
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times . . . you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
If America had a national folk hymn, this would probably be it. This well-loved and oft-sung hymn, written by John Newton in the late eighteenth century, is a powerful assurance and declaration of the grace of God working in all our lives.
When Newton was just eleven, he joined his father at sea and began a tumultuous life in the Navy, eventually becoming captain of a slave ship. In a period of four years, however, his life was drastically turned around: he nearly drowned, he married a very pious Mary Catlett, and he read through Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and joined forces with the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce.
Feeling a definite call to study for the ministry, Newton was encouraged and greatly influenced by John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. At the age of thirty-nine, John Newton became an ordained minister of the Anglican church at the little village of Olney, near Cambridge, England. To add further impact to his powerful preaching, Newton introduced simple heartfelt hymns rather than the usual psalms in his services. When enough hymns could not be found, Newton began to write his own, often assisted by his close friend William Cowper. In 1779 their combined efforts produced the famous Olney Hymns hymnal. "Amazing Grace," stanzas 1-4, was from that collection. Stanza 5 was added later by John P. Rees. Newton wrote, “I can see no reason why the Lord singled me out for mercy…unless it was to show, by one astonishing instance, that with him 'nothing is impossible'”.
Shortly before his death he is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!"
What amazing grace!
As we sing the very familiar words of this hymn, how powerful it is to think of ourselves as an “astonishing instance” of God’s grace and mercy.
The tune NEW BRITAIN was originally a folk tune, probably sung slowly with grace notes and melodic embellishments, typical of the Appalachian tunes from the southern United States. It was first published as a hymn tune in shape notes in Columbian Harmony in1829) and was first set to "Amazing Grace" in William Walker's Southern Harmony in 1835.
Sing Verses 4 & 5 ( Published in 1406 hymnals.)
References:
Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, Kenneth Osbec, Kregal, 2018.
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Paul Westermeyer, Augsburg Fortress, 2010.
hymnary.org
