"Once More the Solemn Season Calls"

I love to see God's hand in teaching me His truths.

I didn't post a hymn last Sunday. I originally began this blog on a Sunday in November by posting the words to a hymn because I longed to sing a hymn of praise to my Lord and Savior. I've posted the lyrics to a hymn every Sunday since then. Until last Sunday.

My excuses? I had 2 rehearsals and 2 concerts to play over the weekend, so I wasn't able to sit at the computer for several days. And my aunt was visiting. She has been spending Christmas with us ever since she was widowed in 2001. She couldn't come this past Christmas because of a sudden medical emergency, so she had her Christmas airline tickets changed to come visit us this past Presidents' Day weekend.

We left our icicle lights up on the back fence to light while she was here. We gave her her Christmas stocking candy cane, listened to "The Messiah" on CD, lit a Christmas candle in the family room, and ate pumpkin pie for breakfast when she was here.

I tell you all of this because you need to understand that I've had Christmas on my mind this past week. Now, "all of a sudden," it's going to be Ash Wednesday in three days. I'm still basking in the glow of Christmas remembered, and I'm being rudely forced to shift my thinking from the manger to the Cross. From the thoughts of the angels singing, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" to being reminded of the taunts of, "Crucify Him!"

We don't like being reminded of the whole reason Jesus took on earthly form. It's too fun to celebrate Christmas and think of the Baby. We don't like to meditate on our sin or our disobedience. Or the cross.

But here I am. Going from the "Halleluia Chorus" to choosing an Ash Wednesday hymn to teach my children in school this week. After some searching on the internet, I've found one that we're going to learn.

And for those of you who are close to sending precious children off to college soon, go here to see how this hymn's composer received his degree from Oxford University. It's quite interesting!

By the way, this picture was not taken by me, but it caught my eye. It's from a website of a Catholic school in California and it reminded me of my daughter when she was this age.

Click on the hymn title below to hear the melody of the hymn. Blessings to you all.

"Once More the Solemn Season Calls"

Once more the solemn season calls
A holy fast to keep;
And now within the temple walls
Let priest and people weep.

But vain all outward sign of grief,
And vain the form of prayer,
Unless the heart implore relief,
And penitence be there.

We smite the breast, we weep in vain,
In vain in ashes mourn,
Unless with penitential pain
The smitten soul be torn.

In sorrow true then let us pray
To our offended God,
From us to turn His wrath away
And stay the uplifted rod.

O God, our Judge and Father, deign
To spare the bruisèd reed;
We pray for time to turn again,
For grace to turn indeed.

Blest Three in One to Thee we bow;
Vouchsafe us, in Thy love,
To gather from these fasts below
Immortal fruit above.

Theses on Worship--Part 2

It's easy to wax nostalgic about "the good old days." I found this photo of a church at a website about Hobgood, North Carolina. It made me wonder what kind of worship took place here. What stories could this church tell? It also reminds me how I yearn for the "good old days" of my old church. Despite its shortcomings, it had a worship service that I miss terribly.

In my continuing study of worship, I turn again to Jim Jordan's book, Theses on Worship. Here are Jordan's first four thoughts on the matter of Biblical and proper practices for the Sunday morning worship service.

#1 God's House is a House of Prayer
The central feature of Sunday morning should be worship. Evangelism, entertainment, concert performance, and intensive instruction are all good for the church; they just need to be focused on at other times. "Worship is prayer focused on the person(s) of God."

#2 The Faithful Worship of the True God Does Not Come Naturally to Fallen Man
True covenant-renewal worship must be learned. "Anything that is good and wonderful takes effort, and our worship is not something we do sloppily..."

#3 Worship is a Command Performance
It is done at His command, for Him.

#4 Worship is Family Time
By this, Jordan means that it should be geared for Christians, and he even goes so far as to say that you don't need a "word to the lost." He recommends inviting unbelievers to other occasions in the life of the church. Although it may sound a bit harsh, I can see his point. We visited a church this fall that was obviously "seeker friendly." They used sound liturgy, but they kept apologizing for it and going overboard to explain why they used it. I wanted to yell out, "If it's important enough for you to use it, then just use it!" If someone is truly "seeking" and they come upon a meaty church service that's "hard to understand," perhaps they will be motivated to ask questions, pray, and search out what everything means. Isn't this far better than watering down the worship of God? I would never exclude an unbeliever from the Sunday morning worship, but when I go to church, I want to be fed meat, not pablum.

Jordan also considers all the Christian books on the market dealing with marriage and family. He says, "The first family is the Church. Join a Church that gives you bread and wine each week, that sings the Psalter, that teaches the whole Bible seriously, and has a decent community life. That is the most important thing you can do to build up our marriage and family."

What do you think?

Theses on Worship--Part 1

I'm reading Theses on Worship by Jim Jordan to help me learn just what would please God in our worship of Him on Sunday mornings. Are there certain things that would please Him more than others? (Obviously, yes.) Are some of the things which I prefer in worship merely my personal preference, and not necessarily "better" than what I sometimes see? (I'm not sure.) I'll let this quote from Jordan serve as an introduction to my study of his book.

"Of course, I am in these theses setting out ideals, and since modern evangelical worship events generally don't conform to the covenant-renewal patterns I believe in, there is really little point in trying to apply these principles mechanically to the current scene...

If that's so, why should I bother to write this stuff up? Well, partly because I've been asked to by a number of people, and Biblical Horizons [his ministry] exists not to stimulate the multitude, or to educate a large group of people, but...to challenge about 600 people [who subscribe to the newsletter] to think seriously about a problem that I, and others, think is very serious...

Moreover, I don't seriously expect to see very much of what I think is good, wise, and healthy implemented during my lifetime. All I can hope is that if some of us start thinking seriously about what pleases God now, our grandchildren may find themselves in a position to worship God in beauty and truth, with psalms and joy, with weekly communion, paedo-communion, great music, fine architecture, proper discipline in community, etc. I expect to sing the psalms during Lord's Day worship when I get to heaven. I'll be surprised if I get to do much of it during my lifetime here on earth."

(Note from Deb: I don't think Jordan's comments are necessarily pessimistic. It can be comforting to think that we can support change that benefits our grandchildren.)

"Amazing Grace"

The kids and I sang "Amazing Grace" in school this past week. Since we are fairly familiar with it, we tried singing parts for the first time ever. Our daughter (age 9) held her own on the soprano line. Our son (age 11) tried his hand at the alto part with me. What a joy it was to sing this hymn together with them!

John Newton (1725-1807) wrote the words to the first four verses. John Rees (1828-1900) added the 5th verse. Newton is reported as saying shortly before his death, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!"

Newton penned his own epitaph for his grave marker,
JOHN NEWTON, Clerk
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
restored, pardoned, and ap­point­ed to preach
the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy.
He min­is­tered,
Near sixteen years in Ol­ney, in Bucks,
And twenty-eight years in this Church.


"Amazing Grace"

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.

’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 snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

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’d first begun.

(The first verse in Korean)
아놀라우신 주님의 은혜! 나같이 비천한 몸도 구원해 주신 그 음성
얼마나 감미로운가
한때는 길을 잃고 헤매었지만 난 이제 구원을 받았다네
또 한때는 눈뜬장님이었으나 이제 난 볼 수 없었던 영적인 세계도 볼 수 있다네

The Discipline of Dejection

This is the title of yesterday's reading in My Utmost for His Highest. There was a section of it that really hit home, and I was still thinking of it today. I was using it to comfort myself about my weariness over searching for a new church home. Then, today, I got word that two dear friends needed prayer. One, for her aging mother who has just suffered a stroke. Another, for strength through spiritual oppression. Suddenly, my "complaints" paled in comparison. The exhortations from Oswald Chambers were nonetheless true for any of us, though:

"Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer."

I'm "It"

Kim at Mother-Lode has "tagged me," so it's my turn to be IT. To see what she wrote, go here.




Four Jobs You've Held

Doll maker
Dispatcher for university police department
Orchestra musician
Public school teacher


Four Places You've Lived

In an Ohio farmhouse
In a small town in NE Colorado where you can stand in the middle of the town and see the country in all four directions
In a suburb of the largest city between Chicago and L.A.
"On the road" for three years while my husband played in a touring Broadway show

Four Vacations You've Taken

Drove from Denver to Mexico City with my husband and cat (I wouldn't recommend it!)
Living History Farms in Des Moines, Iowa (I WOULD recommend this!)
Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii (and this!)
Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead in De Smet, South Dakota (and this!!)

Four Vehicles You've Owned

Roller Skates, complete with a key!
A Motobecane 10 speed bicycle
A red '78 Ford Fiesta--my first car
A blue cargo van (we traded the Fiesta and a Chevy Vega to get the van--and then drove it down to Mexico City, planning to live there, but...)

Four Blogs You Want to Visit and Tag

Be my guest! The more, the merrier!

Even Solomon

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28b-29

I didn't want to go. We had finished school early enough, Daddy wasn't home yet, we still had nearly an hour of daylight left, and the kids wanted to walk to the reservoir to fish and feed the ducks. I wanted to stay home: knit, read. I was even willing to do laundry. But I didn't want to walk to the reservoir.

When we got to the reservoir, there was no delicately tinkling ice. But there were duck feathers. Yes, duck feathers. As I looked west towards my son fishing about 40 yards away, the afternoon sun was reflecting off the multitude of duck feathers on the ground. At any other time of day, I would have barely noticed the feathers. But in just the right angle of afternoon light, they shone like cotton blanketing the ground. That was the first marvel.

Then, as I stood with my daughter, who was happily feeding four pairs of mallards, I was instantly drawn to the males' head feathers. I always picture male mallards as having the famous iridescent green heads. But in the late afternoon sun, as the ducks bobbed around catching the bread crumbs, their heads kept changing color. It was quite beautiful to behold the colors change from green to black to dark blue to eggplant. I was quite happy to stand there and watch my children and the ducks until the sun slipped down behind the mountains.

Thanks to our gracious Lord, I was able to spend some precious time with my two children, marvel in His creation, get some exercise, and learn something new. And lest I beat this nature narrative to death, I must remind myself of pompous Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

Here, leading the way through every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an interval to utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out with a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind.

"O Worship the King"

This lyrics for this hymn were written by Robert Grant (1778-1838), an Englishman born in India. After being educated in England, Grant returned to India to be the Governor of Bombay, and he continued to live in India until he died. Go here to read further information, and hear three different melodies for this hymn.



"O Worship the King"

O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old;
Established it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.

Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

O measureless might! Ineffable love!
While angels delight to worship Thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
With true adoration shall all sing Thy praise.

P.S. I challenge you to find the words ineffable love in a contemporary praise song! (By the way, ineffable means indescribable.)

Worship--Part 4

Christianity Today has a new article about a recent conference concerning how worship in North American Christian churches has changed in the past 30 years.

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship was held last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There were representatives from several different denominations on the panel, and one panel member summarized what he saw as hopeful changes in worship in the last 30 years. He states that modernization of liturgy, songs, etc., can be a good thing, as long as the historical heritage is preserved. Personally, I'm not that encouraged about many of the modernizations that have occurred. Unfortunately, substance is too often replaced with style. Truth and depth are too often replaced with simplistic "seeker-sensitive" balony.

However, there is some hope in the article. More in keeping with some of the other recent reading I've been doing, there is a link to a short article entitled "Calvin's Geneva Liturgy." I'll continue with more related articles next week.

"Pride and Prejudice"

A few weeks ago I ran across two closely related quotes which went something like this:

You can tell who a man is, not by what he reads, but by what he rereads.

You haven't really read a book until you have read it more than once.

During the school year, when I'm teaching the kids, I don't spend enough time reading just for fun, just for myself. So, I decided to remedy this by rereading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I just finished it today, and have enjoyed such a wonderful two weeks revisiting the world of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Last night I read while waiting for my daughter at ballet class, and one of the other mothers saw all of my yellow sticky notes protruding from my book. She asked me if I was taking a class. I replied, "No, I just like to mark the parts with especially good writing." She thought this quite a novel idea (no pun intended!), while I consider it not only normal, but necessary!

So, here's a favorite spot of Pride and Prejudice. One of Elizabeth's sisters, Mary (the bookish one), joins in a conversation about their recent meeting of the "prideful" Mr. Darcy. Mary says, "Pride is a very common failing I believe...human nature is especially prone to it...Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonimously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

Isn't it pride that heavily factors into the fall of Adam and Eve? Disobedience, to be sure, but it was certainly driven by pride. Isn't it our pride that makes us think more highly of ourselves than we ought, and makes us think infinitely less of our heavenly Father than we ought?

God, please forgive me my pride and vanity. Help me to keep my eyes, my heart, my mind, all trained on You!

"Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"--Part 2

When I think of Wales, I think of beautiful scenery like the photograph to the left. Since the hymn's author was born and also died in the same town in Wales during the 1700's, I can't imagine that he traveled much. When he mentions the barren land in verse 1, I wonder what he saw of a barren land while in Wales. Perhaps, he was able to think of winter, or other types of barrenness (eg. empty hearts, empty wombs).

As the kids and I sing the words to this hymn in school through the course of this week, I've been picturing the rolling green hills of my Welsh ancestors, and giving thanks for the 18th century preacher who can make my heart ponder God's grace, some 250 years later.