"My Song Is Love Unknown"

This hymn was written by Englishman Samuel Crossman (1624-1683). Upon graduation from seminary, Crossman "min­is­tered to both an An­gli­can con­gre­ga­tion at All Saints, Sud­bu­ry, and to a Puritan con­gre­ga­tion simultaneously. Cross­man sym­pa­thized with the Pur­i­tan cause, and at­tend­ed the 1661 Savoy Conference, which at­tempt­ed to up­date the Book of Common Prayer so that both Pur­i­tans and An­gli­cans could use it. The con­fer­ence failed, and the 1662 Act of Un­i­form­i­ty ex­pelled Crossman along with some 2,000 other Puritan-leaning min­is­ters from the Church of England. He renounced his Puritan affiliations short­ly af­terward, and was or­dained in 1665." (from Wikipedia)

My favorite tune for this hymn was written by John Ireland (1879-1962) which can be heard here. This low-tech video is of an organist playing the hymn in his quaint little church. It's worth watching, especially if you dream about going to a small country church. With an organ. Where you sing hymns. In parts.

I have included the text of the first and last verses below. If you wish to read all seven verses, go here.

My Song Is Love Unknown

My song is love unknown,
My Saviour’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

(The picture above comes from the website for Bristol Cathedral, England. This is the Chapter House, built 1150-1165, for the monks. Crossman was buried at the cathedral.)

Truths

The disciples found out on Easter morning, He is not here. Neither is He in the temple anymore. He is in us.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20a

Here is a link to today's broadcast of Sing for Joy for some nice music on this third Sunday in Lent.

(Photo of the existing western wall of the outer court of the temple in Jerusalem, from Library of Congress prints. This photo was taken sometime between 1898 and 1914.)

Okra and Mercy

I've only eaten okra once, and that was enough to convince me that I don't like it. We ended up with a one pound bag of frozen okra that never made it to the stove top. Instead, it has been promoted to (drum roll, please): ice pack. Yes, folks. Providing far more than its potential nutritional value, it has nursed bruises, sprains, and nebulous owies for several years now. I was going to post about Haydn this evening. Well, actually...about how little I know about the stars. But here I sit at the computer with a bag of frozen okra on my knee. (I wonder how many times Haydn and okra make it into the same paragraph??)

Bedtime reading for the kids tonight was supposed to be Farmer Boy. I had only just begun the chapter about the horse thieves and the strange dog when our own dog, Lady, barked quite vehemently at the back sliding door. My son and I came to investigate what was making our usually calm dog so agitated. We spied a dog - no leash, no master - nosing around in the greenbelt area behind our house. Our daughter came downstairs, and as she is sometimes wont to do, she riled Lady up even more. Lady turned around so quickly that she banged into my knee quite hard, and gave me a big old bruise.

It hurt like the dickens, so I sent the offending "riler" up to bed, without any more Laura Ingalls Wilder. The "rilee" continued to bark at the stray, and my son went to get his pellet gun. Just in case.

I had just read this morning from Deuteronomy 32:2:

Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

I would like to say that I consciously thought of that verse, but that would be lying. God must have brought it into my heart anyway, because I was able to sit on my daughter's bed a few minutes later and have a far different conversation than I wanted to. Playing the martyr sounded pretty good when I first went upstairs! Throbbing knee, and all.

My daughter felt pretty bad about the whole episode, and wanted me to slap her, of all things. To make it even, she said. Of course I didn't comply. Would hurting you take away my bruise? I asked her. She knew the obvious answer to that question.

We were able to have a conversation about obedience, learning from mistakes, and turning the other cheek. She was able to see that she likes to rile up Lady because it makes her feel in control of something. When she feels out of control regarding being placed for adoption, this makes her want to take control wherever she can. The wind out of her sails, she received my forgiveness, and calmed down. She was then able to come up with some really good ideas of healthy ways to take control of various parts of her life.

I am so thankful that I was able to extend mercy to her when that wasn't my first desire. And it was all because God has extended His perfect mercy to me. He made certain I was primed with patience, mercy, and wisdom from Moses. It's a verse I've read many times before. I've copied it down. Lost it. Written it in journals. This morning, I even wrote it in marker on a piece of paper and taped it where I can see it every day while I sit in the rocker by the fireplace. All, just for this evening.

Amazing when you think of it. Our God IS an awesome God!

Now, let me get this okra back into the freezer. I don't want it to start thawing and get that slime all over everything.

Submission

The Imitation of Christ
Thomas a Kempis
Book 1, Chapter 9
Of Obedience and Submission

"Fancies about places and change of them have deceived many."

This is not something a city girl who longs for the country wants to read. I'd even rather live in a small town than in the suburbs. Maybe it's all the concrete I see every day. Maybe it's that I can go months without seeing our next door neighbors. Maybe it's all the cars I see. Driven by people I don't know.

Kempis speaks in this chapter about obedience. He admonishes us to obey God out of love, and not mere necessity. And yet, it's sometimes difficult to obey and submit without grumbling under our breath, isn't it?

I was just speaking with a fellow ballet mom this evening about her desire to move to the country. I never knew this about her, and here we both were talking excitedly about our mutual dreams of country life. She wants a little house on the property for her daughter to live in, I want one for my mom to live in. She wants to raise sheep, I want to raise alpacas and lavender.

Traversing the concrete to return home, I recounted my many blessings. I will go outside tomorrow and look for swelling buds on the trees, reminding myself that the color green will come to our yard in a few months. I'll look under the dormant lavender plants for volunteer babies that sprouted undetected last summer, and dream of where I can transplant them come spring.

And then maybe I should make some banana bread and take it over to our neighbors.

Happy Arrival Day!

Twelve years ago this evening, I became a mother of two. Our precious daughter was brought to our arms from a half a world away. Her big brother waited, not too patiently, with pink balloons for her to emerge from the long airplane tunnel.

We brought her home to a room with a crib, a rocking chair, and an antique chest serving as a changing table. Now, she's got Jonas Brothers posters, signed Nutcracker posters, stuffed animals, books, a cd player, a fuscia colored canopy, and floral hair pieces from every ballet recital lined up where a wallpaper border would go.

My how time flies. Seems like only yesterday.

Thank you Lord for your perfect timing. Thank you for your strength. Thank you for graciously letting me ride this trail called motherhood.

(Close up of our daughter's hanbok (traditional dress), one of the few things she arrived with from Korea.)

"O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788) wrote over 6,000 hymns. Penned in 1739, this hymn celebrates the first anniversary of Wesley's conversion to Christ.

"O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

(St. Andrew's Church in Epworth, England, where Samuel Wesley was rector, and where his sons John and Charles Wesley were born.)

"O Worship the King"

The author of this hymn, Robert Grant (1778-1838), was born in India to British parents. Grant attended school in England, became a lawyer, and followed in his father's footsteps to become a member of Parliament. He returned to India to become the Governor of Bombay in 1834. He died while in India, and was buried there as well.

The melody heard here was written by Johann M. Haydn (1737-1806), brother of composer Franz Joseph Haydn. If you go to Sing for Joy's website you can hear a different melody if you listen to the first hymn of the broadcast. It's got a great choir and a pipe organ. Just wonderful!

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.

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.

(St. Peter's Cemetery, Salzburg, Austria - burial place of Johann Haydn)

Disappointment.

Struggle. Loss. Failure. Heartache.

Not exactly Top Five Goals for the Christian. Or, are they??

Many churches heard Mark 1:21-28 for this past Sunday's gospel reading. Jesus was teaching "with authority" in the synagogue, which amazed the people. Then, Jesus commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" And the people were even more amazed to witness that sight.

Our pastor reminded us Sunday that God's Word is powerful. We should speak with confidence, for we have the Word that has power and authority to expel evil. Do we really believe that? Do we truly treasure the Word of God?



Our lives won't be perfect if we do believe in God's power. In fact, we'll probably get new problems. Or as Oswald Chambers (above photo) wrote in Monday's My Utmost For His Highest, "This College [Clapham Bible Training College in England] exists...to see whether God grips you. And beware of competitors when God does grip you."

When God grips us, there can be opposition from the enemy. And, yes, the spiritual realm can be a scary thing to think about. But, we have the Word of God. It's in our Bibles. Right there. For the taking.

And the failure? Loss? Struggle? Disappointment? They're temporary.

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Psalm 111:2

"Thou, Whose Almighty Word"

Most Americans hear the word Marriott, and think of the hotel chain. The author of this week's hymn was Englishman John Marriott (1780-1825). Ed­u­cat­ed at Christ Church, Ox­ford, Marriott was curate of several parishes in England during his life. There are several melodies attached to this text, but I have chosen the one by Italian composer, Felice de Girardini (1716-1796). You may go here to read all four verses and hear the melody.

Thou, Whose Almighty Word

Thou, whose almighty word
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight;
hear us, we humbly pray,
and, where the Gospel day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light!

Holy and blessèd Three,
glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, Love, Might;
boundless as ocean's tide,
rolling in fullest pride,
through the world far and wide,
let there be light!

Midweek Musings

Some thoughts this week...

Sunday - Sanctity of Human Life Day
For You yourself created my inmost parts;
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
Your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
Psalm 139: 12-13

Monday - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
King's "I Have a Dream" speech ~ Lincoln Memorial ~ August 28, 1963

Tuesday - Inauguration Day
"The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
Barak Hussein Obama ~ Inaugural Address ~ January 20, 2009
(Depending upon how he defines "all", it would seem that this should include the unborn. Just saying.)

Wednesday - Day 1
Yesterday, our new president told us, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourseslves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

Whatever he meant by remaking America, did he mean this?
Worst Inaugural Day Slide
The Dow's 4 percent slide was the most on an Inauguration Day in the measure's 112-year history...

Did he mean this?
Now that Obama has announced that we are stopping off-shore drilling, the gas station I pass has raised its price 10 cents. Since yesterday.

I need some Hope and Change...Mmmm...Let's see...How about this?


The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
George Washington ~ First Inaugural Address ~ April 30, 1789

Day One. We've obviously got work to do. It's going to be a long four years. Don't give up hope. Pray. And preserve the sacred fire of liberty.

The Imitation of Christ - Part 8

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis
Book 1 Chapter 8
Of the Danger of Too Much Familiarity

I have just been praying about the importance of good friends for our children, and how we can foster healthy Christian relationships between them and their peers.

God was gracious to point me to this quote from Kempis.

Let thy company be the humble and the simple, the devout and the gentle, and let thy discourse be concerning things which edify.

Lord, help me to teach my children these truths and to discern between those relationships that fit this standard vs. those that don't.

(our daughter with her dear, dear friend from ballet)

"We Know That Christ Is Raised"

I was looking for hymns about baptism to go along with today's church calendar, and there aren't very many. The words for this hymn were written in 1969 by John B. Geyer (b. 1932). The melody was written by Charles Stanford (1852-1924) as the music for "For All the Saints." Two years later, Ralph Vaughn Williams, wrote a different, and very effective, melody for "For All the Saints," which has prevailed to this day. Stanford's music was virtually forgotten until it was matched with Geyer's words.

As we study the baptism of our Lord by John at the River Jordan, we can understand more fully our own baptism into the family of faith. Although it's probably speaking of the resurrected Christ, verse three gives a symbolic picture of Jesus being in the presence of the other two persons of the trinity at His own baptism, and our relationship with the same.

The Father's splendor clothes the Son with life.
The Spirit's power shakes the Church of God.
Baptized we live with God the Three in One.
Alleluia!

The hymn is still under copyright, but this site published the words and a simple piano version of the music for "study" purposes.

Pretty COOL

Two weeks ago I was at the grocery store buying ground beef. I noticed that the country of origin label (COOL) said, "Product of Canada, US, or Mexico." Huh? I buy a pound of ground beef, and the best they can do is tell me it comes from one of three countries?! Not cool!

Luckily, we had already planned to visit our ranch friends over Christmas break and buy a 1/4 side of beef from them. Now, not only do we know the country of origin, we know the ranch and the family of origin! We were there when the calves were branded in the spring. We know our meat wasn't pumped up with hormones. Our friends are letting us pay on the installment plan. And their kids played with my kids for hours the day we drove there to pick up the beef. Pretty cool!

(Two happy girls: our daughter, and their younger daughter on the right, after spending time in heaven - AKA with the horses.)

Epiphany

When I was a girl, January 6 meant: my younger brother's birthday. We never took our tree down until after his birthday. I suppose Mom thought having the tree for his birthday made it more festive somehow, and somewhat lessened the downside of having a birthday so close to Christmas. And she was right. Now that I'm married and have a family of my own, I still leave our tree up through Epiphany, in his honor, even though my brother lives half-way across the country.

Now that I'm a Christian, I can see Epiphany in another light. In Sunday's sermon, pastor said:

There is no star, no baby to draw people in. Where will God lead people? To us. Ephesians 3 says, through the church God is showing His wisdom to heavenly rulers and powers. Through the church, God will manifest His glory. We are the light of the world. The grace, patience, and mercy that God has shown us, we should extend to others. Let's be what we are; the light of the world.

Dear Lord, help me to show grace, patience, and mercy. Help me to be a light in my little corner of the universe.

"As With Gladness, Men of Old"

You may be familiar with this first stanza of the Epiphany hymn, As With Gladness, Men of Old:

As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold;
as with joy they hailed in light,
leading onward, beaming bright;
so, most gracious Lord, may we
evermore be led to thee.

These last two verses are probably less well known, but so full of hope and wonder:

Holy Jesus! every day
keep us in the narrow way;
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.

In the heavenly country bright,
need they no created light;
thou its light, its joy, its crown,
thou its sun which goes not down;
there for ever may we sing
alleluias to our King.

This hymn, written by William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898), is not his most famous. Dix, the manager of a marine insurance company in Scotland, is most famous for writing the words to "What Child Is This?" (Photo above is of the Parish Church in Somerset, England, where Dix was buried.)