CHOOSING JOY

"Hearts unfold like flowers before thee," says verse 1.

Be encouraged above the negatives of the Covid-19 concerns with this uplifting hymn by a multi-talented man.  If you have a hymnal, look up “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” and then read Psalm 139:14: “Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Now, consider the “story behind the hymn."

If you were in charge of assembling a hymnal, which hymn would you put on the very first page?  A quick survey of random hymnals across denominational lines yielded these first-page choices: “O For a Thousand Tongues,” “Holy, holy, holy,” “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven,” “May Jesus Christ Be Praised,” “Old Hundreth,” and “O Worship the King.”  The editors of the hymnal my church used for decades (published 1989) chose one written by a Presbyterian minister in 1907.

His name was Henry Van Dyke, and he lived from 1852 to 1933 with many lines in his resume. They included:
*Appointment by his friend, President Woodrow Wilson, to ambassador of the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
*Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy Chaplains Corps during World War 1.
*Moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church
*Commander of the Legion of Honor
*President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters
*Chairman of the committee that compiled the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
*Pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City
*Professor of English literature at Princeton
*Author of several books, including best-selling devotionals
*A friend of many, including blind/deaf Helen Keller
*Officiated the funeral of Mark Twain
*Inspirational speaker—and in that role one day he was preaching at Williams College in Massachusetts. One morning he handed the college president some lyrics he had just written.  The meter, he said, matched the tune to the movement known as the “Hymn to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth symphony, the last by that composer which took him six years to compose. The lyrics were inspired, Van Dyke added, by the local view of the Berkshire Mountains.

He later said of this hymn: “ These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time, hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy their religion, or that any revolution on earth will overthrow the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore these are hymns of trust and hope.”

Dr. Van Dyke wrote 23 hymn texts, but this is probably the best-known. The diversity of achievements in his life point to how God is not limited in the ways He uses our skills.  It may be through a church, the arts, sciences, or government.  In the end, as the last verse says, we are the mortals joining the happy chorus in the triumph song of life—the one that praises the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ready to sing? These You-Tube sites may help:


Pipe organ with scenic backgrounds and hymn words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObqN9c9Jro0



Unaccompanied choir with scenic backgrounds and hymn words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GisCqoTZiH0