THIS MERRY MONTH OF MAY....

Right on schedule, the Yellow Ones have returned. From a grass-level “tutu” of broad leaves, a short stem lifts up its yellow crown. Dandelions. Yard weeds, but merry and lovely in their own way. Yes, I have a few yellow daffodils blooming, too, but the hearty dandelions have also awakened. I'm not into harvesting the leaves for a back-to-nature salad, so off to the garbage they go.

My brain makes some unlikely connections when I'm out doing yard-work (like plucking weeds). That day I found myself silently rehearsing an old hymn that starts with “May”--not the month-meaning, but the “permissive” meaning.

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,/Live in me from day to day,/By His love and pow'r controlling/All I do and say.

I knew this hymn, based on Philippians 2:5-8,  was an “oldie-but-goody,” but was surprised to know it was written sometime before 1912. The English author, Kate Barclay Wilkinson (1859-1928), wasn't a well-known hymnist, but an unheralded member of the Church of England. Influenced by the evangelical Keswick Convention Movement, she'd gotten involved in a mission that reached out to needy girls and young women living at St. Leonard's-on-Sea (about 65 miles from London). 

The verse that influenced her hymn was likely Philippians 2:5: “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus....” This scripture section highlights the spiritual walk of knowing Christ as Savior, dwelling richly in God's Word, claiming the Father's peace, expressing Jesus' love, faithfully running the “spiritual race,” and seeking to express the beauty of Christ in such a way that people are drawn to Him. In short, being rooted in Christ, in order to bring others to Him. As such—especially the hymn's verse about “running the race” for the Lord--it echoed Philippians 2:12-13 about working out one's salvation as God working in us.

A side note: the man who added the tune to her poem, A. Cyril Barham-Gould, was a Church of England clergyman whose first curate (position) was at All Souls Church in Langham Place. That parish became famous in our times as a church pastored by well-known evangelical leader and author John Stott (1921-2011), whom I once had the privilege of hearing in person.

I'm grateful for hymns like this one, and the preaching/writing ministry of godly men like Stott, as I seek (quoting her hymn) to “run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe, looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.” The hymn may not “pop up” (like my springtime dandelions) in the “worship choices” of contemporary-culture churches. But maybe it should....

This link will help you recall its words and tune: May The Mind Of Christ My Saviour

EYES, EARS, MOUTH

Guess which "eye-glasses"
the grandkids like to wear!

When my children and grandchildren were babies, I'd ask them to point to their eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and a few other parts, ending with the laughable “belly button.” It was so fun to watch them name their body parts and smile over that accomplishment! Probably every mom (or dad) has done that—and that might include the author of a hymn of “spiritual senses”-- “Open My Eyes, That I May See.”

Her name was Clara Scott (born 1841 in Illinois to a farmer's family) and she received her music training at the newly opened Chicago Music Institute. She married a man in the crockery business, and they had two daughters, Medora and Mary, living near Chicago. She was known in the late 1800s as a music teacher, composer, hymn-writer, and the first woman to publish a volume of anthems, titled The Royal Anthem Book (1892).

In mid-life, her husband became an invalid. So when she wanted to attend a funeral in DuBuque, Iowa, he stayed home. While traveling by horse and buggy, with two friends aboard with her, the buggy's hold-back strap broke, spooking the horse. It raced forward, hitting the buggy against a stone wall. Clara and one friend were thrown out, dying instantly. The other passenger had severe injuries. Clara was only 56. Music writers, teachers, professors, publishers and friends attended her funeral, which included a quartet of friends singing two of her compositions.

As for “Open My Eyes That I May See,” it's still found in many hymnals. Written to a 6/8 meter, it has a gentle, lullaby rhythm as it relates how parts of the body (eyes, hands, ears and mouth) can be used for God's glory. The only “not visible” body part in the hymn is the heart:

Open my heart, and let me prepare

Love with Thy children thus to share....

Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine.

The lyrics naming “body parts” may bring to mind scriptures like these:

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” (Psalm 51:15)

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.” (The blind man who was healed, John 9:25)

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

And this scripture also carries on the pairing of the physical and spiritual:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

To recall this hymn to mind, enjoy this YouTube version:

Open My Eyes That I May See | Lyric Video - YouTube

GLORY!

 A monthly story on a hymn of the faith.

Whenever Gospel musician Charles Gabriel was around Ed Card, he was boosted by the Card's joyful demeanor. It wasn't what you'd expect from a man who ran a rescue mission in St. Louis, Missouri. Yet Card was known for his ready smile and how he seemed to bubble over with the joy of the Lord. The man would explode with a “Glory!” during a sermon or prayer, and often closed his own prayers with a reference to heaven and the remark, “And that will be glory for me!” Card's joyful countenance caused others to nickname him “Old Glory Face.”

Inspired by Card's expressive faith, Gabriel combined verse and music for a hymn titled, “O That Will Be Glory,” first published in 1900. Surprisingly, one critic complained, “That hymn will never go. It has too many quarter notes.” In other words, it didn't have a catchy tune. But it definitely “caught on,” becoming one of the most popular hymns sung at large evangelism meetings from the U.S., to around the globe, including Australia and Great Britain. Before Card died, he'd learn that his Christian walk was widely recognized by Gabriel's Gospel song.

But Gabriel was far from a “one-hit” composer. More amazing, he began life in an Iowa prairie farm shanty in 1856. As a youth, he taught himself to play a small reed organ his parents bought. At age 16 he was leading singing schools. His mother discerned his unusual talent. When Gabriel told her that one day he'd write a world-famous song, she remarked, “My boy, I would rather have you write a song that will help somebody than see you President of the United States.”

Around age 30, he moved to San Francisco, Calif., to serve in a Methodist Episcopal Church. When the Sunday school superintendent asked him to come up with a missionary hymn for Easter, Gabriel composed “Send the Light.” A visiting mission representative took the hymn back East with him. Two years later, Gabriel was writing and publishing hymns full-time. Some of his well-known hymns included “Higher Ground,” “My Savior's Love,” and “More Like the Master.” He also composed the music for others' lyrics, including Civila Martin's “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and Ada Habershon's “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”

In all, he'd edit 35 Gospel songbooks, eight Sunday school songbooks, seven books for male choruses and six for women's voices, ten children's songbooks, 19 anthem collections, 23 choir cantatas, 41 Christmas cantatas, 10 children's cantatas, and many books on musical instructions. For two decades he was part of Homer Rodeheaver Publishing Co.

Gabriel would die in 1932, in Hollywood, leaving an estimated legacy of 7,000-8,000 songs. Among his songs, “I Stand Amazed in the Presence,” which includes the line, “How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior's love to me.”

The same singer takes all four parts in this rendition of “O that Will Be Glory”:

Bing Videos

Then, he takes all four parts of “Send the Light”:

Send the Light - YouTube

BIRTHDAY SONG

It seems so incongruent that a King would have the most inadequate “bassinet” around. An animal feeding trough, not a crib with a pristine sheet and safety-approved side rails. No nice receiving blanket or soft sleeper, just strips of coarse cloth wound about Him to keep Him snug and serve as a type of diaper. Today, when the little kids (or even adults) re-enact the nativity scene (bless those shepherds in Dad's robe), we tend to forget the original “maternity ward” for the King of Kings was cold, crude and dirty.

Yet that's how God chose to write His Son's birthday story. He stooped to earth to raise us up to eternal life.

If left to human standards of celebration, Christ's birth would have been a presidential inauguration and royal coronation all rolled into one, and more besides. Parades! Bands! Extensive media coverage! But God doesn't need glitz to spread the Gospel. Possibly, we're ill equipped to accord Him the infinitely indescribable honor and glory that is His.

This past month or so, I've been reading and re-reading Psalm 89. It's a lengthy one, in which God's love and faithfulness—and the anointed reign of King David—get top billing. But between the lines extolling a human ruler are the parallels of the great Heavenly King who begin His long-prophesied reign in a chilly barn.

The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it....

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.

They rejoice in your name all day long; they exalt in your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength....(vv. 11, 14-17)

When I'm around a newborn baby, my voice is soft, tender. They are so fragile and vulnerable to loud and surprising sounds. (I wonder how Baby Jesus coped with the barn-mates' baas and moos!) But this psalm reminds me: it's okay to acclaim and rejoice—verbs that imply loud and joyful praise.

I like the quiet, lullaby-like Christmas hymns, like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “Silent Night.” But this sacred holiday of celebration also calls for :”Joy to the World,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “All Come, All Ye Faithful.”

Sing with gusto and joy! It's okay....He's no longer the “baby Jesus” needing a quiet nursery setting (if that was ever possible in a primitive animal shelter). As the the writer of Psalm 89 suggested with words like “rejoice” and “exalt,” this is the time to sing out with gladness. A King is born! More important, a Savior has come!

NOTE-WORTHY

A "trinity" of music notes--a gift
I keep on my piano

Often when I come to my “quiet time” place, an old hymn starts running through my mind: “Jesus, what a friend of sinners, Jesus lover of my soul.” Faith in a loving, omnipotent God—who loves me despite my flaws—helps me personalize those lyrics woven long ago into my faith-walk. I'd noticed in hymnals that the tune carried the name “Hyfrydol,” whatever that meant. Little did I realize what a big impact that gentle tune, now more than a hundred years old, has made on Christian music.

The name (from Welsh) means “lovely, cheerful or melodious,” and the tune came from the heart of Rowland Hugh Prichard (1811-1887), when the Welsh textile worker and amateur musician was only about twenty years old. Who would have thought that a “tender's assistant” in a Welsh flannel manufacturing factory would have such a second faith-influenced avocation? But the reason may trace to the 1859 Welsh revival, when some 110,000 conversions changed the nation's spiritual culture. He also published a children's song book called “Singer's Friend.”

But a tune needs words to become a song or hymn. Those matched to “Hyfrydol” have included these:

1866: Scottish businessman William Chatterton Dix (he sold marine insurance) was also a prolific hymn-verse writer, attaching the tune to “Alleluia, Sing to Jesus.”

1875: The “Hyfrydol” tune was applied to Methodist Charles Wesley's classic 1744 Advent poem “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.” It was also later matched to his 1747 “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”

1876: Philip Bliss, prolific Gospel musician associated with evangelist D.L. Moody, used the tune for his “I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”

1886: Baptist minister Francis Rowley penned “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story,” which has two music matches in hymnals, one tune by Peter Billhorn and the other Hyfrydol.

1910: John Wilbur Chapman, a Presbyterian evangelist who traveled with a gospel singer and also preached with the legendary Dwight Moody, penned “Our Great Savior” (also known as “Jesus, What a Friend of Sinners”).

“Hyfrydol” is certainly not the only versatile hymn tune out there. But learning who has adopted it to meaningful lyrics has only deepened my appreciation for how God uses musicians and lyricists—in tandem or perhaps separated by years—to bring glory to Himself. Those partnerships transcended their times, and even come to my corner of the universe when I sit down to focus on our amazing Creator-God and Savior.

-----

Enjoy a men's choir in Wales sing a “Hyfrydol” hymn in the Welsh language:

PendyrusChoir - Hyfrydol - YouTube

DOUBLY GIFTED

This is a 1941 "camper's hymnal" I kept after my
parents' deaths--a precious reminder of family faith.

A monthly series on a hymn of the faith. July's hymn blog (July 15) featured "I Need Thee Every Hour." This month, it's the man who composed that hymn's tune, and who was himself a prolific writer of hymn lyrics and tunes.

A classic, memorable hymn needs two elements: great words and a great tune. Usually that's the result of two: a poet and a musician. But sometimes, that's one person, as was true of Robert Lowry of the 19^th century.

Born in 1826 in Pennsylvania, he dabbled in music from childhood, but as a young man studied for the ministry. He later served as a pastor of Baptist churches in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He also taught at a college, serving a time as its chancellor. Both a brilliant preacher and musician, he later was invited to work with Bigelow Publishing Company, a music publishing business which put out numerous popular hymnals.

This meshing of Biblical preacher, poet, and musician meant a continual flow of hymn ideas. He once remarked, “My brain is sort of a spinning machine, for there is music running through it all the time.” One example of that is his hymn “Shall We Gather at the River.” Though often sung at baptismal services, it is primarily a song about heaven. 

The hymn was birthed on one especially hot and humid summer day in New York in the summer of 1864. Besides the pressures from the ongoing Civil War, many were dying from an epidemic. As Dr. Lowry visited the sick and bereaved, many asked, “Pastor, we have parted at the river of death. Will we meet our loved ones again at the river of life?” Hundreds of times, he offered the assurance from Revelation 22:1, that their family circles would reunite at “the river of life that flows form the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Late one sultry afternoon, coming home especially weary, he sat at his little organ to find some release in music. He thought of the many children and adults who had died. Suddenly, words and music came out, as if by divine inspiration:

Shall we gather at the river/Where bright angel feet have trod,

With its crystal tide forever/Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we'll gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river/That flows by the throne of God.

The hymn was published the following year, 1865. By 1880, it had been published all over the world. That year he visited London for a huge convention of Sunday school workers. Introduced at the meeting as that hymn's author, he was given a great ovation.

Lowry didn't hoard his music gifts, using them to turn others' lyrics into hymns. Best known of those poets was Fannie Crosby, for whom he wrote the tune to “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.” He also wrote the tune to Annie Hawks' poem, “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

Of the dozens of hymns for which he wrote texts and music, in addition to “Shall We Gather at the River,” these remain better-known:

“Come, ye that love the Lord”

“I Need Thee Every Hour”

“My Life Flows on in Endless Song”

“What Can Wash Away My Sin”

“Low in the Grave He Lay” (“Christ Arose!”)

Dr. Lowry would die at age 73 at his home in Plainfield, New Jersey, even then known as one of history's great hymn writers. Did the lyrics to his famous song about heaven, “Shall We Gather at the River,” come to mind in his last hours? Someday, maybe, we'll know. 

=====

To sing along with "Shall We Gather at the River," here is a video of Buddy Greene of the Gaither Music Band:

Buddy Greene - Shall We Gather At the River (Live) - Bing video

TREASURE CHEST

Reenactment: cash stash

I had just emptied my can of baking soda when a memory flashed: of my dad, on payday, rolling money into an empty red baking powder can that he hid in a dresser drawer. That was his routine for saving out cash for ongoing household expenses. He just kept just a little money at a time in his wallet, gave some to Mom, and replenished as needed from the hidden can. 

My dad (1915-1978) reflected the frugal practices of his time, when money (to most) came with hard labor. Cash ruled, not credit cards and online finances. I do know that as the sole breadwinner, he budgeted carefully, saved for a rainy day, and used-up and wore-out to stretch the family income. He also faithfully set aside a tithe, supporting the church and a special mission.

In Bible times, without locked doors and other security we enjoy, some folks buried their money in fields! That practice colored Jesus' teaching about real treasures: 

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19)

Centuries later, people still had odd (and often insecure) ways to “hide money.” Some people used a sock! That included an older woman in the 1850s whose granddaughter had married a hard-working but impoverished guy with undeveloped music talent.

Born into an impoverished but devout home, Philip Bliss was ten years old before he heard a piano for the first time. He was trying to sell his family's garden produce in a wealthy neighborhood when he overheard a woman practicing a piano in her parlor. Curious and intrigued, he slipped into the home to hear better. She quickly shooed him away. But as he grew up, taking hard labor jobs, he held onto his dream of learning to play music and compose Gospel songs. Music training would help. This was a financial pipe dream until his wife's grandmother, believing in his talent and calling, pulled an old bulging sock from a hiding place. Maybe her dresser! It was filled with coins she'd saved that added up to $30. In today's money, it wouldn't seem like much, but in those times, $129 was the average wage for a year. It was enough for him to enroll in a six-week music school. And the rest is history.

Bliss went on to become one of the most famous Gospel musicians in America. He tragically died (along with his wife and about 90 others) in a train wreck. Only 38, he was already well-known as a musician associated with famed evangelist D.L. Moody. And it was Moody who sadly officiated at the couple's funeral, for which 8,000 filled the hall and another 4,000 stood outside in bitter winter weather.

Some of the dozens of hymns associated with him: “Hold the Fort,” “Jesus Loves Even Me,” “Almost Persuaded,” “Hallelujah, What a Savior,” “Wonderful Words of Life,” “I Will Sing of My Redeemer,” “Let the Lower Lights be Burning,” and the tune to Spafford's famed “It Is Well With My Soul.”

Had he lived longer, there would have been more. Still, it's worth remembering that a simple old “sock bank” of coins—his wife's grandma's legacy—propelled him toward the role God had for his life. It also should cause us to stop and think: what has God entrusted to me? Something buried in the ground (or knotted away in a sock of fear or stubbornness), or responsibly shared? It can't happen if we hide our “God-money” of ability and faith.

P.S. Interesting: my dad's humble red baking powder can (long-ago tossed) now sells for $11-58 on antique resell web sites!

SOFTLY AND TENDERLY

A monthly series on a beloved hymn of the faith.

A publisher's rejection led to one of the most loving “invitation” hymns of all time: ”Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.” Written—both music and lyrics—by Will Lamartine Thompson, it was widely used in the American and British crusades of evangelist Dwight L. Moody. The evangelist appreciated the hymn (and its author) so much, that as Moody lay dying in a hospital—with restricted visitors—he especially asked that Thompson come. The story is that Moody told him, “Will, I would rather have written 'Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling' than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.”

That kind commendation went to a someone known all his life as a gracious, simple, and sincere man. The youngest of seven children, Thompson was born in 1847 in Ohio to a merchant and banker who also served two terms in the Ohio State legislature. His mother was active in social and charitable work. Thompson began composing music in his early teens. First educated at a nearby college, he furthered his music studies at the Boston Conservatory of Music and in Leipzig, Germany.

At first, Thompson wrote secular and patriotic songs but faced early disappointment when a Cleveland publisher offered only $25 for his work. He returned home, prayed about it, and then went on a business trip to New York on behalf of his father. While there, he showed his songs to another publisher. Two would become hits: “My Home on the Old Ohio” and “Gathering Shells from the Sea.” He'd become known as the “Bard of Ohio” and became a millionaire through his music royalties.

But something else tugged at his heart. He was a member of the Churches of Christ, which sought to return to the New Testament's original teachings and practices. After attending a meeting in which Dwight Moody preached, Thompson decided to dedicate himself to writing only Christian songs. He established a music company, publishing “Softly and Tenderly” in his first song collections in 1880. His Christian quartet books would sell two million copies. Besides “Softly and Tenderly,” his most popular songs would include “Jesus Is All the World to Me,” “Lead Me Gently Home, Father,” and “There's a Great Day Coming.”

Altogether he wrote 71 hymn texts. He once recalled how words or melodies would come to him at odd times. He admitted: “No matter where I am, at home or hotel, at the store or traveling, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem worthy of a song, I jot it down in verse. That way I never lose it.”

Despite his wealth and success, Thompson remained a simple and sincere man. He was concerned that because famous musicians performed in large cities, the small towns and rural areas didn't have such exposure to good music. He involved himself in the solution, loading an upright piano on his two-horse wagon and driving it out into rural Ohio to play and sing his own songs in small churches.

Little did he realize that more than a century later, his music would be performed before millions, via television and movies, by such stars as Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Carrie Underwood, The Andrews Sisters, Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Anne Murray, Amy Grant, and the trio of Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, and Kelly Clarkson.

In 1909, Thompson became ill during a tour in Europe, and died a few weeks after returning home. Did the words of “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” come to him during his last hours? We can only imagine.

Anne Murray sings this hymn on a You-Tube with classic spiritual art:

 https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=%22softly+and+tenderly+jesus+is+calling%22&view=detail&mid=12E05E9284AB2FEE0B0C12E05E9284AB2FEE0B0C&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3d%2522softly%2band%2btenderly%2bjesus%2bis%2bcalling%2522%26form%3dANSPH1%26refig%3decccf1808d704d09b4f12b313d98fca2%26pc%3dU531

SHEPHERD SONGS

Psalm 23--in a modern "Psalter" (notice the "page number" 
is the Psalm number)

(Part of a monthly series on hymns.)

 “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Who hasn't memorized those words that begin Psalm 23? Its words of protection and comfort are taught children and often quoted at the end of life. It's no surprise that the theme of Jesus as our Shepherd should run throughout the history of hymns.

Probably the best known hymn of the Scottish psalter, it was published four decades after the 1611 King James translation of the Bible. By adding rhyme and tune to chapters of Psalms, it was the preferred worship songbook for those (including early Calvinists) who believed only Bible passages should be sung in church. Then came reformers like Germany's Martin Luther, who felt Christians needed new songs to sing. He and others composed hymns embracing Bible truths but didn't try to squeeze Bible translation into poetic forms. Many were inspired by Psalm 23, the Shepherd song. You've probably sung many in your life. Here, in historical order, are a few:

“Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us” (1836)--Englishwoman Dorothea Ann Thrupp prepared little devotional and song books for children, usually just using her initials (D.A.T.) for published writings. But one little poem in her book, telling about Jesus' tender care and “pleasant pastures,” was left unsigned. Most believe it was hers, just an oversight of credit. American composer William Bradbury added a tender tune. How many millions have sung about “Blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us, thine we are.”

“He Leadeth Me” (1862)--Joseph Gilmore, son of a New Hampshire governor, became a minister and one day was supplying the pulpit at a Philadelphia Church. His text was Psalm 23, but when he began, he couldn't get past “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Preaching during some of the darkest days of the Civil War, he likely felt emotionally overwhelmed. After the service, while in the parlor of his host that Sunday, a poem came to him and he scribbled words on a piece of paper. He later showed them to his wife; she sent them to a magazine, which published them. Unknown to him, well-known hymn composer William Bradbury (who did the music for the hymn mentioned above) noticed the poem and wrote a new tune for it—then put it in a hymnal! Three years after Gilmore jotted the lyrics, he opened the hymnal of a church were he was a guest preacher and discovered his poem-now-hymn. Of his poem, he remarked, “It makes no difference how we are led, or whether we are led, so long as we are sure God is leading us.”

“The King of Love My Shepherd Is”(1868)--The Welsh had their own hymn based on Psalm 23, but Anglican clergyman Henry Baker gave it a fresh translated face. It's reported that as he died, for his last words he quoted from that hymn: “Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me.” That verse ends: “And on His shoulder gently laid, and home rejoicing brought me.”

“Shepherd of Love”(1966)--John W. Peterson (1921-2000), called the “Dean of Contemporary Gospel Singers,” wrote some 1,200 Gospel songs and hymns plus many cantatas. This song, and one he wrote in 1958 with another Gospel musician, Alfred Smith, “Surely Goodness and Mercy” rely on the imagery of Psalm 23.

“The New Twenty-third”(1969)--Ralph Carmichael (b. 1927) was introduced to music at the age of four when handed a fiddle by his pastor, also a fiddler. He also studied piano, trumpet and voice and became a minister of music and composer to Billy Graham films. He began his Psalm 23 Gospel song, “Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything that I need.”

“Gentle Shepherd” (1975)--Prodigious performers and composers Bill and Gloria Gaither, who left teaching for Gospel music careers, translated Psalm 23 to this tender hymn with a lullaby feel to it. The couple will celebrate their 59^th year of marriage this year—a union that has produced memorable Gospel music that reached around the world.

“Shepherd Me, O God” (1986)--Representative of newer, not-as-well-known songs based on Psalm 23 is this one by Marty Haugen. One year in the 1980s while snowbound at the Holden Village retreat center in North Central Washington, he came up with his simple chorus based on Psalm 23. Full—like the original psalm—of comforting metaphors, it's been ecumenically embraced by several Christian faith traditions.

No matter which of these “shepherd” songs is nearest your heart, never lose sight of Jesus applying the metaphor to Himself:

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

Here is a video with scenic background for “Shepherd Me, O God,” composed 35 years ago in Washington's Cascade Mountains:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=shepherd+me+o+god&view=detail&mid=021A3D258D0E9415522D021A3D258D0E9415522D&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dshepherd%2bme%2bo%2bgod%26cvid%3df02daecd5a2b4ee6a16d82bfd0bc7793%26aqs%3dedge..69i57j0l6.5778j0j1%26FORM%3dANSPA1%26PC%3dU531

FIRM FOUNDATION

(A monthly hymn story feature.)
The history of “big numbers” in English hymnody began with the brilliant Isaac Watts, who in his 74 years of life left a legacy of some some 750 hymns. But a few years after Watts' death, another little English boy was born, destined to continue a prolific legacy of hymns, or at least of published hymnals. His name was John Rippon, and after his youth in southwest England and university education, he ended up about 200 miles east, in London, as the 22-year-old pastor of a Baptist church. Unlike many pastors, who move around, Rippon stayed there for 63 years until his death at age 85, and the church became one of the largest congregations in the country. One of its later pastors would be the renowned preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Rippon, who also edited a Baptist magazine for twelve years, was known as the foremost authority on the hymns of Isaac Watts. He chose many for a hymnal for public worship, first published in 1787 and periodically revised. Eventually the hymnal, known as “Rippon's Selection” was reprinted 27 times with over 200,000 copies. Some of the hymns were his composition, but not all were identified by author. One of the most enduring of the hymns, “How Firm a Foundation,” had just an alphabet letter, “K,” for its credit. Many believe it was the work of his assistant, Robert Keene.

No one knows who wrote the hymn's melody, but it's believed to have been an American folk tune, probably from the South. Coming across the ocean, the hymn became well-known throughout the country. It was apparently a favorite of Andrew Jackson, president of the United States from 1829-1837. One time after Jackson retired to his famed home, The Hermitage, a local pastor was his guest. Jackson said, “There is a beautiful hymn of the subject of the exceeding great and precious promises of God to His people. It was a favorite hymn with my dear wife until the day of her death. It commences thus: 'How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.' I wish you would sing it now.” The minister and his other visitors sang all seven stanzas for Jackson.

“How Firm a Foundation” was originally named “Scripture Promises,” with the words of 2 Peter 1:4 printed above the first stanza: “Exceeding great and precious promises” (KJV). Each stanza emphasized a different scriptural promise. Stanza 2 reinforces Isaiah 41:10: “Fear thou not, for I am with thee...I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” The hymn climaxes with the last verse's proclamation that echoes Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5: “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose....I'll never, no, never, no never forsake.”

Besides Andrew Jackson, the hymn was a favorite of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, who wanted it sung at his funeral. President Theodore Roosevelt also considered it a favorite. And why not? It affirms we're loved by a God who says He will never, never forsake His children.

For listening, or singing-along, this video features vocals by Michael Card with inspiring artwork:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+firm+a+foundation+youtube+with+lyrics&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dhow%2bfirm%2ba%2bfoundation%2byoutube%2bwith%2blyrics%26%26FORM%3dVDVVXX&view=detail&mid=EC417756DB364E6C10A0EC417756DB364E6C10A0&&FORM=VDRVRV

ABIDE WITH ME

Part of a monthly series on well-known hymns.

 “Abide with Me”—that’s the spiritual truth Henry Lyte had to learn through the challenges of his early life. He was born in Scotland 1793 to a devout mother and seafaring father, who soon moved the family to Ireland and then abandoned them.  His mother taught him about the Bible and prayer, but died when he was only nine. Left an orphan without any means of support, he was taken in by his school’s superintendent who raised him like another son, making sure he received a college education. In college in Dublin, Lyte was well-liked, well-known as a poet who received many awards, and had a reputation as a hard worker. It’s no surprise that he coined the phrase, “It’s better to wear out than to rust out.”

At 21 he was ordained to the ministry and took a small parish south of Dublin. He found a close friend in another minister who before long became critically ill. As they spent long hours together, they realized that despite being ministers they didn’t have a growing relationship with Christ. Searching the scriptures, they both came to a deeper faith. Out of this experience came his hymn, “Jesus, My Cross I Have Taken.” One source linked the composition of this hymn to the Wesleyan revival in England. Lyte’s wife, who had attended the Methodist church, told him about a devout woman named Mary Bosenquet, who disappointed her wealthy parents when she became a Christian through the meetings of early Methodists.  Her father disowned her, and after that she lived in poverty, enduring threats and harm from those who opposed Wesley and the Methodists. Lyte’s hymn lyrics speak of her earthly losses to the riches of knowing Christ.

Lyte later moved across the sea to England, working hard in ministry to the detriment of his health as he contracted tuberculosis. Hoping the fresh, salty air of the sea would help him, he moved to a church in Brixham, a seaport in southwest England. There he wrote “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven” for his little congregation to sing. (A century and a half later, on what would be the 150^th anniversary of Lyte’s death, the world heard this hymn played as part of the majestic  1947 wedding ceremony of the future Queen Elizabeth 2 to Prince Philip.)

Brixham was also a royal retreat for King William IV, who during his seven-year reign was known as England’s sailor king. He would die without heirs, and his niece, Victoria, became queen for the next 63 years. At his death he also gifted his estate to Pastor Lyte in return for the pastor’s kindnesses. Talk about a fancy parsonage! But Lyte would live there only ten years as his health worsened with TB.

In the summer of 1847 doctors urged him to get away from the damp winters in Brixham and try to reclaim his health in the warmer climates of Southern France or Italy. On September 4, 1847, only 54 years old, he came to his last Sunday in Brixham, so sick that he struggled to enter the pulpit and preach. “I must put everything in order before I leave,” he told his people, “because I have no idea how long I will be away.”

It was in this time frame of leaving for health that he wrote a poem that begins:

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide.

The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

His text for this poem was the Gospel account of the resurrected Jesus appearing to two disciples on the way to Emmaus. As night came, the two told this man they didn’t recognize, “Abide with us: for it is toward evening and the day is far spent” (Luke 24:29).

He gave a copy of this hymn poem to his adopted daughter, taking along another copy which he revised during his trip. He posted the revision to his wife. Arriving at the French Riviera on his way to Rome, he checked into a hotel in Nice. He never went further on, and several weeks later, he died. At his bedside was another English clergyman who happened to be staying there the same time.  He reported that Lyte’s final words were “Peace! Joy!” Lyte was buried in Nice.

When news came back to Brixham of their pastor’s death, the fishermen of the village asked his son-in-law, also a minister, to hold a memorial service. On that occasion, Lyte’s hymn, “Abide with Me” was first sung.

The hymn was not widely sung until it came to the attention a decade later of William Monk, who edited the Anglican church hymnal. He wrote a new tune for it that he named “Eventide,” inspired by a beautiful sunset while Monk himself was experiencing a deep personal sorrow.

There are many "You Tube" videos featuring this hymn. This one uses footage from the British coastline, where Lyte had spent many years in ministry:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=abide+with+me+youtube+with+lyrics&docid=608020738813854665&mid=81739B50B13D484BA86C81739B50B13D484BA86C&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

EASTER'S GARDEN

At a neighbor's home, half a block from my home, is a wonderful sidewalk

 corner display of daffodils. The  trumpeted flowers appropriately bloom around 

Easter. I was given some daffodil bulbs about a decade ago but for some reason 

they quit blooming though they share a planter with tulips that always do.

Maybe someday I'll solve that mystery!

Be encouraged by the story behind a beloved Easter hymn.
Picture yourself beside Mary Magdalene in the early morning at the Garden of Gethsemane.  You’re awash in deep grief over your Leader’s awful, undeserved, execution by crucifixion.  The least you can do is follow the customs of anointing his wrapped corpse with spices. But something—something wonderful—happened.

Fast-forward almost two thousand years to the cramped darkroom of a Philadelphia man named Austin Miles.  He’d trained to be a pharmacist but also had music training and some success having hymns published. So, giving up his pharmacist’s career at age 24, he went to work for a Christian music publishing company. Its talented founder was Adam Geibel, a German-born music genius, blinded since youth, and known for his organ-playing.  Dr. Geibel asked Miles to write a hymn text that would be “sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line; one that would bring hope to the hopeless, rest for the weary, and down pillows to dying beds.”

INSPIRED IN A DARKROOM
So one day in March 1912, Miles was seeking inspiration as he sat in his photographic darkroom where he also kept a little organ.  He took his Bible and it opened to John 20, his favorite chapter--“whether by chance or inspiration,” he later wrote, “let the reader decide. That meeting of Jesus and Mary had lost none of its power to charm.”

His recollection continued: “My hands were resting on the Bible while I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded, I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches.  A woman in white, with head bowed, hand clasping her throat, as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows.  It was Mary.  As she came to the tomb, upon which she placed her hand, she bent over to look in, and hurried away.”

Next , it seemed, he saw John and Peter looking into the tomb. When they left, Mary reappeared and wept before turning and seeing Jesus standing nearby.  Kneeling before Him, arms outstretched, she looked into His face and cried, “Rabboni!”

Miles continued: “I awakened in full light, gripping the Bible, with muscles tense and nerves vibrating. Under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as words could be formed the poem exactly as it has since appeared.  That same evening I wrote the music.”*

Along with “The Old Rugged Cross,” this song was widely sung in the Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns, with Homer Rodeheaver as song leader.

As for Miles, biographies say nothing about whether he married and had a family. But writing Christian music became his passion and ministry. By one account, he wrote some 537 hymn texts until his death in 1946 at age 78. “In the Garden” became his most famous, placed in more than 200 hymnals. Some of his other better-known hymns: “Dwelling in Beulah Land,” “Sweeter as the Days Go By,” “I Have a Friend,” “Wide, Wide as the Ocean,” and “A New Name in Glory” (featured in a 1998 Gaither Homecoming video series).

But by far, his most famous work is the one inspired while he sat in a darkroom, about history’s life-changing, death-conquering miracle in a garden cemetery in Jerusalem.


*This account appeared in Forty Gospel Stories (George W. Sanville, 1943), and was also quoted in 101 Hymn Stories (Kenneth Osbeck, 1982), and Then Sings My Soul (Robert Morgan, 2003).

VISION CORRECTION

Welcome to the virtual “Sing and Share” at my home congregation. For several years several dozen of us have gathered for a monthly Sunday afternoon time together of singing favorite hymns, featuring the history behind a featured hymn. With the severe restrictions on public meetings during the worldwide pandemic, we’ve temporarily halted these hymn services. But the “hymn stories” are well worth sharing—and I am doing so via this blog.

Scripture to think about: “Where there is no vision, the people perish, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” –Proverbs 29:18

We recently whizzed past St. Patrick’s Day as the emergencies of the Covid-19 descended upon the world.  But there’s a message in an ancient Irish hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” that we shouldn’t miss.  No, St. Patrick didn’t write it. He lived three or four centuries before it is believed to have been written. But we might consider it a part of his long-term legacy.

Early in human history, Ireland was believed to have been settled by people from the European mainland.  Four hundred years before Christ, Celtic tribes from Great Britain and Europe invaded Ireland and set up small kingdoms. About this time, over in what’s now called Scotland, a baby boy was born into a religious family and named Patrick. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest.

When he was about 16, raiders invaded his town and burned his home. He fled to the countryside, but one of the pirates spotted him hiding in the bushes, seized him and hauled him aboard ship to take him back to Ireland as a slave.  In that dark time, he gave his life to Christ.  Eventually he escaped Ireland and studied in France for the priesthood.  Then one night he had a dream that was much like that which the apostle Paul had in his call to evangelize in Macedonia.  In Patrick’s case, an Irishman in this dream pleaded with him to come evangelize Ireland.

Now thirty years old, he returned to Ireland with one book, a Latin Bible, in his hands.  Multitudes listened as he evangelized the countryside.  He famously used a shamrock to explain the Trinity: one stem, three leaves for Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The superstitious Druids sought to kill him.  But Patrick persisted, and planted about 200 churches and baptized about 100,000 converts.

Irish monasteries flourished after his death, resulting in many hymns, prayers, sermons and worship songs. Irish missionaries labored from Scotland to Switzerland.  One was Columba of County Donegal, best known as a poet of the Irish church. Not long after Columba’s lifetime, an anonymous Irishman wrote a prayer-poem asking God to be his vision, wisdom, and best thought by day or by night.

Jump forward more than a thousand years, to 1905, when a scholar in Dublin translated this Irish poem into English.  Then another scholar, in England, took that translation and crafted it into a poem with rhyme and meter.  It was matched to an Irish folk song from an area in Ireland where Patrick had preached to the Druids.

And so we have this hymn of worship with its almost lilting melody. Who would have thought it would come into the heritage of hymns via a route that involved pirates and slavery, a vision to evangelize the Emerald Isle, and the enduring message of redemption in Jesus Christ?

Note in the lyrics the phrases of adoration: “Lord of my heart,” “my best thought, “my Wisdom,” “my true Word,” “my great Father,” “mine inheritance,” “My Treasure,” and “Heart of my own heart.”

In this time of uncertainty and fear, consider using those phrases as you pray for a world that’s physically and spiritually at risk. And remember, when Jesus is our vision, He enables us to hope beyond all this.

FLYING TWEETS AND TWITTERS

When I married and moved to a small central Washington town, mornings just got better. In Portland, greater Los Angeles and Chicago, I woke to the roar of traffic. Now, the twitters and tweets of birds come through the open window. It’s so peaceful and a poignant reminder that the same Creator God who made things that fly also made me, and has never gone out of business!

I’m not famous as a “morning person.” Like a diesel engine, I need time to warm up, and more so as I age.  My morning routine now includes a heat pad on a painful knee. But my new “normal” is okay. “Wake up and be awesome,” urges one of the signs I liked. Sometimes upon wakening, I pull on old concerns like a ratty old robe. I’m prone to identify with King David in Psalm 5. There he rehearses how mean and demeaning people have made his life miserable. But there’s a golden verse toward the beginning:
Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
Morning by morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. (Psalm 5:2-3)

One of my morning habits is making the bed before starting on the day’s duties. It’s like closing the night chapter and opening the day chapter for whatever God has ahead. No matter what yesterday brought, this is a new day. David also wrote:
Weeping may remain for a night, But rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
Then, as part of morning devotions (besides reading the Bible), I often pick up a hymnal kept next to my devotional "spot." Dozens are part of my spiritual heritage, their tunes easily recalled, and their words uplifting with praise and Biblical truth. Godly men and women who condensed spiritual lessons to rhyme continue to speak.

Fortified by song and God’s Word, I’m ready to add my voice to the day, remembering another psalm:
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
When I look in the mirror and acknowledge the aging process, I also remember that God created me for more than this earth. But for now, the morning tweets and twitters (which have nothing to do with the cyberworld) outside my window declare that I can wake up and be awesome—in God’s sight.

TREASURES IN A SMALL BOX

Born premature, as an adult he stood barely five feet tall and had an unseemly big head, hooked nose and sallow complexion from often being sick. He might have been called “ugly” by today’s beauty-obsessed culture.  But oh how he could rhyme! Songs and poetry flowed from his pen into publication. His brilliance extended to essays on theology, psychology, logic and astronomy.

A young lady read his works and felt stirrings of love, sight unseen. This was long before Facebook, internet matchmaking, or even photos. She traveled to his home. He was so excited—somebody might love him, even marry him. But when she saw him in person, things changed.  She said that although she loved the jewel, she could not admire the “casket,” meaning the case, containing it.

He would never marry during his 74 years on earth. Yet his nation esteemed him so highly that a bust of his image was posthumously placed in Westminster Abbey. We still sing some of the 600 hymns he wrote during his life: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Joy to the World,”  “Join All the Glorious Names,” “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past,” “Jesus Shall Reign Wherever the Sun,” “I Sing the Mighty Power of God” and “Come We That Love the Lord.”

ROUGH START

He started life with a father in jail for holding religious views at odds with the established church. His mother nursed him on the jail steps just so his father could hear his son’s cries. The father was later released and soon realized his growing baby was gifted, taking to books almost from infancy. He learned Latin at age 4, Greek at 8 or 9, French at 11 and Hebrew at 13.  He loved rhyming words, a trait that sometimes irked his father. One time the exasperated father threatened to spank the child if he continued. The boy replied, “O Father, do some pity take, and I will no more verses make.”

He grew up, went away to college, and returned home disturbed over his church’s boring “singing,” which consisted of dull poetic paraphrases of psalms.  His father challenged him to write something better. He did, and it was so well received that he wrote a new hymn every week for the next two years. 

Then he was hired as a tutor for a wealthy Christian family in London. He joined their church, was asked to teach, and in 1698 was hired as associate pastor.  At age 24 he preached his first sermon. Church members considered him a brilliant Bible student, and within a few years asked him to become senior pastor.

PUSHING THROUGH ILLNESS

He struggled with his health, so a wealthy couple in church invited him to visit their estate for a while to recover. His “health visit” would turn into 36 years.  He enjoyed their children, and from that time published a children’s hymn that sold 80,000 copies in a year. He adapted most of the 150 psalms into new hymns with Christian truths.

At about age 65, he suffered a stroke. Still able to speak but unable to write, he continued working with a transcriber for several years. Declining health led to his death at age 74. He wrote his own epitaph of two verses: 2 Corinthians 5:8 (“Absent from the body, present with the Lord”) and Colossians 3:4 (“When Christ, who is my life, shall appear, then shall I also appear with Him in glory”).

But his music lived on. Almost 150 years after it was written, one of his hymns, “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed” was sung at a revival service in the United States. When the choir sang the final line, “Here, Lord, I give myself away,” the truths about Jesus Christ touched the heart of a 30-year-old woman. She later said that “My soul was flooded with celestial light.”  At that, she decided to give herself away to Jesus. Her name: Fanny Crosby. This blind woman went on to become America’s greatest Gospel song writer of the past century.

The name of the composer whose music inspired her?  Isaac Watts.

SOMETHING TO PONDER
The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:27 observed that God can choose the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. As an illustration of that, we just need to open a hymnbook.  Or, look in a mirror and see ourselves as God sees us: beloved, full of potential.

The sold-out-for Jesus hymn

When you grow up singing familiar hymns, you're apt to grow cold to the passion behind their words. I thought of that recently when I read through the words of "Take My Life," by Frances Ridley Havergal. It's actually a dangerous hymn because it cuts "self" and "selfishness" out of the picture in its stated desire to be totally consecrated to the Lord.  With each new year, we often pause to reassess the coldness or fervor of our faith. I hope reading about Miss Havergal's commitment will challenge you (as it did me). And then, after reading this blog, I hope you'll find a hymnal (or search for the words on line) and let them settle into your soul.

Frances Ridley Havergal has been called a bright but short-lived candle in English hymnody. Born in 1836 at Astley in Worcestershire, England, her father was a clergyman, writer, composer, and hymn writer. Her middle name, which shows her family’s strong religious allegiance, honors Nicholas Ridley, a prominent English bishop in the 1500s who was burned at the stake for opposing the accession of the queen English history calls “Bloody Mary."  Frances’ brother was a priest in the Church of England and an organist, and she was baptized by another hymnist of that time.

Her father’s nickname for her was “Little Quicksilver” because she had a quick and hungry mind.  She learned to read by four and began writing verse by age seven.  Her mother died when she was only eleven.  Her mother’s last words included this charge to Frances: “Pray God to prepare you for all He is preparing for you.”  Frances learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and memorized the Psalms, the book of Isaiah, and most of the New Testament. At ages 16 to 17 she studied in Switzerland.  Because of health problems, she led a quiet life and was known for writing verse and prose. She also had a beautiful voice, and frequently sang with the Philharmonic. But she came to a point of believing she should no longer use her gift for secular purposes, and only in singing about the Lord.

As an example of her gift for rhyme, for New Year’s Day when she was 23, she wrote this poem based on Deu. 33:25:

As thy days thy strength shall be,

This should be enough for thee.

He who knows thy frame will spare

Burdens more than thou canst bear.

At age 38, her faith deepened with a complete surrender to Christ, which came after reading a little book “All for Jesus.” A couple months later she visited friends for five days.  Of that time, she later wrote:

"There were ten persons in the house; some were unconverted and long prayed for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians. [God] gave me the prayer, 'Lord, give me all in this house.' And He just did. Before I left the house, everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit I was too happy to sleep and passed most of the night in renewal of my consecration, and those little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with "ever only, ALL FOR THEE!"

Today those couplets are known as part of the the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be.” She wrote the lyrics for 88 hymns, the still-sung ones including "Like A River Glorious," "I Gave My Life for Thee," “From Glory to Glory,” “I Gave My Life for Thee,” “The Half Has Never Been Told,” and "Who Is on the Lord's Side?"

A special note about the last verse to “Take My Life.”  It says:

Take My silver and my gold; Not a mite would I withhold.

Frances had a lot of nice jewelry, but decided she should donate it to the church’s Missionary Society to sell for God’s work.  She wrote a friend, “I retain only a brooch for daily wear, which is a memorial to my dear parents; also a locket with the portrait I have of my niece in heaven...I had no idea I had such a jeweler’s shop; nearly fifty articles are being packed off.  I don’t think I need to tell you I never packed a box with such pleasure.”

Frances suffered poor health much of her life. At 42, after a cold, rainy day when she met with some boys to talk with them about the Lord, she became very ill and feverish.  As she died, she whispered, “Come Lord Jesus, come and fetch me.”  She tried to sing and her last sweet, high note was “He--.”  The cause of death was listed as “peritonitis,” an inflammation of the abdomen. She was buried near her father in her birth town. Her tombstone includes what she claimed as her life verse: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7.”

One Mighty "Mighty Fortress"!

Among our valley's significant rock formations is "Castlerock,"

which  from some angles looks like a fortress with lookouts.

For the "mighty" in health, it's a popular hiking spot.

This Sunday will mark the quincentenary of a pivotal hammering. On the last day of October, in 1517, a monk named Martin Luther nailed a list of his 95 disagreements with church teachings on the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany.  Among them: the selling of “indulgences” to supposedly pardon peoples’ sins when all it did was pad the church coffers. His own personal struggle over receiving God’s forgiveness led Luther to see in a new light the scripture from Habakkuk and quoted in Romans, “The just shall live by faith.”  His life threatened, Luther went into protective custody at a sympathizer’s castle for a year where he began translating the Bible from Greek into German.

He also composed a hymn book. This was radical for days when “church music” consisted of Latin chants by priests. The most enduring of his hymns is “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” based on Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength.” Today known as the national hymn of Germany, it’s been translated into almost every known language. Its translation to English rhyme, by the way, was particularly troublesome because the original German was so vivid. There were at least 80 translations to English; the one most popular in America was done in 1852 by a Harvard professor.

The hymn reflects Luther’s awareness of spiritual battle. Often when he faced difficulty and danger, it’s said he’d often resort to singing this song. Not surprisingly, Luther was a musician, too. As a youth, he sang in a boy’s choir. He played flute and lute (a type of guitar), often helping lead congregational singing. He wrote in the foreword of one book:

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.  It controls our thoughts, minds, heart, and spirits….A person who…does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God…does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”

Another Luther quote on music: “If any man despises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men.  Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful.  Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.”

Also, “The Devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as before the Word of God.”

In a preface to a hymn  collection, he wrote that God is “praised and honored, and we are made better and stronger in faith, when His holy Word is impressed on our hearts by sweet music.”

One historian said that, by giving the German people both the Bible in their own language and a German hymnbook, Luther enabled the people to listen to God through His Word and respond back to Him in their songs.  As Luther’s passion ignited the fires, congregational singing spread through the churches. Scholars believe some 25,000 hymns were written in just Germany in the first hundred years of the Reformation.

As an aside, Luther had passion for more than scriptural truth and song. No longer a Catholic monk, he became concerned about the plight of some local young nuns, virtually imprisoned in terrible conditions in a nearby convent. Twelve nuns were smuggled out of there in heavy barrels used to ship herring. He found suitable mates for all but one, Katherine Con Bora. He’d resisted the idea of marrying himself, thinking he’d probably die a heretic’s death. But eventually he married her himself.  She was 26 and he, 41. They had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood.