Hymns that Move...Wretches

          This is day 6 of the church's 21 day fast and prayer schedule. As part of the process, our pastor asked us to read each day the Moravian Daily Text, which is a devotional book that, although it is put out new every year, has a 250 year history of ministering to Christians around the world.

   This guide has scripture readings, short comments, and a prayer for that day. There are two versions, the North American one and the European one. In the one that we use, included with the above elements, there is also a hymn or two, whose lyrics go along with the readings. It has been fun for me to read over the lines of the hymns, ones that we used to sing in church, but now someWretches of them have fallen into disuse with the advent of the newer praise and worship music. I confess that I miss the old and familiar tunes and words, and it has been good for me to see and think of them again.

   There are old hymns and then there are the newer ones. My favorite old one was featured in the reading of today. It has not passed out of style but is still sung and player all over the world.

                                                          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.

   Whether played majestically by a huge pipe organ, or just simply by a lone bagpiper, the melody and the words never cease to move me. It is timeless in its message and score.

   Then there are the newer hymns, and they can be no less powerful in their music and words. I have a favorite here also:

How deep the Father's love for us,                          How vast beyond all measure                          That He should give His only Son                          To make a wretch His treasure

   Two different eras in music composition, but the same glorious message. The simple message of God's love and His grace, given freely to all who will but receive.

   Thanks be to God, for His unspeakable Gift, given to all those wretches like me.


                                         

Lead on......

   I am having a hard time writing this morning. Maybe I am a little tired, but not from overwork I know. I slept in a little, then took a short walk in the cooler air of today, then breakfast, then a time to study, pray and write.

   I have the time, I have the inclination, but my body just says, let's go back to sleep. I read the Scripture portions for today, and they just lay there on the page saying, "here we are, there is something you need in here, find it and apply it". I close my eyes to reflect on all of that, and my mind goes racing off in a million different directions. I confess my inability to concentrate, while, deep down, I realize that God is hanging around, waiting for me to grasp the truths that He wants me to have.

   Then I am prompted to read again Psalm 16 where the last verse ways:

                         " You make known to me the path of life;
                            in your presence there is fullness of joy;
                           at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

   But, I say, I don't feel that way. It may be true for the Psalmist, but I can't see beyond my nose, much less the path that stretches before me. I want to see where that path leads and what things lie along it. I want to know the "whats", the "whys", the "wheres" and the "hows". In short, I want to be able to plan my life and get ready for whatever the future is.

   Then I go back and read that verse again. David says that God makes known to him the path of life. Could he have been looking for the path, and God points it out to him. God might say "Take this path, no matter that you can't see where it goes, just take it, and it will be life to you".

   In my mind, I can see that path, but it is so foggy that only the first few feet of it are visible. I want to know more, but then I see what David realizes, that where God is, I need to be. In His presence is where joy is and where life is right, no matter the condition of the path.

   It may be a stretch, but I think of the hymn "Lead on O King Eternal" and I read the first part of verse one:

   "Lead on, O King eternal,

 the day of march has come; 
 henceforth in fields of conquest 
 thy tents shall be our home."

   I want to say "Lead on" and I don't want just to ask God to stay with me in my tent, I want to stay in His. There, there is peace and joy.

   Now I am awake, and I even think I see something...

What of This Day?

   When I woke up this morning, a chorus from some song was in my head. I did not remember the title, but only the words of the chorus which said:

   "Come Lord Jesus, Come"

   I am not sure of the context in that song. It could have been a call for help in the midst of some suffering or tragedy or it might have been a plea for the second coming, to rid this world of all its sin and troubles, but for me the words just said, "Jesus, please give me what I need for this day".

   I have thought these same thoughts many times over the years, and I have written them often. I want to tell myself to just live in this day that I have, not to project the future or go back into the past and relive other days, but just to see the hours in front of me this day as a gift from God and an opportunity to serve Him in some way.

   I realize that I do have some responsibility to live these few minutes, the minutes of the day I begin with the words of verses that I read, songs that wander through my mind, and prayers of concerns and longings. God gives me breath for another day, and I don't want to waste it on pursuits that are unworthy of His great love and faithfulness to me.

   Maybe as I get older, time becomes dearer. at least it seems so. I know there is an end to my time on earth, and I also know that that time is nearer today than it was even yesterday, and it will be ever closer tomorrow. That is reality, and I want to live in reality.

   God was in my yesterdays, even when I did not acknowledge Him, or even think about that fact. He is with me today, and will be there when the sun rises tomorrow. I think of the hymn that was in one of my reading this hour:

   Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

   So I pray for his mercies this day. I pray for His strength, for His wisdom, His understanding and His guidance, for Today.

   Today

   What will come along the path today? I surely don't know, but I do know that He is faithful and true and His mercies are new every morning, and that I need.

A Power in Music

   Last evening, at the close of Day 1 of the 21 day fasting, there was a prayer service at church for an hour or so. The format for these services is little talk and a lot of quiet, reflective time, which I like very much. I seems so conducive to prayer and worship, that I look forward to each of these times.

   Last night was no exception. Since I was a little on the late side, I missed some of the opening remarks, which was OK, but was there for the middle portion, the quiet time. It was not exactly perfectly quiet, but with low lighting, and soft music, I would say it was reverentially peaceful.

   I know I am old, but I do prefer the more sedate music, especially in times of prayer, music that is more background than anything else. This music does not command me to sit up and take notice of it in itself. I can let it sort of flow around me and over me, putting me in a place of worship and prayer. Such was the case last evening, and, as the first song was fed through the sound system, a piano rendition of "How Deep The Father's Love", my favorite hymn by far, my mind and heart were immediately put in a prayerful state.

   I think of one of the lines on the Truth Project video series, I think the one dealing with Creation, asking the question "Why is there music, anyway?". Why did God create music? What would life be like without music?

   Now, of course, my tastes in music are pretty old fashioned, fairly quiet, understandable words if applicable, a good melody. Since these criteria leave out much of modern "music", I know I may be out of step with many, but there I am.

   Music has the power to transport us beyond ourselves, and that is a place that I need to be a lot of the time. There is more than just me, and I need to be reminded of that fact.

   Thank God for music and its refreshing interludes in life.

Why would I Do THAT?

   For the past several years, in January, our pastor has encouraged each of the members to think about prayer and fasting, the object of which is a seeking of God's will for the direction of our church in the year ahead. The schedule calls for a 21 day period to be set aside for some kind of fasting and special times of prayer at the church.

   Now this fasting can, and probably does, take many different forms, depending on the person doing it. Some have fasted by giving up certain foods, like desserts or meats. Some have forgone their pleasures, such as movies or TV. Some may fast completely for a day in each week, or for longer periods, whatever they feel like it takes to reap the benefit of this exercise.

   It is easier to understand the prayer part of the equation. Prayer is getting in touch with God and letting Him speak into your life. It is setting aside a time to be quiet with Him as the focus and really listen for His voice. But what about fasting? I read in Acts 13 these verses:

  "Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers:Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

   Sometimes the reasons for fasting become obscured by the act itself. If I abstain from all sweet things (desserts), and let everyone know about my sacrifice, what good does that do, except maybe make me a little healthier for a few days? If I parade my self righteous behavior in front of others, am I no different from those Pharisees that Jesus condemned?

   Fasting has a holy purpose. It is to take some time to get apart from the daily routine and seek God's face and His will for my life. To forgo something or other, just to do it, means nothing. Just to do it to let others know about it, means nothing. Only by using the act to get closer to God, is it meaningful to Him and to me.

   I think it is good and right to call the church to a period of fasting and prayer, but is 21 days enough, or is it to be a lifestyle of those elements? This is a good start, and it shows a good purpose. but if that is all it is, it will fall flat. I can give up all I want to and still not hear what God really wants to say to me, if what I concentrate on is the "giving up" part. I want to do better than that.

   God help me to do it for You, and not for me.

The Strings of Our Lives

   One of the great things about walking in the quiet of the early morning, especially on a Saturday, where a lot of people sleep in, is the collection of random thoughts that go bouncing around in your head. Take, for example, this morning where the writing on a van, parked in front of where we used to live, set off a small chain reaction in my thoughts.

   This white van was not from this county, but one out in the middle of the state, and it was not the origination of the vehicle that got me to thinking, it was the name on the side. Martha Bowman and a Methodist logo made up the identification. Then the questions:

   Who was Martha Bowman?

   Why was this Methodist Church named after her?

   Was she related to our family?

   I have done enough genealogical research on my family lineage to see how many small decisions by people long in the past, have shaped my life as to where I am, and who I am. And then I think about how the number of these decisions by others, not in my family, have also led to the same thing.

   If I just think about my own marriage, the number of strings involved is staggering. There are all the things that got me to the place where I could meet my future wife and likewise all the various elements that went into her arrival at the same place at the same time. One small decision in either line would send it off into an entirely different direction, and the intersection of two lives would not have happened.

   If I just move it forward a couple of generations to my grand children and their future wives and husbands, the number of separate strings wound together to produce that moment in time would be a strand of many cords.

   Taken on a purely secular basis, this all seems like random chance. What are the odds that one person, dependent on the choices and decisions of many, many men and women back through time, would meet and marry another, whose ancestors have made just as many choices, so that their arrival at the same place in the same moment of time would produce a marriage and offspring.

   If God is in control, and has been down through all the centuries, He must have planned all of this. If I believe that, then I must conclude that there is a reason behind all of the choices and decisions. All the various strings have been wound into a rope in a particular way, for a particular reason. It may be fun to unravel the rope to think about each string, but it may be more worthwhile to take that rope and do something with it.

   The very least that I can do is to consider the impact of any choice and decision that I make on those that follow after my string. I need to leave them a stronger rope and not one frayed and worn at the end. I realize that fact, right here and right now. God, help me do it.

   Now, who is Martha Bowman, anyway?

I Never Would Have Thought....

   A lot of the time, as I walk in the mornings, I think about people that live in those houses that I pass. Some that I know, some that I know of, and some that I do not know at all. All those people, people living lives that may contain any number of things, both good and bad.

   As human beings each of us know how to put on a good front. . We walk into a place that is filled with happy people (we think they are, anyway), and someone asks us how we are doing, and immediately we say "Fine", when all the time we are dying on the inside. A quote from Thoreau comes to mind as he states in one of his essays, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation".

   A couple of days ago I had a call from a man who said that he wanted to sit down and talk to me about some matters in his life. Last night he came, and we spent a couple of hours together. As he poured out his story of financial problems, I was brought up short, because I would have never known his family was in such shape. Their faces have always been happy ones when we have run into each other in the community. Their kids are well, they live in a nice house, and drive good cars. They seem to be a living example of the American Dream.

   But under that veneer of satisfaction with life, there can lie a deep current of unease and maybe even the desperation that Thoreau speaks of.

   I can know of this family's situation, because the man chose to confide in me, perhaps hoping for some wise counsel or, at the very least, looking to find a willing listener. I not sure about the wisdom, but I can listen.

   What about all those others out there, people that I see on a regular basis? What lives and concerns are hidden behind those smiling faces? Can I ever know the stories, or do I need to? What is God trying to tell me, even as I sit and think about all of this?

   Is it to be just more aware around people that I meet? Is it to pray for folks whose lives contain things that I can't even know?

   I'm not really sure of the implication of all of this, but I do know that I will listen more closely, that I will look more carefully, not for the sake of gossip, but from the standpoint of prayer and help.

   God, help me to consider others and what they might be going through, right now.