Amigos de Christo

by Alice Valdal

               This summer we've been enjoying congregational choices for the offertory hymn.  Not surprisingly, most of these have been old favourites, beloved of several generations.  Not so on August 26.  That Sunday the offertory was Amigos de Cristo, by John C. Ylvisaker, written in 1985 and published in 2006.
          Since this hymn is new to our congregation, I've printed out the text.

        I found the order of words in the refrain interesting.  Most often we hear of Jesus as a friend to us, "What a friend we have in Jesus," "Jesus, friend of little children," for example.  In this hymn we are friends of the Lord.  A small distinction to be sure, since friendship is a two-way street, but one that captured my attention.

Scripture:

John 15:14-15;

Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord;
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.
For we've been forgiven, and we've been restored,
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

1. Friends of the covenant renewed each morn;
baptized and loving it, we've been reborn.
Gift of the dove is ours for evermore.
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

(Refrain)

2. Born of a family, the young and old,
we'll be on hand to see new life unfold.
We understand the need to be made whole.
Amigos de Cristo; we're friends of the Lord.

(Refrain)

      Writer and composer John C. Ylvisaker, was born in Moorhead, Minnesota and is a graduate of Concordia College and very involved in developing new worship materials for the church.  His compositions appear in hundreds of worship resources, including the latest hymn book of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
       In addition to being an artist and composer, Ylvisaker is a high school music teacher, a choir director and producer of SCAN, an  weekly radio program sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).   He is much in demand as a performer and is working on the recording and publication of over 1000 of his own compositions.
      Much as we love the old favourites in our hymn book, it is good to experience new work and new ways of interpreting the words of the Gospel.  This week, I'll be thinking about what it means to be a "friend of the Lord."  Thanks to Benjamin Cunningham for widening my horizons.

        

      And speaking of friends, the congregation was delighted to share in the celebration of the Dodds' 70th wedding anniversary after service on Sunday.  Congratulations to a wonderful couple.

Jesus Loves Me

        The hymn request list for offertories over the summer provides a glimpse into the eclectic tastes of the congregation when it comes to our hymns.  On August 12, we sang Jesus loves me, a simple children's hymn that tops the polls at hymn sings throughout the church.  It has been recorded by rock stars, gospel groups and cathedral choirs. It is sung lovingly by adults, teens and children, linking the generations with a powerful message.

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    The scripture references are many,
(stanza. 1 = Eph. 5:2, Jer.31:3 
 stanza. 2 = Gal. 2:20
 stanza 3 = Matt. 18:2-4, Matt. 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 18:15-17,)
but in essence we learn, in a few short lines, that Jesus loves us, that we belong to Him, that His love endures forever, that He is our friend and giver of life.

       The text was written by Anna B. Warner and her sister Susan in 1859 as part of best selling novel, Say and Seal. The two sisters lived along the Hudson River in New York near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After the death of their widower father, a well-known New York lawyer, who lost most of his fortune in the 1837 depression, the Warner sisters were left with a meagre income.  To support themselves, they turned to serious literary writing under the pen names Amy Lothrop and Elizabeth Wetherell.

          For a number of years they also held classes for the young cadets from the nearby West Point Academy. Upon their deaths, their home was willed to the Academy and made into a national shrine. Both sisters were buried with military honours in recognition of their spiritual contributions to the lives of the young military officers.

        In 1861, William B. Bradbury added the refrain to Warner's stanzas and wrote the tune JESUS LOVES ME. The hymn was published in Bradbury's church school collection The Golden Shower (1862). By 1996 the hymn appeared in 74% of published hymnals.

      The text has been translated into many other languages, and often includes an added stanza derived from David R. McGuire's rewriting of the text, which he prepared for the Canadian Anglican and United Hymn Book (1971).

      The words are simple, relegated to the "children's" section of the hymnal, yet the great theologian Karl Barth, when asked for his most profound theological discovery, thought for a moment, then replied, “Jesus loves me, this I know, /for the Bible tells me so.”

Thanks to Jerusha Smith for choosing this hymn and thus reminding us all that sometimes the greatest truths are found in simple words.

Fireworks

        by Alice Valdal


    There have been a lot of fireworks around lately.  The opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics produced lavish displays for us to watch on television.  The Butchart Gardens puts on a wonderful pyrotechnic show every Saturday night during the summer and last Sunday the Victoria Symphony ended their "Splash" program in style with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture replete with cannon, church bells and more fireworks.  I thought I had "oohed and aahhed" enough.  

      Then God put on a light show that put the best of our earthly efforts in the shade.   Last week we experienced a spectacular thunder storm.  Lightning zigzagged across the sky, shot straight down to touch the ocean and flared in sheets of glaring light, some   white, some red.  It was awesome!  

      As if the lightning wasn't enough, we then had a meteor shower.  I sat outside in the dark, watching as light flared and streaked overhead only to vanish in the blink of an eye.  As I scanned the skies, hoping to see another shooting star, I couldn't help but be awed by the stars themselves.  The ones that stayed in their appointed places, pricking the dark vault of heaven with iridescence.  There are so many!
        "The firmament" is not a phrase I use often, but as I watched the skies this week, the opening of  Haydn's great oratorio, The Creation, sounded in my mind. "The heaven's are telling the glory of God.  The wonder of his work displays the firmament."  The text come from Psalm 19:1 
        Earlier this year our Bible Study group struggled together with Romans, a pivotal and often difficult book in the New Testament.  There, in Romans 1:20 Paul asserts that God's power and divine nature have been revealed in creation, so no one has an excuse to deny Him.  
        This week we have seen that glory and power revealed in the night skies over Saanich Peninsula Presbyterian Church.

     

Olympic Moments

   by Alice Valdal

The 2012 Olympics in London are only a few days away from the closing ceremonies and the world is still buzzing about the Opening night, especially Queen Elizabeth II's turn as a Bond girl.  Who says royalty is stuffy?  But what struck me in this aggressively secular age, was the use of three Christian hymns in the opening ceremonies.  "And Did Those Feet," sung to Parry's tune Jerusalem might have slipped by unremarked since it is almost an unofficial anthem for England, as is "Guide me O Thou Great Redeemer (Jehovah)" sung to Cwm Rhonda in Wales, but "Abide With Me" is a straight out prayer to God for comfort and constancy in life and death.  

     The words were written by Henry Francis Lyte.  Lyte was orphaned at an early age and decided on a career in medicine, however, in 1815 he changed courses and was ordained as a minister in the Church of England.   In 1847 as he lay near to his own death from tuberculosis, inspired by Psalm 102:26-27;  and Luke 24:29, he penned the words to his beloved hymn. 
   The tune was composed in the space of ten minutes by William H. Monk, the music editor for the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern.  The story goes that the composer realized the hymn under consideration had no tune so he sat down at the piano and composed "Eventide" to accompany Lyte's text.  The words and the music were then published in that edition.

     When I was a teen I thought Abide With Me the stodgiest piece in the hymn book and groaned aloud when required to sing it.  With age comes wisdom?  It has now entered my conscience as a favourite due to its assurance of God's steadfastness.  When "change and decay in all around I see," the Father remains unchanging and faithful.  "Through cloud and sunshine," God is our guide and strength.   "When other helpers fail," our God is a constant comfort.  When temptation strikes, God is there to "foil the tempter's power." and when we pass from this world to the next, "When morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee," our Lord is there to welcome us home.   
     Whatever made me think this powerful hymn was boring!  Perhaps it was the manner of singing.  I found one note which advised the tune should not be sung too slowly and that organists should keep keep a firm and steady tempo.  

      Back to the Olympics, Abide With Me does have a sporting connection of sorts.  Since the 1927 FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Cardiff City, the first and last verses of the hymn are traditionally sung before the kick-off of the match.  Since 1929 it has been sung prior to the kick-off at every Rugby League Challenge Cup final.

     Whether the athletes and fans at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremonies heard these powerful words as a hymn or as a sporting anthem, I don't know.  I found it refreshing to hear reference to a God who is greater even than the Olympic ideals.

Blessed Asurance

  One of the pleasures of travelling is the opportunity to worship with a different congregation.  Recently, we did just that, joining the members of First Presbyterian Church in Roseburg, Oregon.  The minister there is doing a series of summer sermons on favourite hymns.  We hit "Blessed Assurance" Sunday.  This great hymn was the theme for the prelude and the postlude, the anthem and the offertory.  It was sung by the congregation and expounded upon by the minister.  What fun!
   This hymn is usually associated with evangelical traditions, -- loud, noisy, exuberant --  more than with the Presbyterian, characterized by the minister as "the frozen chosen."  Yet on a check of hymn books, he found that "Blessed Assurance" appeared just as often in the Presbyterian hymnaries as it did in the evangelical ones.  

    We had a great time on our Sunday visit to Roseburg and joined the congregation in a rendition of this hymn that was anything but frozen.
    Below is Dr. Kirk's essay on this beloved hymn.  

Scripture reading:  Hebrews 10. 19 - 25

            This confident evangelical hymn is the work of one of the most prolific hymn writers of all time.  Mrs. Frances van Alstyne, better known by her maiden name, Fanny Crosby, wrote over eight thousand hymns using as many as two hundred pen names! [The minister in Roseburg explained that she used so many names because compilers of hymnbooks are reluctant to include too many offerings from one writer.] We have already seen something of the difficulties she faced in life [she was blinded by inept medical treatment at six weeks of age] but she did not let her lack of sight prove to be a hindrance to her work.  Fanny Crosby was converted to an evangelical faith during the singing of Isaac Watt's hymn "Here, Lord, I give myself away" at a meeting in a Methodist church in New York.

            It has to be admitted that many of her hymns do sound as though they have come off a production line in that they sometimes lack imagination and subtlety.  "Blessed assurance" is not great poetry but it does express the heart of the Christian gospel simply and movingly.  The first stanza describes God's work of salvation in the human soul and it is interesting to see how all three persons of the Trinity are involved.  Human salvation is first of all the work of God who loved fallen mankind and sent his Son to die; through the death of Jesus on the Cross the sins of men and women are washed away; the redemption Jesus has purchased for us is applied to the human heart through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who brings us to new life as members of God's family and assures us of a secure future so that life here below becomes "a foretaste of glory divine".  We have had occasion to think of the many ways in which we can look at what salvation really means and this is underlined here again in the verbs that are used to describe it: "purchased", "born" and "washed".

            One of the important elements of the Christian life, and one sadly neglected today in our activist society, is the willingness to wait on the Lord that we might learn of him.  It is surely interesting that in Jesus' short life of possibly thirty-three years the first thirty were spent in preparation!  He submitted himself to his Father's will in all things - if we are to find "perfect delight" in our Christian experience we must first of all offer him our "perfect submission".  Then we will be at rest in him and he will have the opportunity to teach us in the school of faith.  There is a possible reference to Jacob's dream at Bethel (Gen. 28. 12) in the lines "Angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love".

            It is when we are submissive and obedient that the Lord can work in our hearts to prepare us for the tasks he wishes us to perform on his behalf.  The Christian life can be summed up in three short commands addressed to us by Jesus: "Come unto me"; "Learn of me"; "Go ye".  There must be the "watching and waiting" before we are ready to be sent out on the Master's mission.  But whatever Jesus calls us to be or to do we have with us at all times the "blessed assurance" that "Jesus is mine" and I am his. 

With thanks to Edna Kirk for sharing these essays.

Will Your Anchor Hold

    As mentioned before, I'm spending a few weeks presenting favourite hymns of the congregation, using Dr. Cecil Kirk's book as a resource.  As part of the farewell service for the Lindsays, Phyllis chose the hymn "Will Your Anchor Hold."  For a congregation situated on an island, a seafaring reference seems appropriate.


    Here is what Dr. Kirk had to say on the subject.


Scripture reading: Hebrews 6. 13 - 20

This rousing hymn is the official anthem of the Boys' Brigade, an organization founded in Scotland in the latter part of the nineteenth century and which has spread to many countries around the world. Its aim is to promote "obedience, reverence, discipline, self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness".

The author was Priscilla Jane Owens. She was born in Baltimore but came of Scottish and Welsh descent. For more than fifty years she was active in Sunday School work in her own home town and most of the hymns and songs she wrote were to promote this work.


Many analogies have been used to describe the Christian faith and Miss Owens was certainly not the first to think of it in nautical terms, indeed there are several well known hymns which develop this thought. The epistle to the Hebrews describes the faith of the believer as an "anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast". It is interesting that these last three words are the motto of the Boys' Brigade.

Anyone who has ever travelled by boat, especially if that journey has been made across any of the world's large oceans, will know of the dangers that may have to be faced. One of the most likely is storm. Then even large ocean-going liners can be tossed around like a cork, such is the power of the sea. A parallel is drawn between the storms on the ocean and those we have to face inevitably in life. How will we fare when "the clouds unfold their wings of strife"? When you are tossed hither and yon by conflicting viewpoints, when you feel the strain of being deserted by friends, when all around you people are losing their heads and blaming it on you, will you have a sense of security that will hold you firm "when the billows roll?" This is when we must be able to turn to the Saviour who knows all that is happening to us because he himself had to undergo such trials and trust the anchor of our faith that is "grounded firm and deep" in his love.

Another source of danger is described as "the straits of fear". This is when we find ourselves sailing close to the nearby reefs and we can hear the surge of the waves pulling the ship towards disaster. Here we can think of the temptations of life which, if we succumbed to them, would make shipwreck of our soul so that "the angry waves then your bark o'erflow". Jesus knew the subtle power of temptation and he can help us resist and sail through the straits until we reach the calm waters again.


Eventually every voyage ends in the port that is the ship's final destination and the passengers look forward with expectation and excitement to the landfall. The Christian voyager sails towards "the city of gold", the new Jerusalem that is our final resting place. We look forward to seeing its profile "through the morning light" and casting our anchor safe "by the heavenly shore". Then the journey will be over and life's storms "past for evermore". The best part of any trip is the joy of coming home again. As Christians we anticipate the end of our earthly travels and the joy of coming ashore in our Father's kingdom.
                                           ****
   Reading the commentary on this hymn it seems a highly appropriate choice for those setting out to begin a new phase of life.  Thanks Phyllis and Dr. Kirk.

The Church's One Foundation

 Over the summer the congregation has been asked to name their favourite hymns to be sung during the collection of the offering.  These requests seemed like great blog material for me, especially when I know of a great resource!  Dr. Cecil Kirk, late of our congregation, had a passion for the great hymns of the church and wrote commentary on hundreds of them.  On July 1, we sang The Church's One Foundation.  Here's what Dr. Kirk had to say about it.

Scripture reading: 2 Peter 2. 1 - 3



This wonderful hymn on the nature of the Church was the product of a bitter controversy that disturbed the peace of the Anglican communion in the mid-nineteenth century. At that time a South African bishop rejected the doctrine of eternal punishment and questioned the traditional authorship of the Pentateuch. Stone, a young curate of Windsor, wrote this hymn in defence of the traditional catholic faith. It is based on the ninth article of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in the holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints" and summarizes the Church as it should be in God's design, as it is in today's world and as it one day shall be.

The hymn begins with the origin of the Church and re-echoes Paul's bold affirmation: "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3. 11). The Church is a divine organism and not a human institution. Men and women may co-operate in building up the Church but all our building must be on the foundation stone of Jesus Christ. The Church is Christ's "new creation", a fellowship of people who have been born anew "by water and the word", through the preaching of the gospel and the water of baptism. And not only did Christ create the Church, he also purchased her "with His own blood" and espoused himself to her as "His holy bride".

The Church of Christ is universal: "elect from every nation", its members are, nevertheless, "one o'er all the earth". The thought is that of the unity of the Church and this theme is continued throughout the stanza which is really a commentary on Paul's description of the Church in his letter to the Ephesians (4. 4-6). Her one Lord is Jesus Christ; the one faith she professes is the historic faith of the Church condensed in the creeds; her one birth is the new birth through the ministry of the Holy Spirit; the one name she blesses is the strong name of the Trinity; the one food of which she partakes is the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and the one hope to which she presses is the hope of glory.

With the words "Though with a scornful wonder . . " we have a reference to the problems which caused the hymn to be written. Unfortunately there are still schisms and heresies which distress and tear asunder the unity of the Church and these continue to rage even today, but we have the assurance that the "night of weeping" will give way to "the morn of song". That hope emerges in the concluding verses where we view the Church as triumphant and glorified. Here below we know the "toil and tribulation and tumult of her war" but this state of conflict will not last for ever. There will come a day when "her longing eyes" will be blessed by the vision of Christ himself and the Church, victorious at last, will be at rest.

All this lies in the future. In the meantime there are two blessings to comfort us. One is the union we have with "God the Three in One". God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is present with us day by day through worship, daily communion, the Scriptures, the sacraments and the faith of his people. And that is a union which cannot be destroyed. We also have "mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won". That fellowship with those who have departed this scene of time comes through Jesus Christ. He is the one who has conquered death, the one who is the resurrection and the life, and all who believe in him are alive for evermore. We think with joy and gladness of those who have preceded us into the heavenly kingdom and we look forward to a wonderful re-union with them in the presence of our Lord. In the meantime we pray for the grace which will enable us to make that prayer a reality.  --Dr. Cecil Kirk

My thanks to Edna Kirk for sharing this essay.