O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go

My newest hymn obsession.

This is the version I like: 


This is the background, from the writer, George Matheson: 

My hymn was com­posed in the manse of In­ne­lan [Ar­gyle­shire, Scot­land] on the ev­en­ing of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s mar­ri­age, and the rest of the fam­i­ly were stay­ing over­night in Glas­gow. Some­thing hap­pened to me, which was known only to my­self, and which caused me the most se­vere men­tal suf­fer­ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suf­fer­ing. It was the quick­est bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the im­press­ion of hav­ing it dic­tat­ed to me by some in­ward voice ra­ther than of work­ing it out my­self. I am quite sure that the whole work was com­plet­ed in five min­utes, and equal­ly sure that it ne­ver re­ceived at my hands any re­touch­ing or cor­rect­ion. I have no na­tur­al gift of rhy­thm. All the other vers­es I have ever writ­ten are man­u­fact­ured ar­ti­cles; this came like a day­spring from on high.

And here are the words: 

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be. 

our mission

"Is not this the fast that I choose;
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail."

Isaiah 58:6-11
     

 

happy ending

Aren't you glad that no matter our individual stories, the Great Story has the ultimate happy ending?

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'
And he who was seated on the trone said 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'
And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.'" -Revelation 21:3-6

heritage

Picture it: Anaheim, 2010. I'm babysitting. It's a rainy morning, and both of the kids are taking naps. I wander over to the CD player and I come across this CD:

Hmmm. Hymns. Looks promising. I put the CD in, and walk around the room, looking at the collection of heirlooms and old family photographs that cover every available surface.

The CD is very mellow piano hymns. Perfect for a rainy day. As I look around, my eyes light upon a photograph of a woman on her wedding day. Sepia-toned. Probably early 1900s. She's very beautiful, and she has this look of contentment that seems to radiate from her. As if on cue, "Be Thou My Vision" comes on the CD.

I begin to think about this woman and what her life was like. She must have known Jesus. "Be Thou My Vision" is one of my favorite songs and has been of great comfort to me personally. I wonder what songs this woman listened to. Reason #523 I love hymns: she probably did sing "Be Thou My Vision" in church, and it was probably as comforting to her as it is to me. This woman probably had the same insecurities and struggles that I do.

I love this heritage we have in the faith, this "great cloud of witnesses." Standing there looking at that photograph, with "Be Thou My Vision" playing and the soft sound of rain on the roof, I felt a warm feeling wrap around me. God was the same for this woman as he is for me: a close and dear friend.

It was a weird moment to have while babysitting, but I guess in those rare moments of quiet we're more receptive to that still, small voice.

holy week

"Who hath not learned, in hours of faith,
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own!"

-John Greenleaf Whittier

woah.

"My first monastic Triduum occurred well over a decade ago. This Easter, it was I who preached the homily at the Resurrection Eucharist. What can one add to a liturgy that celebrates the resurrection promise into fact? I tried. The scripture for the day was simple enough: the story of two disciples running to a vacant tomb, then returning to their homes (John 20:1-10). For them, I suggested, the resurrection had not yet occurred - for when it does, one can never go home again. Even Judas could not escape the Easter event. He hanged himself. But tradition tells us that on Holy Saturday Jesus "descended into hell." This time it must have been Jesus who kissed Judas, repeating the same words as in the garden: 'Friend, why are you here?' But this time they became a resurrection invitation to Judas: 'Follow me.' Jesus knows the way out, even out of hell. Together they walked, and all of creation walked with them - through the Red Sea to death's other side. If at easter the slaughtered lamb becomes the Good Shepherd, then God's final word to everything must be 'Yes!' (2 Cor. 1:19)." -W. Paul Jones

lovers so less wild

I'm very blog-ey this week, first of all.

Thought of the day: why do I go to anything and everything besides God to fill the lonely void inside of me? It's only after I've clicked on every facebook link and searched for fulfillment from every meaningless thing that I think to go to the one Person that can actually meet that need in me! Duh, Elsa!

I'm getting back to the place where I want it to be just Him and me, no one else. Ironically, as my life has become more simple with the summer, it has become more cluttered with meaningless things that I somehow fill my days with.

He is the last place I go to, the last Name I call. I can read about Him all I like, but it is somehow much harder to me to sit down and just talk to Him. It's easier to relate to Him as a vending machine or an ATM then as a Person, as THE Person.

Why?

Another mystery of my fallen self, I guess.

But thankfully, He's always there when I stroll, meander, or run back to Him. No lectures, no condemnations, just delight.

And thankfully, each time I get in that place of loneliness again, it becomes easier to choose Him first.

"Take my self and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee"

Ever

Only

All

for Him.

I want that now more than anything else.

mild?

"This word 'mild' is apparently deliberately used to describe a man who did not hesitate to challenge and expose the hypocrisies of the religious people of His day: a man who had such 'personality' that He walked unscathed through a murderous crowd; a man so far from being a nonentity that He was regarded by the authorities as a public danger; a man who could be moved to violent anger by shameless exploitation or by smug complacent orthodoxy; a man of such courage that He deliberately walked to what He knew would mean death, despite the earnest pleas of well-meaning friends! Mild! What a word to use for a personality whose challenge and strange attractiveness nineteen centuries have by no means exhausted. Jesus Christ might well be called 'meek,' in the sense of being selfless and humble and utterly devoted to what He considered right, whatever the personal cost; but 'mild,' never!" - J.B. Phillips