Liturgy Lessons, Feb. 26, 2017
Call to Worship: Psalm 8
Opening Song: Creation Sings (Getty/Townend)
Confession of Sin
Assurance of Pardon: 1 John 1:5-9
Hymn: Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners (#498)*
Catechism and Prayers
Tithes and Offerings
Doxology: #733
Sermon: Psalm 104, “Sovereignty, Evangelism, and Love for the World” – Rev. Eric Irwin
Meditation
Supper: Here, O My Lord (#378, omit vs. 4); My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness
Closing Hymn: This is My Father’s World (#111)*
*Denotes hymns that have been covered in previous Liturgy Lessons
(Warning: Recycled material, but hey, even Handel and Bach borrowed from themselves all the time!)
Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners!
Text: J. Wilbur Chapman (1910)
Tune: HYFRYDOL, Rowland Prichard (1830)
This hymn tune is one of the most beloved and popular melodies of all time. The stepwise motion, comfortable range, and calming lilt have been enthusiastically embraced by varying congregations over the past two centuries. The tune was written by a 19-year-old, and has the motion and vitality you would expect of youth. There are two settings of this tune in our hymnal, this one and the Advent text “Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus.” Michael Card has a clever arrangement that includes both. The second half of this hymn includes one of the greatest refrains you can deposit into the memory of a believer:
“Hallelujah, what a savior! Hallelujah, what a friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.”
The hymn text was written by the Presbyterian evangelist Wilbur Chapman, and it is possibly inspired by Luke 7:34-50. I encourage you to read that passage before singing this hymn.
Sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/142933
Piano accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3van4ABKSw
Michael Card’s recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybHZsD6qJek
Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face
Text: Horatius Bonar (1855)
Tune: Morecambe, Frederick C. Atkinson (1870)
Horatius Bonar (let’s call him HB) holds claim to 14 hymns that are included in our revised Trinity Hymnal. That is more than John Newton, William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, Frances Havergal, Philip Bliss, Reginald Heber, or James Montgomery. In fact, when looking at our hymnal index, one discovers that this beloved Scottish churchman and prodigious poet is only surpassed in volume by Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, John Mason Neale, and the ancient Latin poet Maximus Lyricus Anonymous. What is it about his writing that justifies such a lion’s share of real estate in our songbook? Well, perhaps John Julian can answer that question for us. This is a portion of his description of HB’s writing from his 1907 Dictionary of Hymnology. Though it reads like an art critic’s review, it is nonetheless accurate and insightful:
“Dr. Bonar’s scholarship is thorough and extensive; and his poems display the grace of style and wealth of allusion which are the fruit of ripe culture. His hymns and poems are distinguished by a tone of pensive reflection, which some might call pessimism. But they are more than the record of emotion; another element is supplied by his intellectual and personal grasp of Divine truth. By his vigorous celebration of these truths as the source and strength of spiritual life, his hymns are protected from the blight of unhealthy, sentimental introspection. Dr. Bonar’s hymns satisfy the fastidious by their instinctive good taste; they mirror the life of Christ in the soul, partially, perhaps, but with vivid accuracy; they win the heart by their tone of tender sympathy; they sing the truth of God in ringing notes.”
One hundred years before HB wrote this hymn, Charles Wesley wrote a beautiful 14-stanza dramatic poem depicting Jacob’s all-night wrestling match with the Angel. After being touched and transformed in both hip and heart, the newly named Israel says “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Gen. 32:30). Wesley riffs on that moment by giving us this poetic stanza:
“My prayer hath power with God; the grace unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face, I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove; Thy nature and Thy name is Love!”
Horatius Bonar takes this line and uses it as his creative inspiration for the best of his final collection of poetry, entitled “Communion Hymns.” This great hymn reflects on the reality that in communion we come close to God, face to face, flesh to flesh; and, as we partake of the elements, we celebrate our new identity in Christ. Just as Jacob’s Angel disappeared, so the symbols ought to disappear for us, leaving us transformed in the presence of our Lord and God. As we sing this hymn, may our prayer have power with the God of grace, and may He grant that the veil of words, notes, symbols, and liturgy be lifted. May we behold the beautiful Christ, high and lifted up. This is what HB would have wanted.
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/page/fetch/CGH2010/430/high
Piano version of MORECAMBE melody(same tune we use for “Spirit of God, descend upon my heart”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhd9iPz22ys
This is My Father’s World
Text: Maltie D. Babcock (1901)
Tune: Terra Beata, Franklin L. Sheppard (1915)
TERRA BEATA, Latin for “beautiful world,” is the name given to this traditional English folk tune that was adapted by Franklin Sheppard to fit the hymn text by Presbyterian pastor Maltie Babcock. Sheppard and Babcock were good friends. Sheppard, an organist, as well as elder and music director of the Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, served as President of the Presbyterian Board of Publications and oversaw the publication of the Presbyterian Hymnal of 1911. Babcock was an athlete: a champion swimmer, baseball player, and avid runner. Before going on a run, he was frequently quoted as saying, “I am going out to see my Father’s world.” He originally published this text with 16 stanzas. Hymn verses #1 and #3 are pulled from that poem, while the second verse was written by his granddaughter, which explains its Polyanna-like shift in tone. I’ve always liked the original ending of the third verse: “This is my Father’s world, why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King, let the heavens ring! God Reigns, let the earth be glad!” This hymn is a wonderful one for children, and its well-structured, lilting melody is a real earworm for them. An interesting coincidence is that the hobbit theme from the popular soundtrack to Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, “Lord of the Rings,” is identical to the opening of this hymn tune. Have a listen and you’ll hear it at the beginning. Now, I can’t be entirely shire, but it seems as if Frodo and Samwise were in the hobbit of singing this melody. “One tune to rule them all”!
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/98116
Link to suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byIpfEVxhs4