Okay, good intentions didn't get very far last time, but who knows? I certainly was a bit frustrated by the process I was using, so maybe this editor I'm trying out will encourage me to get back to this blog.
26 December 2008
23 May 2008
30t a bit about Charles Wesley
30t Love Divine
Words: Charles Wesley, 1747
Love divine, all love excelling -- this is a very well known hymn (to a different tune) in mainstream protestant churches.
A few words about Charles Wesley, author of words set to 28 tunes in the 91 revision (far fewer than Watts, but more than anyone else. A quick look at our UCC hymnal shows 10 tunes with Charles Wesley words -- which puts him among the handful of most represented hymn writers there.)
Born December 18, 1707
Epworth, Lincolnshire, England
Died March 29, 1788 (aged 80)
Charles was the younger brother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism (a reform/revitalization movement originally within the Church of England though eventually leading to a distinct denomination). Though very much a part of the Methodist movement, Charles maintained his faithfulness to the Church of England in which both he and his brother (and their father) were ordained. Two of his children were composers and musicians.
In these words, Wesley is equating Jesus with love that will make its home in us. Among the scriptural sources one might think of:
John 14.23:
Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
John 17.26: /Jesus is praying to God/
I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
1 John 4.8:
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4.12:
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Words: Charles Wesley, 1747
Love divine, all love excelling -- this is a very well known hymn (to a different tune) in mainstream protestant churches.
A few words about Charles Wesley, author of words set to 28 tunes in the 91 revision (far fewer than Watts, but more than anyone else. A quick look at our UCC hymnal shows 10 tunes with Charles Wesley words -- which puts him among the handful of most represented hymn writers there.)
Born December 18, 1707
Epworth, Lincolnshire, England
Died March 29, 1788 (aged 80)
Charles was the younger brother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism (a reform/revitalization movement originally within the Church of England though eventually leading to a distinct denomination). Though very much a part of the Methodist movement, Charles maintained his faithfulness to the Church of England in which both he and his brother (and their father) were ordained. Two of his children were composers and musicians.
In these words, Wesley is equating Jesus with love that will make its home in us. Among the scriptural sources one might think of:
John 14.23:
Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
John 17.26: /Jesus is praying to God/
I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
1 John 4.8:
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4.12:
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
15 May 2008
lost comments
Hey all,
It's come to my attention that at least one comment sent to this blog has disappeared into the ether(net?).
I do have this set to moderate all comments, but I have posted every comment that has come through. If you responded but don't see your comment, please try again and/or contact me separately.
David
It's come to my attention that at least one comment sent to this blog has disappeared into the ether(net?).
I do have this set to moderate all comments, but I have posted every comment that has come through. If you responded but don't see your comment, please try again and/or contact me separately.
David
08 May 2008
78 Stafford What's up with "env'ous Jews"?
See what a living stone
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?’
The builders did refuse,
Yet God hath built His Church thereon,
In spite of env'ous Jews.
The tune is by Daniel Reed and so, as one would expect, is great. But even those of us who glide easily over all kinds of strange theology may chafe at these words.
This is an Isaac Watts text. It is, of course, one verse of a larger hymn. In this case, it's part of one of Watts' treatments of Psalm 118. He wrote many, many metrical paraphrases of psalms. For Psalm 118 he wrote multiple paraphrases in different meters, each of portions of the psalm. The words we are considering jump off from verse 22. That verse is part of three different paraphases, in C.M, S.M, and L.M. (See this link for the complete texts: http://www.cgmusic.com/workshop/watts/psalm_118.htm ) This is from the Short Meter version of vss 22-27.
The Psalms are wonderfully direct and unafraid of naming the truth of how we feel, even when it isn't pretty or correct. Nonetheless, there is nothing in this psalm about "envious Jews." That comes from reading back into the psalm the context in which it is read in the Christian scriptures. I'm finding five citations: Matthew 21.42, Mark 12.10, Luke 20.17, Acts 4.11, 1Peter 2.7.
e.g. Mark 12.10-11:
Have you not read this scripture:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?’
The Gospel citations all give us Jesus using this psalm verse to cap a parable of dishonest tenants. Each of them explicitly links the religious authorities of the day (i.e. people like me today ;>) ) with rejecting Jesus, who is understood as the corner stone chosen and set in place by God. The adjective "envious" in Watts' text may be a reference to the tenants in the parable, who are presumably envious of the actual owner. The Acts passage has Peter citing this psalm verse and explicitly saying to the religious authorities they are the ones who have rejected Jesus.
In 1 Peter the passage is being addressed to the Christian community, and is used to talk about those who believe and those who don't believe. It also gives us the term "living stone" for Jesus in 2.4:
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight
So, now we understand better the source. Undeniably, Jesus was often at odds with the religious authorities of his day. That's why they would collaborate with the Roman occupiers to have him killed. But he was not at odds with "the Jews." Let's all remember that Jesus and all of the first disciples and apostles were, in fact, good Jews. Watts is, unfortunately, heir to a long tradition of lumping together all Jews with those few powerful and/or purity-fanatical Jewish leaders of Jesus day.
All that said, how do folk feel about singing these words today? Is it any different from singing other words that express beliefs different from your own? Please comment (I'll try to check this before next week to moderate comments in a timely manner.)
01 May 2008
34t What is the Gospel pool?
34t The Gospel Pool
"Beside the gospel pool
appointed for the poor"
Thanks for the question, Dorothy.
The gospel pool refers to John 5.2-12:
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk
The man is waiting for the water to be stirred because that was thought to be a sign of the presence of the healing Spirit -- if you could get into the pool at that moment you would be cured. The writer, John Newton--of Amazing Grace, is using the literal pool of the miracle story as an analogy or image for the healing power of the gospel message, the good news of Jesus Christ.
Another layer of this meaning also comes from John 9:7, another healing story in which Jesus spits to make mud, puts it on a blind man's eyes, then sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash -- and he is healed.
29t Fairfield 'I can but perish'
Here in vs 3 is yet another implicit understanding of death and eternal life. (Are there, perhaps, a dozen songs in this book that don't talk about death?)
The singer has resolved to go to Jesus despite his or her conviction of sinfulness. The outcome may be simply death, "I can but perish if I go" but the alternative, not going to Jesus, definitely leads to death, "If I stay away, I know, I must forever die." I find it interesting that the two outcomes are just death or, presumably, life eternal with Jesus. Punishment/hell is not mentioned here. The text is dated 1787.
I must say I find this a wonderful text. I've always felt a (hopelessly romantic, I suppose) resonance with stories of people recognizing they are in desperate circumstances and so finding the resolve to strike out on the path of hope however unlikely to succeed. (Lord of the Rings readers, think Aragorn leading a paltry force against the gates of Mordor because their only hope lies in convincing Sauron that they have the ring with them, and so distracting him from his real peril, Frodo sneaking in the back way.) Is this our lot in a post-modern world, where every hope is open to suspicion, if not outright derision, and yet to live as human beings we must choose to hope, no matter what.
25 April 2008
28b Wells "What does 'the lamp' refer to?"
“While the lamp holds out to burn”
The lamp image here draws on a parable of Jesus:
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:1-13(NRSV)
The parable stresses readiness. In the last hundred plus years or so this has been read as be ready for “the second coming of Jesus.” The Watts text refers to what I believe is a more long-standing reading: be ready because we cannot know when we’ll die. The lamp refers to each of our lives—while we live we can repent.
The third verse is very interesting in that it seems to say the dead are not yet in heaven; they are just dead. “Their memory and their sense is gone, Alike unknowing and unknown” presumably awaiting the “day of grace” of verse 2 and the all-at-once resurrection of the dead back to life. When did we acquire the notion of the soul going immediately from the body 'up' to face St. Peter at the pearly gate (to be let in, or sent 'below')?
The lamp image here draws on a parable of Jesus:
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:1-13(NRSV)
The parable stresses readiness. In the last hundred plus years or so this has been read as be ready for “the second coming of Jesus.” The Watts text refers to what I believe is a more long-standing reading: be ready because we cannot know when we’ll die. The lamp refers to each of our lives—while we live we can repent.
The third verse is very interesting in that it seems to say the dead are not yet in heaven; they are just dead. “Their memory and their sense is gone, Alike unknowing and unknown” presumably awaiting the “day of grace” of verse 2 and the all-at-once resurrection of the dead back to life. When did we acquire the notion of the soul going immediately from the body 'up' to face St. Peter at the pearly gate (to be let in, or sent 'below')?
28t Aylesbury "here below/above the sky"
Not too much jumps out at me here. This is another Isaac Watts text.
“…our God while here below, And ours above the sky.”
The date is given as 1719. This is 176 years after Copernicus published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) in the year of his death, 1543. That work is seen as the start of a radical shift in cosmology that has moved the earth from the center of everything to an unimaginably tiny place in an unimaginably vast universe. Watts’ imagery draws on the Biblical cosmology that understood heaven to be a physical place, literally above the earth.
“…our God while here below, And ours above the sky.”
The date is given as 1719. This is 176 years after Copernicus published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) in the year of his death, 1543. That work is seen as the start of a radical shift in cosmology that has moved the earth from the center of everything to an unimaginably tiny place in an unimaginably vast universe. Watts’ imagery draws on the Biblical cosmology that understood heaven to be a physical place, literally above the earth.
“Beyond the pomp that charms the eye And rites adorned with gold.”
I suspect that, as a non-conformist, Watts here is taking a little poke at both the Roman Catholic and Church of England “smells and bells” liturgies.
I suspect that, as a non-conformist, Watts here is taking a little poke at both the Roman Catholic and Church of England “smells and bells” liturgies.
Lord revive us, Lord revive us! back at the blog
Friends, after a too-long absence, I hope and intend another fairly regular round of posts to this blog.
Again a reminder, if you have any questions about the imagery/references/meanings of texts in the Sacred Harp, hit the Comments link to post a comment and let me know. (comments are moderated -- so don't worry if it doesn't show up in the blog for a day or two.)
During these past months, some of you have asked me questions when we've been talking. They were great questions. I didn't write them down. Do us all a favor and post them here. Thanks.
While waiting for those particular questions, I'll continue working through the book with things that happen to strike me. If anything in my posts happens to strike you, please post a comment.
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