Notes on the Notes – March 17, 2024

Lent 5

This week’s music:

“I am the Dream” (MV #106)

“I am the dream and you the dreamer,
I am the song and you are the rhyme.
You are the tune sung in every silence.
You are the now in the endless stream of time.

I am the bell and you the silence.
You are the yearning I cannot curtail.
I am the blest and you the blessing.
You are the wilds in which I lose my trai.

You are the word and I the echo.
You are the leader and I am the led.
You are the joy and I the laughter.
You are the Rock on which I lay my head.”

This hymn by S. Curtis Tufts (2005) has words based on images drawn from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Book of Hours.”

The Book of Hours (German: Das Stunden-Buch) is a collection of poetry by the Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). The collection was written between 1899 and 1903 and consists of three sections with common themes relating to St. Francis and the Christian search for God.  The music was composed by Rick Gunn (2006).

Hear the song sung by Bedford United Church:

“How Deep the Peace” (MV #95)

            “How deep the peace, the confidence
            Of those whose hearts are forgiven.
            How deep the peace, the confidence
            Of those who hearts are healed.”

Our response to the Words of Assurance for the season of Lent is based on Psalm 32.  Having left our concerns with God through prayer, we hear of God’s unfailing love. This hymn was written by Linnea Good in 2004.

“Lord, Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary” (MV #18)

“Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
Sanctuary for you.”

This simple song was written by John W. Thompson and Randy Scruggs in 1982.    The lyrics of “Sanctuary” are a request for God to purify oneself.   We come before God as flawed individuals, trusting in God’s love and grace.  Safe in this love, we thankfully become a living vessel for God.

Hear an a cappella version of the song sung by the Praise Singers (2021):

“On Christ I Stand”

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
A higher plane than I have found,
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ…

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found!
Dress in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ…

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

The words for this week’s anthem are by Edward Mote.  Mote was a pastor and hymn writer. Born in London on 21 January 1797, his parents managed a pub and often left Edward to his own devices playing in the street. He was trained as a cabinet maker and worked in London for many years. Later he entered the ministry. He was well liked by his congregation in Horsham and they offered him the church building as a gift. Mote replied “I do not want the chapel, I only want the pulpit; and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that.” He died on 13 November 1874 and is buried in the church yard at Rehoboth Church.

Perhaps his best known hymn is “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”, which refers to the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders (Matthew), with its refrain ‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand’.   “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” is part of the gospel hymns genre. The first verse declares God’s grace through Christ. The “sweetest frame” means the best person you could ever find (frame = human body). I dare not trust that person (however dependable, clever or strong they are) but wholly trust in Jesus’ name (because he is the One who is truly faithful, good and perfect and he became my sin-bearer at the cross). Verse 2 concerns the application of that grace in times of trouble. “In every high and storm gale, my anchor holds within the veil.” Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ because nothing can un-anchor him from us, or us from him. No storms of sin, no gales of guilt, no floods of fear. We may be tossed about, but our anchor holds.  In the final verse, Mote brings his hymn full circle with the ultimate realization of God’s grace and references the Second Coming of Christ and the final judgement as described in the Book of Revelation as well as the Gospels.

Mote’s words have been set to music by Benjamin Harlan (1996).

“These Lenten Gifts We Bring”

“These Lenten gifts we bring,
Our living faith expressed,
We offer them, most lovingly,
And thus our hearts are blessed.

O loving God receive
These gifts we gladly give,
That show our faith and hope and trust;
Your way we seek to live.”

Our Lenten offering response uses the tune FRANCONIA (VU #542), which was written by Johann Balthasar Konig (1738) and adapted by William Henry Havergal (1847).

“Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart” (VU #378)

“Spirit of God, descend upon my heart:
Wean it from earth, thro’ all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, strength to me impart,
And make me love you as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies,
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Have you not bid me love you, God and King;
All, all your own, soul, heart, and strength and mind?
I see your cross: there teach my heart to cling.
O let me seek you and O let me find!

Teach me to love you as your angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame,
The baptism of the heaven-descended dove,
My heart an altar and your love the flame.”

George Croly, an Anglican minister from Dublin, went to London as a young man to serve a small congregation.  While working there, Croly wrote the hymn, “Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart.”  The hymn is a prayer for God to change us — to change us from the inside out — to teach us how to love God as we ought to love – to allow us to seek God and to find him — and to teach us to love as the angels love.  This hymn reflects Croly’s conviction that redemption is an inside job — that it begins not when our surroundings change but when God changes our heart.

Hear the hymn played on piano at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIOwwihkVSQ

“From this Place of Prayer and Praising”

“From this place of prayer and praising, cross and table, well-worn pews,
God, we leave to work and witness, living every day for you.
Bless us on our Lenten journey, Loving Parent, Holy Friend;
Spirit, guide your people onward till once more we meet again.”

Our benediction response for the the season of Lent will be sung to the familiar hymn tune, BEACH SPRING (VU #374).

Hear a beautiful piano arrangement of the tune at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW4RZoEmB50

Bonus Video: