Notes on the Notes – April 26, 2020

 Doubting (place name here)

       John 20:19-31

This week’s music:

“As Comes the Breath of Spring” (VU #373)

“As comes the breath of spring with light and mirth and song,
So does your Spirit bring new days brave, free, and strong.
You come with thrill of life to chase hence winter’s breath,
To hush to peace the strife of sin that ends in death.

You come like songs at morn that fill the earth with joy,
Till we, in Christ new-born, new strength in praise employ.
You come to rouse the heart from drifting to despair,
Through high hopes to impart life with an ampler air.

You breathe and there is health, you move and there is power,
You whisper, there is wealth of love, your richest dower.
Your presence is to us like summer in the soul,
Your joy shines forth and then life blossoms to its goal.”

The text for this hymn was written in 1929 by David Lakie Ritchie, Dean of United Theological College in Montreal, for The Hymnary (1930).  The tune was published in England in the Methodist Hymn Book (1904).

Hear the hymn at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX3EWoD8ZXI

“Jesus Stand Among Us” (VU #324)

“Jesus, stand among us in your risen power;
Let this time of worship be a hallowed hour.

Breathe the Holy Spirit into every heart;
Bid the fears and sorrows from each soul depart.

Lead our hearts to wisdom till our doubting cease,
And to all assembled speak your word of peace.”

The text for this hymn is based on John 20:19 and 26. The first two verses, by William Pennefather,were published posthumously in a collection of his writings, Original Hymns and Thoughts in Verse (1873). Verse three is by Lydia Pedersen, a member of the Hymn and Worship Resource Committee of Voices United and was written in 1993. The tune, BEMERTON (also known as CASWALL), is by the German composer Friedrich Filitz (1861).

Hear the hymn used in worship at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv4A__tP9Dc

“Doubters”

“Now Thomas was a doubter, a questioner was he.
He said, ‘I’ll know it’s Jesus when the wounds I see.’
He wasn’t hesitating, his heart was simply waiting,
And not precipitating to an answer!

Can you believe in something you can’t see?
A mind is made up when it’s ready to be.
Believing may be easy, but faith is slow.
It takes a lot of doubting for our faith to grow!

At times we all are doubters, questioners are we.
The world tells us to only trust the things we see.
We are not hesitating, our hearts are simply waiting,
And not precipitating to an answer!

Can you believe in something you can’t see?…”

This song was written by Linnea Good in 1992. She uses the word “precipitating” to mean “acting with excessive haste or impulse; lacking due deliberation.

“All the Way My Saviour Leads Me” (VU #635)

“All the way my Saviour leads me, what have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell,
For I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Saviour leads me, cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread.
Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul a-thirst may be,
Gushing from the rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see!

All the way my Saviour leads me; O the fullness of his love!
Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed, immortal, wings its flight to realms of day,
This my song through endless ages, “Jesus led me all the way!’”

“All The Way My Savior Leads Me” was written by Fanny Crosby.  She wrote this hymn on a day when an unexpected kindness had come her way.  Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money and, as her usual custom, Fanny began to pray.  A few minutes later, a gentleman offered her five dollars, the exact amount she needed.  Later recalling the incident, she said, “I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money.”  The poem she wrote afterward became “All The Way My Savior Leads Me.”   She sent the text to Robert Lowrey who composed the tune for it.  It was first published in Chicago, in Brightest and Best (1875), a tune book for Sunday schools.

Hear The Haven Quartet at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEOtFEs0Jos

Hear Melody St Clair Randazzo at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9u38XpHI7Q&index=31&list=PLWfKlHQoDKDWVBl9mE90_wpU-WDjhrGqs

“Like a Rock” (MV #92)

“Like a rock, like a rock, God is under out feet.
Like the starry night sky God is over our head.
Like the sun on the horizon God is ever before.
Like the river runs to ocean, our home is in God evermore.”

The words for this song are by Keri K. Wehlander (1998), adapted to music by Linnea Good (1998). The words of the song portray our confidence in the eternal nature of God.