Two Lovers Beneath an Umbrella in the Snow, Suzuki Harunobu, C18
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is Graham Kendrick’s “Such love, pure as the whitest snow”. It’s one I’ve known for a long time, dating from 1988. This is different from the majority of his songs that tend to be celebratory in style, being a gentle and personal song accepting the love of Jesus. The first verse is about the love that forgives; the second, the love that gives us peace and holiness; the third, the love that is eternal (“springs from eternity, streaming through history”) and yet can be the “fountain of life to me”.
It’s easy in the busyness of life to overlook God’s love. Even though I know that I am a sinner and that those sins can be forgiven, I tend to park those thoughts at the back of my mind and it takes a song like this to make me actively confess and seek God’s pardon. Likewise, the “love that stills my restlessness” requires me to make the effort to be still long enough to appreciate it, and the demands of the ‘now’ so easily crowd out thoughts of the eternal. I think it’s time I arranged a retreat.
I too have known this song for years, I too feel it is atypical of Graham Kendrick, and I too think it is a welcome and much-needed reminder about the simplicity and consistency of God’s love. I was ashamed to discover that I hadn’t a recording of it (which means we haven’t sung it at St Luke’s Eccleshill in our videos in the 18 months since Lockdown began, either on Sundays or for daily Morning Prayer), and I must schedule it for singing soon!