Reformation – The Raynville Rambler

In Christ alone

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is in Christ alone my hope is found’ by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. It’s a candidate for ‘most popular hymn of the last decade’ – the copyright is dated 2001, but in the last ten years it has found popularity well beyond its original evangelical roots.

The phrase ‘In Christ alone’ seems to hark back, maybe deliberately, to the Reformation, where it is one of the five balancing principles: ‘By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for God’s glory alone’. Here we focus on one of those, but perhaps the most important, because whatever view you might take on the relative merits of faith and works, or the extent to which scripture is God’s direct revelation, surely all Christians can agree that without Christ, our faith would be in vain.

The first verse of the hymn praises Christ by giving him many honorific titles – ‘my light, my strength, my song, this cornerstone, this solid ground … my comforter, my all in all’. Many of these have Biblical resonances of course, but put together make a firm basis for a hymn of praise.

The second verse reminds us why Christ came, ‘gift of love and righteousness’ to take away our sin. Some people prefer to substitute ‘love of God’ for ‘wrath of God’ when it comes to understanding what was happening on the cross, but both versions make sense: he bore the brunt of God’s anger at human sin, while also expressing the self-sacrificial nature of God’s love for sinners. The last line is a beautiful paradox – ‘her in the death of Christ I live’.

The third verse celebrates the resurrection, ‘bursting forth in glorious day’, and his victory over sin. The last reminds us that we have no need to feel guilty or fearful of what lies ahead of us, because of what Jesus has done to secure us eternal life. I would only quibble with the phrase ‘Jesus commands my destiny’ which sounds like the doctrine of predestination (that God has determined in advance our every action). I doubt that it’s intended to mean that, but perhaps something like ‘Spirit of Jesus guiding me’ would be better. But all in all, it’s a cracking hymn that brings together Christians of many persuasions to focus on the wonder at the heart of the Gospel.

O God of blessings

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “O God of blessings, all praise to you” by Marty Haugen. It could also be titled “Soli deo gloria” which is the brief refrain at the end of each of the six verses, as well as the name of the tune specially composed for it.

Marty Haugen is perhaps best known for hymns around the theme of social justice and inclusivity, but here we have one in which God is praised for all his gifts to us. It’s also perhaps unusual, though welcome, for a Catholic hymnwriter to use as a refrain a phrase more associated with the Protestant Reformation.

The first verse praises God for his love, shown in freeing the oppressed and comforting the distressed; the second, for wisdom shown in both ancient scriptures and contemporary “coaches, mentors and counsellors”; the third, for prophets and preachers to guide us; the fourth, for music; the fifth, for Jesus himself, “best gift divine”. The last verse takes a different tack as it imagines the whole worldwide Church, “A billion voices in one great song”, praising God through every culture and locality.

So this is indeed a very inclusive hymn in its own way, but reminding us also, through both verses and refrain, that the purpose of our life on earth is to glorify God in the way that we live.

The Bible in a Year – 22 October.

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

22 October. Romans chapters 8-10

In yesterday’s post I pointed out Paul’s brief reference to the Holy Spirit in chapter 5. He returns to the subject more extensively in chapter 8. If Romans is at the heart of Christian theology, then this chapter is at the heart of the letter.

It was the experience of Jesus that Paul (formerly Saul) had on the Damascus Road that transformed him from being a legalistic Jew to an ardent Christian believer in God’s offer of salvation to all people – as we shall see when we get to the book of Acts. This understanding that we are reconciled to God, not by ‘doing good’ nor even just by confessing our faults, but by trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus, is behind Paul’s writing to the Romans. And a sudden understanding of it through reading this book, or a commentary on it, was instrumental for two of the great men of Protestant Christianity – Luther and Wesley – in their own spiritual lives. Their understanding of this doctrine of ‘salvation by faith’ sparked both the Reformation in 16^th century Europe (the 500^th anniversary of Luther’s ‘conversion’ is being celebrated this month across the world), and the Methodist revival in 18^th century Britain.

Paul points out in this chapter three things that the Holy Spirit does in our lives. She* brings a sense of peace to our lives as we turn from a self-focussed worldview (“the flesh”) to a spiritual one (8:6); she creates within us a sense of being children of God (8:16); and she helps us to pray, even without words (8:27). Each one of these statements deserves a sermon in itself!

For Paul, the Spirit is always “the Spirit of Christ” – never working on her own but always with him. For that reason the Catholic church and its derivatives say in the creed that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”, although the Orthodox church still uses the simpler statement “proceeds from the Father”. Fortunately, wars are no longer started over such a small difference in theology. The important thing is to be open to the working of the Spirit so that you too may have the revelation that changed the lives of Saul, Luther and Wesley: that having Christ and his Spirit within you, giving you faith in them, is all that you need to be right with God. Nothing you can do by your own goodness can bring that about, nor can any sin, once confessed, prevent it.

* Lest anyone question my use of “she” and “her” to refer to the Spirit, let me explain. Conventionally all the persons of God, Creator, Redeemer and Spirit, are referred to by male pronouns. But a God who created man and woman in God’s own image, and who calls both men and women equally to be part of his family, cannot be restricted to one gender. Personally I experience the presence of God, on the occasions that I do, as more of a feminine presence than a masculine one. And given that the Hebrew word used for the spirit is feminine (so I am told), that is my preference when writing about her. The Spirit can, of course, equally be seen as having masculine qualities of power and strength. But please never say “it” for this most personal manifestation of God.