Tag: spiritual gifts

Beyond all mortal praise

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Beyond all mortal praise” by Timothy Dudley- Smith. In the book it’s set to a tune by Wayne Marshall, but John used the better known ‘Darwall’s 148th’ usually used for “Ye holy angels bright”.  This hymn shares the general theme of that one, namely the praise of God the creator.

The first verse presents God in the way many people still think of him – remote, unsearchable and all-powerful. The second, “our times are in his hand” also give the impression that everything, whether the seasons of the year or the fates of empires, are the result of God’s will.  These ideas, unless you take a rather extreme view of predestination, are not really compatible with the intimately present God we see in Jesus, but then the hymn is said to be based on an Old Testament passage (Daniel chapter 2).   

The third verse, “He gives to humankind, dividing as he will, all powers of heart and mind, of spirit, strength and skill”, also keeps God firmly in control, although it is compatible with the idea in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people as he wishes. The last verse is again a praise of God the Father, rather than the usual Christian doxology of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is therefore a hymn that might be suitable for an ecumenical occasion as the words would seem to be acceptable to Jews and Muslims, but seems rather odd in a Christian hymn book where Jesus usually get a mention by one of his names or titles.

Lord of the Church

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Lord of the Church, we pray for our renewing” by Timothy Dudley-Smith.  As the first line suggests, it’s a corporate hymn that seems more meaningful when sung by a church congregation (perhaps especially at an ecumenical gathering) rather than by an individual.  Some of the hymns we’ve sung in the ‘ministry and mission’ section have been more individual (such as “I the Lord of sea and sky”) and it’s good to balance these with the corporate ones.

In its three verses, each beginning “Lord of the Church”, we ask Christ (for it is He) for our renewing, blessing and uniting. The first two verses also mention the Holy Spirit, who we ask to “burn for our enduing*, fan the living flame” and fill us.  The three requests of uniting, blessing and renewing belong together: where the church is not united in faith and action, it cannot expect to receive the fulness of Christ’s blessing, nor of the Spirit’s renewal.

The words do acknowledge the difficulties we have in this area: “we turn to Christ amid our fears and failings, the will that lacks the courage to be free, the weary labours all but unavailing… from our restless striving”. Instead we ask to be “brought nearer [to] what a church should be” and to be led by Christ until “one Church triumphant one new song shall sing”. That will only be fully accomplished in the life to come, but we must still strive towards it, with his help.

The suggested tune, and I can’t imagine the author had any other in mind, is the one variously known as the [London]Derry Air, or Danny Boy.  Its long lines don’t make for easy singing unless you know it well, and the folk tune covers quite a wide range, but I find it comfortably fits my tenor range, and I enjoyed singing this hymn.

* Just as an aside: John transcribed and sang this as “burn for our enduring”, which may make some sense, but “enduing” is how it is printed in this book and elsewhere.  An archaic verb, but defined as “to invest or endow with some gift, quality, or faculty”.  So we are asking the Spirit here to endow us with his gifts, which makes more sense.  An even older definition of “endue” apparently is “’induct into an ecclesiastical living” but I don’t think the author here expects everyone to pray to become an Anglican vicar!

Holy Spirit, gift bestower

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Holy spirit, gift bestower” which is noted in the book as ‘author unknown’ although a quick search online reveals the composer to be the Revd Catherine Anne Williams (b.1956).

Like yesterday’s, the words (for the most part) celebrate the gentle coming of the Spirit in his/her many facets: gift bestower, flowing water, dove that hovers, love inspirer, joy releaser, reconciler, peace restorer, Christ proclaimer, wisdom bringer, wind that whispers, comfort bearer, faith confirmer.  All very comfortable images, and the gentle Welsh melody lends itself well to these sentiments. The presence of the Spirit is what we often need when life is hitting us hard.

There are, however, some exceptions, some phrases here that remind us of the less comfortable aspects of the Spirit’s ministry: fire that dances, ease disturber, truth revealer.  Jesus said the Spirit would “lead us into all truth” and that includes both making us aware of our own shortcomings, and also making us aware of the needs of others, even the evil in the world, where we have to be stirred from complacency to take action in Jesus’ name.

Not for tongues of Heaven’s angels

The ‘three graces’ of faith, love and hope
Stained glass window in All Saints, Barwick-in-Elmet (Leeds)
image (c) Stephen Craven 2019

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is Timothy Dudley-Smith’s “Not for tongues of Heaven’s angels” which is based on St Paul’s famous description of true (Godly) love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  The tune, “Bridegroom” is more familiar to me set to the words “Like the murmur of the dove’s song” which we will come to in a month’s time at Pentecost, but these seem to be its original words.

It’s suggested as a hymn for a marriage service, but the love of which Paul writes is not that of romance. It is a love that expresses commitment, but commitment to serving other people at whatever cost.  This love, in one of the most often quoted verses of the Bible, goes along with faith and hope, but is the greatest of the three, and all of those are greater than the “tongues of angels”.   The final line or refrain of each verse is “May love be ours, O Lord”.

Verse 1 takes the idea from the Bible passage of contrasting this love with the more spectacular spiritual gifts of tongues (a special language given by God to some people with which to pray and praise), discernment (a form of prophecy that can see people’s hidden thoughts and feelings) and ‘the faith that masters mountains’.  That last refers to a saying of Jesus that even a tiny amount of faith ‘like a mustard seed’ can move mountains.

The second and third verses list the qualities of this true Godly love: humble, gentle, tender, kind, gracious, patient, generous; never jealous, selfish, boasting or resentful but long-suffering.  These qualities, some of which are sometimes called ‘fruits of the Spirit’, will indeed help make for a happy and stable marriage, but the real challenge is to allow God’s Spirit to make us loving like this to everyone we meet.

The last verse reminds us that the effort we make in this life to be loving will not go unnoticed in the next, and can perhaps be seen as a rehearsal for the real thing. “in the day this world is fading faith and hope will play their part, but when Christ is seen in glory love shall reign in every heart”.  If we are used to loving like Christ now, we will not find his second coming as much of an upheaval as those who have not discovered this true love.

The Bible in a Year – 19 January

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

19 January. Exodus chapters 4 – 6

When Moses is given instructions on negotiating with Pharaoh for the release of his people, his complaint (to God!) is that he is not eloquent in speech – the same claim was made by St Paul (regarded as one of the most influential evangelists and writers of the early church) and is echoed in Isaiah’s “I am a man of unclean lips” (in fact a footnote tells us that Moses literally said “I am uncircumcised of lips”, much the same idea). So God suggests that his brother Aaron does the talking, while he gifts Moses with the ability to perform miracles that will outdo the tricks of the Egyptian magicians. It often seems to be the case that people are reluctant to recognise ways in which they can be of service to God, thinking that because they may not be “perfect” they are unworthy to serve at all. But in fact it is “in weakness that God’s power is made perfect”, and if we recognise in us the urging of the Holy Spirit towards some kind of service (be it preaching, evangelism, pastoral care, community service or political engagement) then we should pray for confidence and opportunities to put that call into practice, not shrink from the task on the grounds of inexperience.