Hymns
Posts in Comfortable Words tagged ‘Hymns’
A hymn that develops the exhortation of St Paul, that we should ‘pray without ceasing’.
Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) was an Irishman, born in Dublin, who emigrated to Canada in 1847 and dedicated his life to education, preaching, and charitable work. His life was beset by disappointments and bereavements: twice he was engaged to be married, and twice his fiancée died. This poem was written for his mother when she fell dangerously ill in 1855, and headed ‘Pray without ceasing’.
A hymn about the temple of the Christian heart, where the Wisdom of God makes his humble dwelling.
Charles Wesley’s Love Divine is a staple of weddings but it is, of course, much more than a paean to married love. It picks up on St Paul’s teaching that God dwells in each Christian as he dwelt in the Temple at Jerusalem, and (if he is allowed to) gradually transforms the believer into his own glory — what the Church Fathers used to call theosis, making man divine.
A hymn about free grace, based on St Peter’s release from prison by the hand of an angel.
This hymn is one of Charles Wesley’s finest. It draws on St Luke’s account, in the Acts of the Apostles, of St Peter’s release from prison by an angel sent from God, and relates it to the Christian who realises that Jesus Christ has torn up the indictment for sin that stood between them.
A hymn about the enduring freshness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In 1866, Katherine Hankey (1834-1911), daughter of an English banker, was recovering from a long and debilitating illness. Thankful for this answer to her prayers, she composed a long poem reflecting on the story of redemption. Within a year, the handful of verses given below had became a popular hymn, helped by a memorable musical setting by American inventor and choirmaster William Howard Doane.
A short hymn inspired by some words from the Song of Songs, asking the Good Shepherd to lead his straying lamb back to the flock.
This hymn is part of a series of poems based on the Song of Songs in the Old Testament. Charles Wesley combines two Biblical images together: the Good Shepherd, which he takes from the Song and from St John’s Gospel; and Christ as the Rock where Moses was enabled to look upon God’s glory without being destroyed by the sight.
A hymn for those times when the Christian life seems like riding in a storm-tossed ship.
Jesu, Lover of My Soul begins with an image of the Christian life as a ship tossed upon the heaving waters of a storm at sea without, and ends with the image of a refreshing fountain of eternal youth welling up within.