Hymn-ful Sundays! "Come and Join the Celebration"

The last Hymn-ful Sunday post! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already.

This week's hymn again speaks of the birth of our Saviour Jesus. It is a celebratory hymn written by Valerie Collison and is sung as one of the Christmas/Advent traditions of my home church in Barbados. Valerie Collison is a contemporary hymnwriter and organist from the United Kingdom, and this is one of her most popular compositions.

Biweekly Bits #24: Encourage others

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Encourage others. My senior year of college, I was a tutor for students in 100-level biology and chemistry. All of them were students of color, many of them were first-generation students as well, and all were science or pre-health majors, and were struggling in the intro science classes that they were required to take. But we worked hard, and they had practice problems and analogies (and the occasional marker thrown at them for saying foolishness). But I didn't realize until much later that the greatest thing I did for them was that I believed that they could do this whole college thing. One of them said to me one day, "Shanique, sometimes I think you believe in us more than we believe in ourselves." My reply to her was, "Well, someone has to believe in you." They all have either graduated from college, or will graduate this academic year.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Joy to the World"

This week's hymn continues in the Advent trend with a popular hymn by prolific hymnwriter Isaac Watts, who lived in the 17th century in England. Watts wrote many hymns and songs based directly on passages of scripture. This one is based on Psalm 98.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Love Came Down at Christmas"

For the third Sunday of Advent I've chosen this short poem by Christina Rossetti which was set to music as a Christmas hymn by several composers. The poem was composed and published late in the 19th century, and was one of many poems composed by this poet. Christina Rossetti began writing poems as a teenager, and religious devotion became a big part of her life after a nervous breakdown which caused her to leave school. Christina became well-known for her poetry, and her siblings were creative as well, one brother becoming a celebrated artist, and the other brother and her sister both becoming writers.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"

This week's hymn is, once again by Charles Wesley! Charles and his brother John were founders of Methodism in the eighteenth century, and Charles was a prolific hymnwriter, writing many of the great hymns of the faith. This hymn of his is generally sung at Advent, which makes it a wonderful choice for today, the second Sunday of Advent!

Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the season in the liturgical tradition which prepares us for the Christmas celebration. Thus for today I have chosen a well-known traditional Advent hymn, which dates from the 12th century. It is said that this hymn has several contributors, so there isn't a single author, but it was translated from Latin by John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest and hymn-writer in the 19th century. The versions of verses vary, especially for the later verses, so I have chosen the version most familiar to me. 

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Jesus Calls us o'er the Tumult"

Our hymn this week is the work of Cecil Frances Alexander, an Irish nineteenth century hymnwriter and poet. "Fanny" as she was best known, began writing at an early age, and wrote many many poems and hymns, including some well-known children's hymns. In fact, hymns for children was her specialty. This week's hymn is one of the few that she wrote that weren't for children.

Biweekly Bits #21: Let your grain die

After writing 26 bits, I realized that there is so much I could elaborate on with each of my bits. So I decided to turn them into a biweekly (i.e. fortnightly) series, for the next year.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24). Your greatest impact is found in dying to self. If you're just caught up in you, you can't bear any fruit. I'm pretty sure this verse will teach me many more lessons in life.

I never noticed this verse in John until a few years ago, but it has stuck with me ever since. These words of Jesus speak one of the greatest truths of Christ's life on earth and our responsibility as we walk with Him. This truth is that service costs us.

And serving does come with a cost. It requires us to put ourselves, our desires and wishes aside for the good of others. If each of us is a grain of wheat, it is only in allowing ourselves to be used by God, to be emptied of ourselves, that we can multiply and have impact.

Too often we have this individualistic view of service and ministry, which can make us lose sight of our goal, which is Christ, and spreading the Gospel throughout the earth. Too often we are afraid to take risks in our walk with God, not knowing that it is only by the death of that single grain that new life can come to many. Something must be sown for the harvest to be reaped.

So today I challenge you to focus on where in your life you've been afraid to let your grain of wheat die. I challenge you to allow the fruit resulting from your grain to be nourished and grown. Let us live a life of service to others, for it bears much fruit.

Be blessed and shine, bearing much fruit!

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Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Happy Day"

This week's hymn is by Philip Doddridge, and eighteenth century writer, teacher and hymn-writer in Britain. Doddridge was the youngest of twenty (!) children, and a clergyman of an independent church in Britain.

Heart's Desires

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

I used to think that verse meant that if I loved God and if I delighted in Him, God would give me what I really wanted. I mean, that's basically what it says right?

But I have (slowly) come to realise that if that was all that I ever understood from that verse, I'd be missing out on a whole lot. And if I try to delight myself in the Lord because I want things or so that I can have my heart's desire, then I'm really not delighting in the Lord.

The entire psalm, one of the many written by David, talks about patience and trust in God. David's words came at a time in life where he was trusting God to make things right. His delight was in the Lord not so that the Lord would be on his side, but because he knew that the Lord was faithful to his people.

But David was a man who went all in (and all out) when it came to God. When he took delight in God, God became the desire of his heart. That's why David also wrote the words "my soul thirsts after you in a dry and weary land"(Ps 63:1) and "one thing...will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps 27:4). In his wholehearted pursuit of God, his desire turned to God only. All the other things that might have crowded his heart, clamoring for his attention were silenced. Once his focus was on God, none of those things mattered, yet they were all taken care of.

AW Tozer writes this in The Pursuit of God: 

The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

And David isn't the only place in the Bible where God shows us what our hearts desires should be. David's words here foreshadow those of Jesus which came several hundred years afterward: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt 6:33), and those of Paul years after that "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." (Phil 4:4)

It is in taking our delight in God, pursuing God, making God alone the cry of our hearts that we can truly receive, or even understand the fullness of true prosperity, which is not limited by the extent of what our minds can perceive. Delighting in God, desiring God is a positive feedback loop where in wanting God and getting Him, we want Him all the more.

So truly take delight in the Lord, and make Him the desire of your heart. Pursue God, seek Him, for God has never yet forsaken the righteous. Let us work on changing the desires of our hearts

Be blessed and shine with new heart's desires!

Hymn-ful Sundays! "O the Bitter Shame and Sorrow"

This week's hymn is by Parisian Theodore Monod, who wrote these words during a series of consecration services in England. Monod was the son of a pastor in the French Reformed Church, and became a pastor himself, serving in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "How Deep the Father's Love for Us"

This week's hymn is another modern one, written by British song- and hymn-writer Stuart Townsend in 1995. Townsend also co-wrote "In Christ Alone", which I featured earlier this year. He is the son of a Church of England minister, and the youngest of four children. He began writing music at the age of 22.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "My Faith Looks up to Thee"

Ray Palmer, a nineteenth century teacher, pastor and writer, wrote this week's hymn, shortly after graduating from Yale University, after receiving a vision of Christ. He carried the words that he'd penned around with him for two years, before meeting Lowell Mason, who asked him if he had any hymns to include in a compilation that he was creating. Palmer gave Mason the words that he'd written, and he set them to music. Mason told Palmer that he'd do many good things in his life, but he'd be remembered best for writing this hymn.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "O Thou Who Camest From Above"

This week's hymn is yet another by Charles Wesley, one of the prominent hymnwriters of the Methodist tradition.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "To God be the Glory"

We're back with Fanny Crosby again! This American hymnwriter wrote many many popular hymns that we still are singing almost 150 years later! This week's is a hymn of praise to God for all that He has done.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

It is Resurrection Sunday! (Also known as Easter Sunday.) Today we celebrate our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not only did He die for our sins, but He conquered death itself so that we might have life in Him! Hallelujah!

This week's hymn really speaks to the purpose of Christ, so I thought it would be a good one for today. It's written by Philip Bliss, and was written shortly before his death. Bliss was a preacher and a hymnwriter in the 19th century.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "Tell me the stories of Jesus"

This week's hymn is one by W. H. Parker, and is usually considered to be a children's hymn.

The Church: Moral Voice or Hospital?

On twitter one night, a blogger friend of mine, Jason Neil Soto posed this question:

Should the church operate more as the voice of morality in society, or as a hospital for the wounded?
— Jason Neil Soto (@JasonNeilSoto) September 21, 2013

I responded to him saying that those were not mutually exclusive. The point of his question, however, was from the perspective of church programming and focus. After much thought, I have two answers to this question: both, and neither.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "In Christ alone"

This week's hymn is pretty new as far as hymns go. (It was written in 2001.) It's one of my favourites nevertheless.

Hymn-ful Sundays! "My God, I am thine"

This week's hymn is another by Charles Wesley.