What isThat in Your Hand?

God asked Moses an interesting question in Exodus chapter four, "What is that in your hand?"  In and of itself the question is actually quite reasonable.  I can remember several incidents as a child when one of my parents would ask, "What is that in your hand?"  Usually it was because whatever was in my hand probably should not have been.  While my parents may not have always known what was in my hand when they asked, we can say for sure the Lord knew what Moses held.  The point of the question was to get Moses to see what he held.  God then demonstrated to him what could be done with that old walking stick when it and its owner were in the hand of God.

Moses was equipped with a shepherd's staff, a unique experience with God, and the portion of God's Word given to him in his day.  While we may not have the same sort of burning bush experience Moses had, we have the completed cannon of scripture available to us in multiple translations, paraphrases and media.  We have over two thousand years of writings of Godly men who have studied those scriptures through the ages and recorded their thoughts, insights, prayers, laments and conclusions.  On top of all that we live in an age in which through technology we can access any of that information at any time at no great expense. Truly we do hold much in our hands, and no doubt should be held accountable for these blessings we take for granted.  

There is something else you hold in your hand.  Every week you pick it up on cue, confidently turn in its pages and are exposed to some of the content already mentioned in this article.  There you see words of scripture, the thoughts and prayers of Godly men, and tears of great theologians on the pages of your hymnal.  As the words of our creeds, catechisms, and confessions link reformed believers past, present, and yes, future; so the songs of our hymnal link us through the years.  

You probably seldom think about the hymnal, other than to be exasperated when there is not one in your pew slot.  Many churches have made the decision to do away with hymnals.  It is so much cheaper now to simply project the words of songs on a wall or screen rather than waste resources on dusty books used only once a week.  Although I have always considered myself one who idolizes innovations and promotes progress, I mourn for a new world so brave it does not need the comfort and consolation provided by the companionship of a good hymnal.

Sadly, we don't make use of our hymnals.  Perhaps that is because few know of the tools, resources, and structure of hymnals.  Maybe that is because our church members have never been properly introduced to their hymnals.  Our hymnal, the Trinity Hymnal, is more than an anthology of old music.  It is a rich resource for personal and public worship.  Have you ever looked at the Table of Contents?  You may have assumed there was no rhyme or reason to the order in which hymns are listed.  Did you ever notice ours are arranged based on their general content or use. For instance, the first 99 are about different attributes of God.  Other sections are devoted to the Trinity, God's Word, The Church, etc.  In other words, if you were depressed because of the struggles you have had against Satan and temptations, you might want to look at hymns 570 through 582 that deal with spiritual warfare.  Could singing or reading the words of #570 Faith of Our Fathers, #571 Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus or #582 Yield Not to Temptation, be a source of encouragement to you at such a time?

At the back of the Trinity Hymnal there are a number of different cross referencing tools allow one to look up a hymn by author, (of the text) composer (of the tune), Biblical reference, name of tune, poetic meter, first line of the hymn or hymn topic.  Personally I find it exciting that  we have hymn text going back to Ambrose of Milan (340 A.D.) and as current as Michael Card's El Shaddai #42.  We have hymn tunes composed by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Bach, and Handel, as well as folk tunes from various continents.  Creative combinations and switching around of hymn texts is made possible by using the poetic meter index.  For instance, both O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (#164) and Amazing Grace #460 have the same meter.  That means either set of words can be sung to the tune of the other.  From the scripture reference index we can see that the largest set of hymns find their source in the book of Psalms.  I count somewhere around 260 hymns having their references there.

There is a big emphasis these days on singing new and modern songs.  Have you ever noticed that the Trinity Hymnal has 742 hymns in it?  Did you know there are 576 different tunes or melodies used for those 742 hymns?  As best I can figure, of those 576 tunes we utilize only 263, and we are probably only comfortable with about 200 of those.  Now I will be the first one to say that a lot of the hymn tunes are just not very singable.  I will also admit to you there are a lot of hymn tunes I really don't like and dread when I see we are going to sing them.  But, just because you or I don't like a certain hymn does not mean it can't minister to someone else and touch their heart.  Through the years there are hymns I absolutely could not stand when I first heard them, but now they are some of my favorite.  Maybe we should try and learn the hymns in our hymnal that have stood the test of time while we also explore the new and modern.

Beyond the anthology of hymns, the Trinity Hymnal also contains printed creeds, the Westminster Confession, and the shorter catechism.  These have little to do with music, but much to do with worship. These resources are available to the individual for personal devotion, or for use in corporate worship.

I am looking forward to the coming months as we attempt to make greater use of our hymnal.  As always, I would like to point out that if you are interested in learning more about music, singing, our hymnal and want a deeper worship experience, then perhaps the choir is where you belong.  We begin rehearsal at 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings.  We have some who go to their Sunday School class at 9:30 and rejoin us at 10:15 for a final run through.  Others stay and we work the whole hour and a half preparing for the coming weeks. You are welcome to come give it a try.  I do warn you though.  Praising God is addictive and once you start it is hard to quit.  Now I ask you that simple question, "What is that in your hand?"

Be Thou My Vision - A Word of Encouragement to Our Graduates

Through the years a lot of work has gone into developing hymnology tools that aid church musicians in finding appropriate hymns and choral music for special occasions.  One of the most useful of these tools is the topical index at the back of our Trinity Hymnal.  Unfortunately I often find that the topic I am looking for is not there.  "Graduation," should be in there somewhere, I am sure.  Unfortunately our topical index skips from, "Grace" all the way to, "Gratitude."  However, after looking at a few blogs and posts and a little consideration of the topic myself, I came to the conclusion that Be Thou My Vision would be a wonderful selection for our choir to sing on Sunday June 1, the day we recognize our graduates.

The text of Be Thou My Vision comes from a sixth century Irish monastic text.  It was first translated into English by Mary E. Byrne in 1905 and was later versified by Ellanor Hull in 1912.  The modern text we are most familiar with was edited and versified in 1964. The hymn, like so many others like it, is a prayer to God. It is an excellent prayer for anyone, but especially for a young person taking the first steps out into a big wide confusing world.

When we translate a hymn from one language into another and then try to versify the translation so that it fits the rhythm of the original tune to which it is sung, sometimes we get confusing and jumbled wording.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart,

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art,

Thou my best thought by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

The first stanza of they hymn is a petition for a single-minded devotion and focus on the things of God.  The request is that God, and God alone would be the Lord of my heart.  The confusing second line is saying, "Nothing else, only Thou!"  The petitioner, knowing that in him dwells no good thing, declares that the best thought he can have, day or night, awake or asleep, is to think on the Lord.  He fully acknowledges that God must be not only his vision, but his light.  For those graduates who embark on a collegiate career, you need to prayerfully ask God to be your vision.  You will see great and marvelous ideas, theories, and world views that you will find wonderfully tantalizing.  You will be exposed to wonderful explanations of facts that will challenge the very foundation of all you have been taught.  You will literally hear that good is evil and evil is good.  You will need to have God as your Vision, and the ruling thought in your mind.  Believers, this is a good prayer for all of us, regardless of our age.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my True Word,

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father and I Thy true son,

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

This second stanza of the hymn is actually about the Word of God.  How can God be a believer's Wisdom and True Word? By the believer reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the written Word of God. Only by the process of reading and studying God's Word can be achieve the duality expressed in this stanza.  As God's Word becomes part of us we become more aware of the mind of Christ.  We truly begin to act like children of the Father as His Word becomes part of us.  Graduate, if you are not already, it is time to become a student of the Word of God.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,

Thou mine inheritance, now and always,

Thou and Thou, only, First in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

It is my sincere hope and wish that every single one of our graduates would have very successful and lucrative careers.  Many a young person has sought a career that promised wealth or prestige, but what he found was bankruptcy of the soul.  Be successful.  Pursue your dreams.  Remember, however, that if you are a believer, you are already a child of the King and there is no higher claim to fame than that.  There is no greater inheritance.  There is no greater treasure than what you already have.  This is a perspective we loose site of in the struggles of life.  Believers of all ages, as you face the challenge of life, remember that your Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

High King of heaven, my victory won,

May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun,

Heart of my own heart, whatever be fall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

The last stanza, graduates, is about a subject you do not think on that much.  It is about the end of life.  I pray God grants you a long productive life full of challenges, victories, and few defeats.  There are people I went to school with who did not live to graduate.  There are people I went to school with, who within a decade of graduation no longer walked the earth. This final stanza reflects upon the ultimate and final graduation.  It refers to the end of life as, "my victory won."  Even as you see your high school life ending and a new life beginning, one day you will graduate from this mortal school of hard knocks and, like a victor, you will enter into eternity. But notice even now the petitioner, while addressing God as, "Heart of my own heart,"  requests that God continue to be His Vision, whatever may happen.

You will have a vision and an outlook that characterizes you life.  People will know you for your vision, whatever it is.  You can adopt the vision of your professors, or your employers, or that of your favorite celebrity you follow on various social networks.  Or you can seek to have the Master and Creator of the universe as the source of your vision, and your outlook.  He can be the world view that characterizes your life after this graduation, and those to come.  God Bless you graduates.