Music - Dene's Blog

Do You Know What You Are Singing? The Lily of the Valley, Part 2

7/9/2015 0 Comments

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morningstar,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.

   Three phrases, three passages, two in the same book. This will take some explanation.

The old view says that the Song of Solomon was an allegory of Christ and the church. Fewer people accept that any longer, and though it may have sparked the original lyrics, I am not certain they were meant in precisely that way. For one thing, the analogy doesn’t hold up.

   I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys, Song of Solomon 2:1.

   My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand, Song of
Solomon 5:10.

   In the first passage, the shepherdess is talking about herself. In the second, the shepherdess is speaking about her beloved, the shepherd (or Solomon if you prefer that interpretation of the book). Those passages are about two different people in the narrative, so how could the poet be following the old interpretation of Christ and the church in the hymn if the analogy does not hold up?

   Here is the point we are so bad about seeing sometimes: they are figures of speech. The lyricist has borrowed various phrases out of the Bible to depict how wonderful Christ is to the believer. Did you catch the Rose of Sharon reference too? These are poetic metaphors. Making literal arguments from figures of speech is something we ridicule our religious neighbors for doing. Why do we? Jesus is like a beautiful flower. He is so fair (as in “Fairest Lord Jesus” too, by the way) we could say he is the fairest among ten thousand.

   Does that mean number 10,001 is fairer than he is? Of course not, not any more than the other phrase means he has a stem and petals. None of these is meant to be taken literally whether you believe in the allegorical version of the Song of Solomon or not. As it happens, I don’t. I believe it is in there to show us how to order our romantic marital love. If that isn’t what it’s about, then God left something awfully important out of the Bible and I don’t believe that for a minute. He tells us too many times that it contains everything we could possibly need in any circumstance. And if Paul can talk about the church being the “bride of Christ” why can’t I use these terms for my spiritual “husband?”

   Then we have the “Bright and Morningstar.” What is that all about? Balaam prophesied, “There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,” Num 24:17. Peter tells us, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” 2 Pet 1:19. The Morningstar, or daystar, was a bright star that appeared just before dawn at certain times of the year, Venus I read in one place, which at other times of the year is the Evening Star. Jesus is our Morningstar. He appeared before the coming of his kingdom, the “day” Joel speaks of in Joel 2. He will appear again on the “day” he takes us to our promised rest. When we accept him in our hearts, he “appears” to us individually (and figuratively) on that “day” as we enter his spiritual body. Take your pick of interpretations and “days.” Any of them satisfy the metaphor.

   That leaves us with just one more wonderful phrase to cover next time, a promise that should encourage us all. But for now, dwell on these a little while. Is Christ that important to you? Is he that beautiful to you? Would these figures of speech rise from your lips? Or are we a little too ignorant of the Word and a lot too embarrassed to say such syrupy words about a Savior who gave up everything for us?

Dene Ward

Do You Know What You Are Singing?--Lily of the Valley, Part 1 (of 3)

7/8/2015 1 Comments

I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.
o
Refrain:

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.

(Refrain)

He’ll never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll.

(Refrain)

   I bet you have sung that song all your life. It’s one of those old ones that so many sneer at nowadays. Yet this song does something very few of the new ones can. It contains a different scriptural reference in nearly every line. Take a minute and look at the song. Can you find them? Here is the shame on us—in the days when this song was written, everyone who claimed to be a Christian, even some we would not classify as “New Testament Christians,” could find them all—they knew their scriptures that well--while we sit here at best thinking, “That sounds vaguely familiar.”

   Obviously I don’t have space to go over them all. Let me do the obvious ones quickly, and then we will spend two more sessions on the rest.

   “I have found a friend in Jesus,” Matt 11:19.

   “All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole,” 1 John 1:7; Acts 9:34.

   “In sorrow he’s my comfort, in trouble he’s my stay;” you will find this sentiment all over the psalms and the prophets, too many to list.

   “He tells me every care on him to roll,” 1 Pet 5:7.

   “He all my griefs has taken and all my sorrows borne,” Isa 53:4.

   “He’s my strong and mighty tower,” Psa 61:3.

   “I have all for him forsaken and all my idols torn from my heart,” Ezek 36:25; Hos 14:3,4.

   “He keeps me by his power,” 1 Pet 1:5.

   “Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal,” Phil 3:14.

   “He will never never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,” Heb 13:5.

   “While I live by faith” Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.

   “Do his blessed will” Matt 7:21.

   “With his manna he my hungry soul shall fill,” nearly two dozen verses from Exodus 16 to John 6 along with Matt 5:6.

   “To see his blessed face,” Rev 22:4.

   Did you catch all those? I defy you to find more than a few songs written after 1960 that have that many scriptural references in them, unless they repeat one Biblical phrase over and over, or are lifted whole cloth out of the scriptures. It’s time we learned what those old songs were about before we go throwing them out just because we think them “old” and “archaic” and “boring.” Maybe they wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if we knew God’s Word like we ought to.

   And these phrases were just the easy ones, the ones you can probably figure out for yourself with no help. In the next two days, the two remaining posts on this hymn will begin to get a little more difficult. While you wait for those, though, spend a little time with the scriptures listed above and ask yourself, “Could I even begin to do the job this poet did?”

Dene Ward

Just Filling the Time

5/8/2015 2 Comments

When I did my internship as a music teacher in the public schools, I looked up one day to find my professor walking into the music room behind the fifth grade class scheduled for that half hour. My heart sank. I did have a lesson prepared, but it was not a wow-zer. It taught a valid musical concept, one I could easily build on in future lessons—the first of what educators called a “unit.” I had prepared a lesson plan with appropriate behavioral objectives. It met all expectations and requirements. But to me, it seemed so—well, ordinary.

   I taught that lesson twice in a row with no problems. The students caught on quickly and I met the objectives with no difficulty. After the second group left I approached the tall, slim, dignified looking lady, expecting her to meet me with, at best, a mediocre assessment.

   “Good job,” she said, and when my jaw dropped she added, “Listen: they can’t all be showstoppers. You taught an important lesson and you taught it well. They learned exactly what you set out to teach them and they enjoyed it.”

   I learned something that day, something I keep reminding myself as I approach the computer day after day, struggling sometimes to find something to write. Just do your best. Turn in a good effort, be faithful to the Word God has entrusted you with, and let Him take care of the rest.

   Sometimes I hear from people telling me that what I wrote was exactly what they needed that day. A few times it was a piece I almost deleted because I was so dissatisfied with it. The same thing has happened to Keith. When you preach two sermons a week, every week, you occasionally produce one just because you needed one to fill the time one Sunday morning, not because you were particularly enthralled with the subject. Many times people have complimented those very sermons. At least one of them led directly to a conversion.

   Many times we feel unnoticed and totally useless to the Lord. We think we are doing nothing for God because nothing we do matters. Nonsense. More people are watching you than you know. You need to learn the same lesson I did. Every day can't be a showstopper. Some days are so ordinary as to make you wonder why you exist. You get up, you go to work, you come home and spend time with the family. You pay your bills on time and help the neighbor with his ornery lawn mower, perhaps even mowing his yard for him. You study your Bible, and then you hit the sack and get up and go again the next morning, an ordinary--you think--honest, hard-working joe.

Or you get up and down all night with the baby and barely know you are sending your older ones off to school because you are so tired. But then you still do the grocery shopping and prepare the meals and launder the clothes. You wash dishes and scrub floors and dust the countertops and shelves, change the sheets, then throw together an extra casserole for a sick neighbor, help the kids with their Bible lesson and then their homework, and fall into bed exhausted.

Or you sit at home alone because you are too old and sick and frail to get out any longer, so you watch a little TV, read your Bible, call a few folks on the sick list (besides yourself), write a few get well and sympathy cards, then go to bed and start all over again tomorrow.

And all of you wonder, what good is that to anyone? Well, you never know, especially when you count God into the mix. He can work wonders with the weak, the frightened, and the average. He can take the smallest seed you plant and make a huge tree out of it. Don’t you remember a parable along those lines? In God’s hands, nothing you do is just filling up time.

So get up every morning and do what you are supposed to do in the way you are supposed to do it. Someone out there needs to see you do that, and if you do, God will take care of the rest.

I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that waters are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow-workers... 1Cor 3:6-9.

Dene Ward

A Bucket of Cold Water

4/17/2015 2 Comments

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95:1,2.

    Psalm 95 is generally thought to have been one sung during the Feast of Tabernacles. Meribah and Massah are used in its body, a time in the wilderness when God taught His people a hard lesson. But this psalm starts just as you would expect a festival psalm to. Come let us sing, let us make a joyful noise.
    Just as an interesting point, the Hebrew word translated “sing” in this passage is not a musical word. Ranan means to emit a stridulous sound (not exactly how I would want my singing described) or to shout, and is indeed translated shout, cry out, rejoice, joy, or triumph half the time in the KJV. And that makes that opening couplet much more parallel to the second one, “make a joyful noise to him.”
    About that “joyful noise:” that particular Hebrew word means to mar, especially by breaking, to shout, or to split the ears. In our words we might say, “He burst my eardrums he was so loud.” Think about standing at a football stadium in the middle of the game, or beneath a jet engine as it revs for take-off. That’s the noise we are talking about. In fact, this word is translated “blow an alarm [with a trumpet]” a couple of times. As the second verse continues, we are to do this in psalms of praise so singing is involved, but the point of these two words is not the melody but the volume, caused by unabashed joy and celebration.
    You find this often in the psalms. Noise and clamor seemed to be a part of the Jewish worship. Perhaps the psalmist, and God as his inspiration, had noticed. Right in the middle of the psalm, he throws what amounts to a cold bucket of water on all the festivities.
    Their celebration of the feast had made them forget what the wandering was all about—and it wasn’t fun and games. An entire generation died because of their faithlessness. Toward the end of verse 7 he interrupts their self-congratulation that God loves them and cares for them with, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof.
    Yes, God made a covenant that He would be with them and protect them, but only if they performed their half of the contract. Their ancestors did not. God goes on to say that He loathed that generation. That English word, I am told, is far too mild for the Hebrew idea. It means they disgusted Him, they nauseated Him, as in “I will spew you out of my mouth” nausea. Because of that, they did not receive the promised rest, a rest like God’s, a Sabbath rest not because you are tired, but because have finished the task (Heb 4:1-11).
    Those people seemed to think, as the prophets testified, that all it took was loud worship to please God. The tendency is to judge our own worship as lacking because of this, too. We ask, “Why don’t we ever do that?” as if anything solemn and quiet is not sincere worship and certainly not acceptable to God. It is easy to think, as they did, that volume is all that matters.
    “If you hear his voice” the psalmist says and then makes it clear that hearing involves reverence and obedience. In order to underscore this emphasis, the psalmist does not go back and say, “Okay, get on with the celebration now. I just wanted to interject a warning.” No, this is where he ends it. He wants this to be the last thing on their minds as they finish singing this psalm: “Therefore I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.”
    What started out as a jubilant service ends up with the wrath of God. I am sure their songs were not quite so ecstatic, their noise not quite so loud, for who can be carefree when he contemplates the wrath of the Almighty, the one the psalmist has already reminded us created everything and holds it in His hand?

Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols. But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, Amos 5:23,24.

Dene Ward.

Do You Know What You Are Singing? The Great Physician

4/1/2015 0 Comments

Sweetest note in seraph song,
Sweetest name on mortal tongue.

              Do you know what a seraph is? I bet you have heard the word “seraphim” before and know it is a kind of angel. But even that is not quite right.

            In English we form plurals in several different ways: “s,” “es”, “ies”, plus those plurals that are Latin derivatives where “is” becomes “es” (analysis/analyses), “um” becomes “a” (memorandum/memoranda), and “us” becomes “i” (cactus/cacti).

            One way to form a plural in Hebrew is to add “im.” So there is one seraph and more than one seraphim, one cherub and more than one cherubim. A “seraph” song is a song a seraph, or several seraphim, might sing.

            We don’t really know a whole lot about angelic beings. I can tell you one thing, though: they don’t look like chubby little naked flying babies with wings, shooting bows and arrows!

            The only word picture I could find of seraphim is of those around the throne of God in Isaiah’s vision of chapter 6. They are anything but “cute.” Those seraphim had six wings. When they spoke the threshold of the Temple shook and smoke filled the rooms. Those creatures could hold live coals in their hands. John said the angels around God’s throne were “mighty,” Rev 5:2. I do not know if those were seraphim or not, but they stood in the same place as Isaiah’s seraphim.

            As to angels singing about Jesus, is that scriptural?

            And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:13,14.

            Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5:11,12. Earlier, in verse 9, John calls what they were doing “singing.”

            So from his birth to his ascension and afterward the angels sang about Jesus. Seraphim, cherubim, archangels, whatever--I doubt any refused, do you?

            But here is the point of the song: what our Savior did for us is so glorious, so marvelous, so gracious and good that everyone should be singing his praises, whether “seraph” or “mortal.”

            It is sad that our books do not contain the following verse to this song:

              And when to that bright world above
            We rise to be with Jesus,
            We’ll sing around the throne of love,
            His Name—the Name of Jesus.

Isn’t it an appropriate idea that where the seraphim stand guard over the throne of God, singing, we will also stand, singing praise to the Great Physician?

After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and [about] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, [be] unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Rev 7:9-12.

Dene Ward

A Four Star Hotel

3/20/2015 2 Comments

About fifteen years ago, a music teacher friend and I attended a state level vocal competition in a small Florida town. She was the state treasurer, the one who handed out checks to judges and scholarship winners. I was the accompanist for two of the entrants. When we tried to make our reservations, the one hotel in town, an old Southern relic complete with ceiling fans and rockers on a wood-planked front porch, was booked solid and had been for months. Our only choice was the motel up by the interstate. We did not expect much, given the name on the sign and the price, so we weren’t surprised when we quickly stopped by to deposit our bags and saw the size of the room in the gloom. We had no time to inspect the premises or even turn on a light or open the shades. We just dumped our bags and drove on to the competition.

   When we returned about ten o’clock that night, we almost left our things and fled, but there was no place to run to. The parking lot had been empty at 5 pm, but now it was full of souped-up, high rise, four wheel drive pickups, their fenders caked with streaks of mud and their windows with dust. Evidently their owners also found their rooms cramped, because it seemed like all of them were standing outside, laughing uproariously at one another’s jokes and adding to their flannel-clad beer bellies by the six pack, several of which they tossed around.

   We actually had to pull in between two of those trucks, and all talking ceased as we left our car. I have never been so thrilled with my regular accompanist’s attire—a plain, black, mid-calf dress with a high neck and long sleeves. My friend wore a dressy business suit, and we were both on the wrong side of forty, so they let us pass without a word. When we got inside, we locked the door, put a chair under the knob, and pinned those still closed draperies overlapped and shut.

   Then we saw our room in the light for the first time. You could barely get between the outside edge of each bed and its neighboring wall. The rod for our hanging clothes was loose on one end, and couldn’t support the weight of even my one dress, much less it and her suit. The soap was half the size of the usual motel sliver, and the bath towels more like hand towels. The pipes rattled, the tub sported a rust streak the color and width of a lock of Lucy’s hair, and the carpet had so many stains it looked like a planned pattern.

   After we managed to shower in the tepid, anemic stream of water, we pulled down the sheets and my friend moaned, “Oh no.” With some trepidation I approached her bed in my nightgown and heels—neither of us wanted to go barefoot and they were all I had—and there lying on her pillow was a long black hair. Her hair was short and very blond, she being a Minnesotan by birth with a strong streak of Norse in her veins. “Please tell me the maid lost this hair when she was putting on clean—very clean—sheets.”

   “Okay,” I muttered. “The maid lost that hair when she was putting on clean—ultra clean and highly bleached—sheets.”

   When we got to bed, it wasn’t to sleep. Not with the noise going on in the parking lot just outside our door or in the neighboring rooms. The walls seemed as thin as tent walls. We rose in the morning bleary-eyed and ready to leave as quickly as possible. This place offered no “free breakfast” and we would not have eaten it if it had. We promised one another that if we ever had to come back and couldn’t get a room in town, we would stay anywhere else, even if it meant a fifty mile drive, one way.

      It was a horrible experience, but some of us offer one just like it to the Lord.

     For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Eph 3:14-17.

     According to Paul, it takes effort to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts, enough that he prayed for them to have the strength to allow it. Are you allowing it? And if you are, what sort of accommodations are you offering him?

   Making a welcoming environment for him may not happen overnight, especially if we are dealing with deep-seated habits or even addictions of one sort or another. He understands that, but we must constantly be adjusting our behavior to suit him, not ourselves, putting his desires ahead of our own, becoming, in fact, a completely different person altogether. Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new, 2 Cor 5:17.

   But this isn’t just a problem for new Christians. I have seen older Christians act as if Christ is nowhere nearby, much less dwelling in their hearts. Their language, their fits of pique, their dress, their choice of entertainment, and the complete lack of spiritual nourishment they partake of starved him and ran him off a long time ago, and they don’t even seem to realize it. What? Do you really think he will stay in a flophouse instead of the four star hotel you should have offered him?

   What it all boils down to is a failure to live like we have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, Gal 2:20. Did you see that? Allowing him to dwell in you (Eph 3:17) and living a new crucified life both happen “by faith.” Even if you have been claiming to be a Christian for decades, if you are not living up to it, you do not have the faith required. It doesn’t matter how many times you were dipped into a baptistery if nothing about you changed, or if you have gone back to that old way of life.

   What sort of room are you offering the Lord? He spent a lot for it, and he will walk out if you don’t live up to the name on your sign—Christian.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Cor 13:5.

Dene Ward

How to Write a Modern Hymn

3/11/2015 3 Comments

I never thought I would be an old fogy, but I am about to place myself squarely in their ranks. I prefer to think, however, that, as a professional musician and music educator, I have at least a little credibility in this area.

   Speaking of which, you evidently do not need to be a professional musician with theory training, or knowledge of vocal ranges and anatomy to write hymns these days. From what I have seen, anyone can do it.

   First, use only half a dozen different notes in the melody. In fact, it is quite acceptable to use only four different notes in the first sixteen measures. Make sure the soprano never has to sing more than a major sixth range--often a perfect fifth will do. The melody should hang around F4 and G4, where the soprano voice is [wo]manfully trying to switch from chest to head register so that the only way to get any power in the voice is to push that chest voice beyond its natural niche, which will soon damage the vocal cords. And remember, it is perfectly acceptable to have the soprano sing a minor third below middle C. Surely everyone should be able to experience nodules on their vocal cords, shouldn’t they?

   Similarly, ignore the fact that most men who sing bass in the church are baritones, and write the bass line so they can grovel at F2 and G2 for measure after measure.

   As for rhythm, syncopate whenever possible. Make it as complicated as you can imagine so that the average untrained congregation will never truly sing together, but will instead sound like they have one massive case of hiccups.

   Harmony? The three primary triads will do nicely. Oh, you might use a ii-V instead of the standard IV-V, throw in a vi chord to delay the cadence, or add a secondary dominant about halfway through in such obvious ways that they all sound like freshman theory assignments.

   As for the words, you needn’t be a deep thinker. Just choose five or six words and repeat them over and over. One verse will do. If you want to improve on that, just change one or two words of the first verse and sing it again!

   Your topic? Praise, of course, and nothing else. No teaching and admonishing about daily life. No songs about hope and faith and grace. And absolutely nothing at all about humility and unworthiness. None of the modern lyricists would ever write, “Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?” We would not want to damage anyone’s self-esteem. However, if you do try to use a Biblical narrative, make sure you get at least one Bible fact wrong.

   If you are really good, you can combine many of these tactics. Just the other morning we sang a praise song with less than half a dozen words, using only four different notes in the entire melody, and with the soprano—the soprano, mind you—traveling no higher than the center line of the treble clef.

   Seriously, I have looked through the only inspired hymnal we have, the book of Psalms, and it amazes me that in only 150 songs, we are given, by some counts, as many as eight different types of songs. When I was a child, we seriously lacked praise hymns. I can probably count the ones we sang regularly on one hand, so I am glad to have a few more in our repertoire, but even in the book of Psalms, praise songs are not the most numerous. In fact, according to the examples we have in the Old Testament, and the directions we have in the New Testament, there is much more we should also be singing about.

   Some people think the old hymns are “boring.” (Reread the second paragraph up from this one and then tell me about “boring.”) Try this: find an old hymn you think is boring and read the words like a poem—no singing allowed. I doubt there is one in fifty that is not profound, edifying and moving.
   For the record—I do like some of our newer hymns. My son says—and he is probably right about this—we just need another hundred years to weed out the new ones that are nothing more than trendy kitsch, leaving us with only the best of the bunch. We have already had that time with the older hymns, and that is probably why they seem so much more profound as a group.

   Regardless of which group of songs any of us like the best, if the beat is all we care about, I wonder how much good our singing really does. God is not listening to the music our mouths make or the rhythm our toes tap; he is listening to the music our hearts make. If you must like the beat to sing the song, you have forgotten who it is we should be trying to please. And yes, that goes for me too. It doesn’t matter if I like the song; it doesn’t matter if you do. What matters is whether we sing with all our hearts to the Lord and to one another. That is what singing hymns is all about.

And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ, Eph 5:18-21.

Dene Ward

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Do You Know What You Are Singing?

1/9/2015 0 Comments

“Wonderful Love of Jesus”

“Wonderful Love of Jesus” is an early 20th century hymn I remember singing often as a child. But I must admit, I never knew what in the world was “lying around” when we sang “in vain in high and holy lays.” Even as a musician who knows that a “lay” is a song, it took me decades to actually associate that with this hymn and understand what it meant.

A “high and holy lay” is a sacred song, what we would call a hymn. Even with that tidbit of knowledge it takes a little thinking to make sense of that first verse.

In vain in high and holy lays
My soul her grateful voice would raise,
For who can sing the worthy praise of the
Wonderful love of Jesus?

It is impossible for human voices, even singing the holiest songs they can compose, to praise the love of Christ as much as it deserves. All our efforts are “in vain.” That’s what it means.

How can it have taken so long for me to figure it out when the scriptures are full of the same thought?

Praise Jehovah. Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness [endures] for ever. Who can utter the mighty acts of Jehovah, Or show forth all his praise? Psalm 106:1,2.

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalm 40:5.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. Psalm 71:15

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” Rom 11:33-35.

As you can see, it isn’t just the love of God we cannot speak adequately of, but also His wisdom, His righteousness, and His mighty works. If ever there was a hymn of humility it is this one. We feeble mortals cannot even begin to fully comprehend any of the Godhead, yet they have an amazing love for us, a love that cannot be praised as it deserves. We do so “in vain,” yet our gratitude continues to compel us to try, and so we do with songs like this one. It may be “high and holy” but it is not equal to the task.

Yet now that I know what I am singing, I can hardly wait to sing it again.

[That you] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph 3:18, 19.

Dene Ward

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Do You Know What You Are Singing--A Mighty Fortress

12/17/2014 0 Comments

For people who are quick to quote John 4:24, that our worship must be “in spirit and in truth” and then simplify that to doing right things with the right attitude, which only begins to touch that statement, we certainly do a lot of “worshipping that which we know not” (4:22). This will be the first of several articles about some of the songs we sing and what they actually mean. They will appear every few weeks and you will recognize them by the title above, followed by the song in question.
    So tell me, when you sing “A Mighty Fortress” and you reach the second verse, what exactly do you think you are calling the Lord when you sing, “Lord Sabaoth his name?” No, it is not “Lord of the Sabbath,” which is what I thought for many years
    Sabaoth is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Tzebhaoth. I don’t even pretend to be a Greek or Hebrew scholar, but I can read English fairly well. The word means armies or hosts. In fact, it can even refer to a specific campaign the army might be involved in at any given time. It is above all a military word. So any time you see “Lord of hosts” in your Bible you are seeing the word Sabaoth or Tzebhaoth, depending upon whether you are reading the Old Testament or the New.
    I cannot find the actual Hebrew word un-translated in any English version of the Old Testament—it is always converted to “LORD of hosts” or “Jehovah of hosts.” But you can find Sabaoth un-translated in the older versions of the New Testament in Romans 9:29 and James 5:4.
    And Isaiah cries concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved: for the Lord will execute [his] word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. And, as Isaiah hath said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We had become as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah, Rom 9:27-29.
    This passage is much more powerful when you understand the meaning of the word. The Lord, who commands all the powers and armies of the universe, could easily have wiped Israel off the earth. But in His mercy, He spared a remnant, Isaiah says. Paul’s point is that God has in the past come close to obliterating the Jewish race, and He will have no trouble doing it again if necessary. That’s the kind of power He has.
    Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, James 5:4.
    This passage makes you just as shivery. Anyone who cheats the laborers of their hire should remember that the Lord of Sabaoth hears their cry and is there to defend them. Do you really want the Lord of hosts with all His armies of angels and spiritual beings fighting you?
    Now look back at the song. “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.” That may well be said about Satan, but we have Lord Sabaoth on our side—the Lord of hosts, the commander of all the spiritual forces of good “and He must win the battle.”
    We miss so much when we don’t care enough to research the songs we are singing. In fact, I have heard people complain about “all this archaic language.” If it’s in the Bible, people, we ought to care, and if we believe all those pet scriptures we always quote, we will want to “sing with the spirit and the understanding,” 1 Cor 14:24. The context of that passage may be spiritual gifts, but the meaning in every context is that what we sing must be understandable and edifying, and that requires some effort on our parts. Let’s see if we can practice what we preach.

The LORD of hosts [Sabaoth] is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. -- Selah, Psa 46:7.

Dene Ward

Practice Makes Perfect

10/2/2014 1 Comments

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            The gospel is nothing if not practical. God was more interested in helping us live our lives every day than equipping us to sit in dusty rooms arguing theology. So today let’s be eminently practical.

            I am sure you have heard “practice makes perfect” your entire life. It is wrong. The only thing practice makes is permanent.

            One of the things I had to train many of my piano students to do was to practice correctly. They would come in with the same mistakes week after week. First they played the wrong note (the same wrong note in the same piece at every lesson), and then they would correct it. What they had taught themselves to do was to play the wrong note first, then stop and play the right one. Correcting it did not make the competition judge happy. He wanted a perfect performance the first time.

            When their poor practice habits became obvious, we had to start all over. First I had them tell me the name of the correct note, saying the name aloud several times which I then repeated to them. “Right, it’s an F#, an F#, an F#.” Then I had them find that note and play it with the correct finger, while saying its name over and over. Then I had them play the note before it and after it until they played that three note sequence correctly no less than three times in a row. If they made a mistake, we started counting all over.

            Then we backed up one measure and played past it one measure, once again until they could do it correctly three times in a row. Then we backed up one phrase and played past it one phrase until they could play the three phrases correctly three times in a row. You get the picture. We practiced it correctly over and over, using as many senses as possible, hearing ourselves say the correct name of the note, feeling the correct note under the finger, seeing the correct note both on the page and as we played it, and then playing through without the bad habit of doing it wrong first. Usually that took care of the problem.

            What do we do as Christians? Do we teach ourselves to do it wrong first, then pray for forgiveness over and over, constantly making the same mistakes? Practice makes permanent. Maybe it is time to do a little analysis.

            Why do I keep doing the same thing again and again? “That’s just the way I am,” is not an acceptable reason; it is a lame excuse. God expects us to change the way we are. If it took such detailed, tedious work to undo a bad habit in a piano piece, why do we think we don’t have to really work at it to undo a bad habit in our thoughts or behaviors, where Satan is actively pulling against us? Some of my students may have been little devils, but that is not why they played wrong notes! So why should sin be easier to fix?

            Often just the fact that I am owning up to my sin and thinking about the problem will do a world of good, but if you really want to make progress—and I assume we all do--it takes more effort than that..

            Make a plan and follow it. Find three times in the day to pray about that particular problem. Find three passages about that sin and read them over and over. The next day pray again and find three more passages. Do that every day, praying, listing and reading. Keep a journal of all the times that problem rears its ugly head. Write down every detail of the situation, how it happened, what caused it, and how you handled, or mishandled, it--without blaming anyone else. When you finally have a victory, celebrate with a prayer of thanksgiving and your favorite hymn. Call a friend with whom you have shared your problem (James 5:16) and tell them about it so they can rejoice with you.

            You do not have to do all of these things in all of these particular ways and numbers, but do something to help yourself kick the habit. Think about how you set about to lose weight, keeping track of what you eat (including the no-noes) and how much you exercise each day. Remember how those nicotine patch commercials show people stepping down one level at a time till they reach their goal? But you should be stepping UP one level at the time to reach yours.

            Practice makes permanent. Make sure you are practicing correctly.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God,
1 John 3:9.

Dene Ward