We have an old hymnal. It’s real old… to the point where it’s falling apart. I picked it up about a year or so ago and as I read it, it struck me that maybe thematically there were lyrical places that we just didn’t venture into much anymore. Lofty, majestic themes – The Trinity, God in creation, providence, the Ecclesia. The hymns were old, but they felt bold. Simple, yet profoundly deep.
The first couple of lines of one particular hymn instantly arrested me, “Earthly pleasures vainly call me… nothing worldly shall enthral me, I would be like Jesus.” Maybe in my valid pursuit of Christianity being about the ‘whole of life’, about living life in its fullness and not about some Church program or ministry per se, maybe somewhere along the way ‘real life’ began to mean ‘normal life’, as in, ‘like everybody else’. Maybe I’d even taken on some of the same values, perspectives, priorities as everybody else. Maybe in the process my spirituality had become naturalized… more about becoming a better person, rather than pursuing ‘The’ person. ‘Holiness’ was reduced to ‘do your best, accept the rest’.
Scripture is clear – we have one ultimate pursuit – to be like Jesus.
Thank you James Rowe (1865-1923). Your inspiration lead me home.
Thanks for your good comments. And I agree there’s a lot of theological and devotional “meat” in many of the old hymns. They make great devotional reading. But I do feel sorry for churches that have totally abandoned the hymn book in a desire to be “contemporary.” I think folks need to be exposed to our heritage of sacred song.
Today is the 77th anniversary of James Rowe’s death (he wrote “I Would Be Like Jesus, that you quote from ). If you enjoy reading about our hymns and their authors, I invite you to check out my daily blog on the subject, Wordwise Hymns.
And if you’ll excuse a brief “commercial:” If you do not have a good book on the subject of our Christmas carols, I encourage you to take a look at my own, Discovering the Songs of Christmas. In it, I discuss the history and meaning of 63 carols and Christmas hymns. The book is available through Amazon, or directly from Jebaire Publishing. (Might make a great gift too!)