Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Cor. ii. 16.
O Comfort from the Lord,
Who all his depths declares,
Who plants in us the living word
And girds our prayers:
For thorns and flaming darts,
Be all sufficiency,
And unto glory seal our hearts
As guarantee.
O Wisdom from on high,
Who sojourned here below
And intercedes unceasingly
In us to grow:
Guide every step we take,
Watch o’er us while we sleep,
And still be with us when we wake
To converse keep.
O Patriarch of Lights,
In constance shining e’er,
Who every blessing in the heights
Dost freely share,
Predestining in love,
Adopting by thy grace:
We lift our eyes to thee above
With fear and praise.
—10/20/25. To “Leoni” (“The God of Abraham Praise”).
Epigraph: 2 Cor 2:16
I. John 14:26; 1 Cor 2:9-11; James 1:21; Rom 8:26-27;
2 Cor 12:7-9; Eph 6:16; 2 Cor 5:4-5
II. 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 7:25; Prov 6:22; Ps 139:18
III. James 1:17; Eph 1:3-6; Ps 121:1
This started out as a meditation on Prov 6:22 and an inkling from Leoni, a beloved tune from a beloved hymn. With the Father, it became Trinitarian; then came the thought: There is so much God in our God; how can I put him in a song? Eventually I narrowed it down to the work he does to preserve us in the way. There is something wonderful about asking God to be God to us. Before I wax all philosophical, here is the tune:
There are a couple of distinct pleasures in the writing. One is that sometimes, I will just get a real meaty passage and get to run with it, as Ephesians in the third verse here, or Philippians in the last of “Buried with Christ.” It feels like running downhill as fast as I can. Like trying to outrun gravity. Other times, there is the joy of mining treasure (Job 28:9-23), which I start by knowing neither what I want nor am allowed to say. Such was my labor in the first verse, before I’d really put together what I was trying to bring out.
I got to see Shane & Shane with John Piper last week. The worship was glorious. I have never heard a more joyous Old Hundredth, Doxology, Amen, and silence. How can a silence be so satisfied yet so hungry for more? Imagine a heaven’s worth of saints engaged in that praise. Incredible.
Piper’s message on Eph 5:15-20 made a point of “purchasing the moment,” his rendering of the Greek behind “redeeming the time.” Do something crazy, he said. And then he spent the rest of the sermon breaking down the rest of the passage in a way I wish I could remember. He stacked the “do not…but be” passages in a way that showed how they flow through the believer, ending in worship, song, and thanksgiving. I wish I had time to dig into more of his sermons.
Shane & Shane also mentioned that starting out as musicians, they loved the Lord, but as they served him in worship, they started also growing in love for the church. This night crystallized a conviction for me: I want, as I told my sister and her husband on the ride down, to give the church the words it needs. And those words are not my words, but God’s. Hence citing my sources. The goal, as I heard the Shanes say last year, is to plagiarize as much as possible. I want the church to get to a line and trigger a memory of where in the Bible it comes from. I want the church’s Scriptural synapses to be as lit up singing as mine were writing. I want the church hyperlinking Scriptures, as my old small group leader calls it.
I wish I knew how to build up the church’s Scriptural literacy. Whatever grace there is in what I do, it is only in pointing to something far, far greater than my own work.
Another thought from last week: It is not enough to have the words. The Lord didn’t command us to always address one another in rhymes and meters and spiritual lines. It is psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. I need to figure out how to get the music in. This is borne from that. I want to give the church songs. I’m not quite sure how. One thing at a time, I guess. The desire is there, and I have seen the Lord moving a couple of pieces around me. Mine is to walk; his to set the path. Wherever “there” is, he will get me there.
There is so much more I wish I knew how to say. About the Lord and his unceasing love and daily mercy. About the blessing of digging into his word. About the sheer joy of writing about it. About the desire to one day write something worth being set as a single pearl upon the Bride’s wedding dress. I haven’t yet. I don’t think I get to know if I do, on this earth. But just one thing to bring glory to the Lord and comfort to his saints.
Oh, I like this one! I love the Trinitarian focus. I think this is the first time I’ve seen that done in reverse - usually it goes Father, Son, Spirit. There’s something about this one that calls to mind “The Trinity” prayer in “The Valley of Vision” (I’d quote it here, but it’s lengthy).
ReplyDeleteThat concept of plagiarism is interesting. I think I’ve run across it before, albeit in nearly the opposite direction. Author Rosaria Butterfield (you may have heard of her?) holds to exclusive psalmody, and while I would never sit there myself, some of her writing on that position has helped crystallize my philosophy of hymnwriting.
“Because the Psalms are dialogic (they pose questions and offer answers), psalm singing involves learning the meaning, purpose, and grace that undergirds each individual’s life calling, and living under the faithful presence of God’s guiding Hand. This manifestation of aesthetics, the study of what makes something beautiful, bittersweet, compelling, and enduring, imbues each note of each psalm…. In singing the Psalms, in worship and life, we always know where God is in our suffering.”
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Chapter 3
I think the best hymns work this way, too. Unlike straight psalm singing (rich and beautiful as that is), you have the opportunity to allow concepts to cross-inform in a single setting - that hyperlinking you talked about. I can't wait to do more of this myself, though I doubt my efforts will be as polished as yours.
Have you ever thought of publishing your work? So much of it is good. Really good. I thought years ago you had a particular gift for writing, and it seems time has only sharpened and deepened it.
Side note - referring back to an earlier conversation, I did reach out twice via email but never heard back, so I assume you’d prefer to keep contact here? Or perhaps the emails bounced. Either way you prefer is fine - I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t disappearing into the void of the internet.
I thought it was interesting to hymn the Trinity backwards, especially since Ortega's arrangement seemed to flow up instead of down, if that makes any sense. "From him and through him and to him are all things" is a constant meditation, and I remember forming the thought somewhere writing this that as the work of redemption flows from the Father down, so the work of sanctification flows from the Spirit back up.
DeleteI am humbled to have formulated something similar to that prayer. I'll have to check out The Valley of Vision. (Mildly jarring to see it in my Amazon order history; it looks like a sibling got it back when I had Prime.) I will also have to check out Rosaria Butterfield, especially in light of the Lord's reconstructing work on me after years of backslid deconstructing. ("Reading the Bible in big chunks" is sound advice, and I am sure it is one of the reasons I have been on a writing tear this year.)
Something that has been on my mind as my Bible reading takes me through the Psalms this week and last, is, are they unfinished? I hope I can ask that in good faith. (Nor do I ask whether they are unfinished in the broader context of Scripture. They are not finished by me but by the Lord and his work.) They look forward. Every psalmist died having not received the things promised, Heb 11:13. They are about Jesus, and if we aren't explicit to see Jesus in them, we fail them. Likewise, any hymn or spiritual song that fails to properly reverence the Word in its love for Jesus also falls short. I don't mean that every line has to be a direct quote. But maybe I should stop before I argue myself into an idea that I should reflect on first instead.
I don't know what publishing looks like, but I am slowly trying to figure out what might be appropriate avenue(s) to promote(? that is not a word I want to use) my work. I took courage to show one of my community ministers what I do a few weeks ago, and he (rightly) took me ever so mildly to task for not sharing it with the church more. I don't want to be prideful. But if I want to edify the saints, I know I will probably have to stop hiding in the name of humility.
It was actually I who (unintentionally) disappeared into the void. I finally replied to your email yesterday and hopefully you have since found that?
This will be quick since I just got to the office and it's Monday (so everybody will be after me clamoring to fix what broke over the weekend!). Yes, email received - thanks so much! I will do my best not to swamp you with too many words in my reply.
Delete