Superlative Grace

God is greater than our heart. 1 John iii. 20.

Redder than my blushing shame
Is the blood that penned my name
In thy book of life, O Lamb.

(Rev 21:27)

Cleaner than my filthy dress
Is the Fuller’s righteousness,
Washing all who guilt confess.

(Mal 3:2)

Whiter than my leprous hands
Is thy cov’ring grace, that stands
In great drifts o’er sin-smirched lands.

(Ex 4:6; Isa 1:18)

Sweeter than my graverot stench
Are thy prayers my guilt to quench—
Incense ere the mercy-bench.

(Heb 7:25; Rev 5:8)

Higher than my heaping sin
Stands the cross where thou wast giv’n;
‘Tis the ladder up to heav’n.

(Rev 18:5; John 1:51)

Further than the end of days
Runs the promise that we praise:
We shall serve our God always.

(Luke 1:74-75)

Long and high and deep and broad
Is the matchless love of God;
Unto thee be endless laud!

(Eph 3:18-19)

—Insomnia III. To “Holy Ghost” (Crüger) or “Man of Sorrows, What a Name.” 1/30/26.

Couple of “developer notes,” I guess. I wrote this primarily to “Man of Sorrows,” but that feels almost too famous to co-opt. I like “Holy Ghost” a lot, but I'm not married to it. It just takes forever to browse unfamiliar hymn tunes; and as nothing I write is currently sung, it is more of an intellectual or exemplary exercise. This is how it could be sung. Not to downplay how well I think “Holy Ghost” fits. I simply found it because it was unfamiliar but written by Crüger, rather than because I exercised great rigor to find the perfect tune.

This could also work in 7.7.7.D. with a little rearranging (pair red and white, then clean and sweet). However, I like the first word flow of “redder -> cleaner -> whiter -> sweeter,” and I think the current arrangement has a cool progression from election to confession to purification to intercession to heaven and eternity and praise.

The last line could be “To thee be eternal laud.” The triple assonance gives a nice emphasis on these words with “Man of Sorrows,” but it sounds off with “Holy Ghost.” I suspect it would with many other tunes.

It’s good to be back in the saddle, so to speak. For a host of reasons the last six to eight weeks have been a weird time, and it’s good to have renewed practice meditating on things above. So much of my process isn’t even about creating art, per se, but rather examining a passage or topic from as many angles as I can until I can get it to fit within the creative constraints of rhyme, meter, tune, and genre (i.e. “not sounding goofy”). It’s delightful to begin again.

Triple rhyming is hard. I had to think about these concepts a lot. I’m tickled to have kept the fuller in. Malachi 3:2-3 is one of my favorite verses due to Messiah, even if Handel left the fuller out of the libretto.

I think that’s all I know to say. This hymn feels like a warmup, somehow, like piano scales of the mind. I’m excited where God might lead his gift this year.