Looking at the Cross: Newton’s autobiographical hymn

This hymn by John Newton (1725-1807) must be one of the greatest autobiographical hymns ever to be penned, yet sadly it is not well known.  It speaks both subjectively and objectively of the amazing grace Newton found in Christ.

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt, and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did;
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain.

A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I died, that thou may’st live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
(Such is the mystery of grace)
It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief and mournful joy
My spirit now is filled,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I killed.

(Public domain.  Reproduced from Classic Christian Hymn-writers by Elsie Houghton, 1982.  Fort Washington, Penn.: Christian Literature Crusade)

“Evening” by GK Chesterton

Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
And the great world round me;
And with tomorrow begins another.
Why am I allowed two?

“Praise the Source of faith and learning”: On science and Christianity

This Friday Thursday (apparently i can’t count) will mark the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and this year the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his On the Origin of Species. 

i will answer the call

The following is a chorus/refrain i wrote five or six years ago during a challenging sermon series on Acts.  It expresses my hope that by the grace of God i will live my life for Christ and His glory, for the future hope we have with Him, and to share this hope with others.

While i have a tune in mind (sorry, but i don’t have the means, voice, or musicality to record it right now!), this is, at the moment, all there is to this song apart from a desire for it to become a meaningful chorus or upbeat hymn and a gratefulness to God for stirring my heart this way.

i will answer the call
i will give You my all
i will count the cost
and consider all else lost
i will fix my eyes on the heavenly prize
i will pass on the flame
i will glorify Your Name

O God beyond all praising

This hymn has been resounding in my head since we sang it at church this morning.

O God beyond all praising is sung to Thaxted, a stirring adaptation of the main theme of the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst‘s The Planets, which is one of my all-time favourite orchestral compositions.  (You’ll also recognise the tune from the British patriotic hymn I vow to thee, my country and, more recently, from the World in union theme song of Rugby World Cups since 1991.)

But while the tune is stirring, it is the words which speak loudest: “O God beyond all praising” – for how can our words ever repay Him for the great salvation He bought by His own blood, for the infinite riches of Christ?  We sing of “love amazing that songs cannot repay”; He bids us “make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise.”

Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His Name.  (Hebrews 13v15, ESV)

Runaway brain

This song i wrote in 2007 is a parody of Soul Asylum‘s Grammy Award-winning hit Runaway Train from the 1992 album Grave Dancer’s Union (Columbia).  It’s a personal prayer for God to sanctify the runaway thought-life of a repentant sinner trying to trust in Him and be pure.

Christmas: TS Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi”

This is one of my favourite poems, by one of my favourite poets.  Eliot wrote The Journey of the Magi circa 1927, shortly after he came to know Christ.

‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

May we remember today at what cost and for what purpose Jesus Christ came into this world.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.
– Luke 1v68

On GKC on privilege and responsibility

The past few weeks, i’ve really felt overwhelmed. Not only overwhelmed by work and schoolwork pressures, but overwhelmed in a deeply positive way by all that i am able to enjoy in the big things — work, schoolwork, deep friendships — and in the small things of life. And then, on Thursday night, the following short poem struck me:

Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
And the great world round me;
And with tomorrow begins another.
Why am I allowed two?