The Hymn Book

I collect old hymn books - really old hymn books - circuit riders’ hymn books. When I hold them in my hands, I imagine the hands that held them when they were new, back in the 1840s or 1860s or 1880s. I pretend that I am at the 1840’s camp meeting summer evening service:

“See my utter helplessness

And leave me not alone;

Oh, preserve in perfect peace,

And seal me for thine own.”

Or, I stand with family members in an 1860’s funeral service and sing:

“And must this body die,

This well-wrought frame decay?

And must these active limbs of mine

Lie mould’ring in the clay?”

(Those two pages were “dog-eared” in an 1840 Methodist Hymn Book.)

I can’t help but wonder what occasioned the writing these old hymns. Was it war or peace, fear or assurance, calm or chaos, new life or fresh death that brought them into being. I wonder who hummed them as they worked, or softly sang them as prayers at the end of the day. I wonder whose eyes filled with tears of special memories as they sang in worship. I wonder who remembered that this was grandmother’s favorite.

This summer, we’ve been reading a much older hymn book, The Psalms. Like many of the old Methodist hymns, we don’t have the tunes anymore, but we do have the faith that they sing. - Dr. Steve Winter, Executive Pastor

At Least Reading the Psalms I Can Keep Up!

It is the middle of summer. I don’t know about you but the heat, humidity, and now daily downpours are starting to take a toll on me. I don’t really want to get up with the alarm. I sure don’t want to get outside and exercise. And, I really would rather read a chapter in a beach novel that keep up with the daily Bible readings I have committed myself to this year. So it has been nice to find myself in the Psalms during my “dog-days” season. At least in the Psalms I can keep up with the reading – or rather, I was keeping up until Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible. In fact, it has more verses – 176 – than 13 books in the Old Testament and 16 books in the New Testament. Each of the psalm’s 22 stanzas begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and within each stanza, every line begins with that same letter. Tradition says that King Solomon taught his sons the Hebrew alphabet using this acrostic psalm as his teaching resource. A more modern look at Psalm 119 by Bible commentators has suggested that the psalm itself would make as much sense read backward as forward. Whether or not that is true, what is true is that Psalm 119 is long and a little daunting for those of us trying to keep us with our reading!

But, I am faithful – if not a little behind – so I read on. And, there it was! Nestled in the 105th verse, waiting for me to arrive, was the line that I needed to read and remember. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Regardless of the temperature outside and my internal summertime clock, God has graciously given me just what I need to continue my journey in faith. With God’s word offering guidance, lending support, and encouraging reflective thinking, I can find my way through my malaise and the real dangers in life on the path God has lighted for me – and you!

With renewed commitment and enthusiasm, I am catching up on my reading. I hope you will, too! _ Rev. Debby Fox, Pastor of Christian Education and Discipleship