Hymns4Him

Graduates of our military academies carry along with their memories, a life-long pride in and high regard and deep love for that institution.  Such was true of a man who became a good friend of mine why I was serving as senior chaplain at Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community in SE Pennsylvania.  Sam Larsen was a proud graduate of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  He subsequently served in the Navy, including time on river boats in Vietnam, where he was among those exposed to Agent Orange, a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical sprayed to defoliate areas that could have been concealing enemy positions.

After the war, Sam entered Covenant Theological Seminary and was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.  He returned to active service as a Navy chaplain, achieving his doctorate from Covenant.  When his beloved wife began to show some signs of approaching dementia, he chose to retire early and move to a retirement community where he could find the assistance that she would need in coming years.  That was where I got to know him as a friend and appreciated his fine preaching as one of the regulars in our chapel services.

We enjoyed special times together there in ministry partnership.  As I got to know him better, I learned how that Naval Academy ring on his finger meant so much to him.  He didn’t just wear it with pride, he was also deeply moved by pictures of the Academy and especially of the magnificent chapel there where he had attended worship on so many occasions.  Hearing “The Navy Hymn,” “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” always touched his heart very deeply.

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My wife and I have enjoyed a very special friendship here in our Christian Retirement Community with a lady who served for many years in East Africa as a nurse/midwife missionary with the PCA’s Mission to the World committee.  She grew up as a “cradle catholic” (from childhood) and attended college and vocational post-graduate training in Roman Catholic institutions.  She came to saving faith in Jesus (and left her Roman Catholic connections initially over the doctrine of transubstantiation) shortly before heading to the mission field, so did not have an opportunity to become well-grounded in evangelical Protestantism, let alone the Reformed faith.  The daily demands of medical duties left very little time for in-depth Bible study.

Now in retirement, she has been experiencing the excitement of discovering biblical truths that had for some many decades elided her.  In her Catholic university education, she had many courses in theology, but it had all been in classic Catholic doctrine, without a single course in Bibe content.  In fact, none of her courses even used a Bible as a text, and she did not even own a Bible.  Even after many years as a Protestant, one Catholic doctrine that had remained unexamined was that of purgatory.  As so, years after leaving the Roman Catholic Church, she still had the idea of purgatory in her mind, even thinking that it made sense to her that before people could go to heaven, they ought to spend some time in purgatory “to get cleaned up!”

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There are many images in Scripture to communicate concepts about the Lord’s goodness to us.  The Psalms are filled with references to the Lord as shepherd, refuge, fortress, lamp to our feet, the shade at our right hand, a mother hen, judge, and king. And in addition to those, in the New Testament, with the “I ams” in the Gospel of John, we read that Jesus described Himself as being like a vine, a door, the light of the world, the bread of life, as well as the Good Shepherd.

And so, it’s neither surprising nor without biblical warrant that we find hymn writers over the centuries who have provided poetic images of the Lord that enable us to have heightened appreciation of His goodness to us.  One of those is found in the hymn “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me,” written in 1870 by Presbyterian minister Edward Hopper (1818-1888), using vivid maritime imagery to portray Jesus as the guide who leads believers through life’s storms. We know of the pilot who helps steer a ship into port in the harbor, but this is the pilot who takes control of the ship still at sea as the winds and waves threaten her and her crew. This hymn was written especially for sailors in language they knew well: charts, compasses, and the absolute need for a competent pilot to guide their crafts over the tempestuous seas.

While few who sing this hymn today are literally on board ships at sea, every person, including Christians, live in a world filled with storms of many kinds, not to mention the tempests that arise in individual lives.  Those storms that threaten all of us include wars on the international stage, persecution of Christians in regions hostile to the faith, and the uncertainties of economic upheavals. On an individual level, diseases, broken relationships, the challenges that come from the aging process, and financial shrinkage are all very real.   How are we to navigate those dangers?  We need a pilot to take the helm of our lives to not only settle our anxious hearts, but also to chart a course to lead us through them to safety and calm seas.

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Our culture today is very concerned about drawing attention to women’s prominence in many arenas, from sports to business to politics.  That includes the church, where, unfortunately, the culture has too often been allowed to shape our biblical understanding.  There are many legitimate and honored places for women within church ministry.  Generally, evangelical and reformed denominations have maintained the historic complementarian position when it comes to ordained leadership in worship, believing that the office of pastor is limited to mature male believers.

But within complementarian groups, women are honored by many and vital and much-appreciated ministry roles.  In addition to those positions as teachers and mercy ministry, many well-informed and skilled women writers continue to produce printed literature, from Sunday School material to significant theological works.  And we must not forget nor fail to recognize and appreciate women who have written some of our best known and widely sung hymns.  These include such familiar names as Fanny Crosby (“Blessed Assurance”), Charlotte Elliott (“Just As I Am”), Cecil Frances Alexander (“Once in Royal David’s City”), and translator Catherine Winkworth (“Now Thank We All Our God”).

To that special “Women’s Honor Roll” we must add the name of Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879). The daughter of the Rev. W. H. Havergal, she was born at Astley, Worcestershire. Five years later her father moved to the Rectory of St. Nicholas, Worcester. Her mother died when she was only eleven, after a lengthy period of suffering. After a carriage accident, her father devoted himself to the improvement of church music in England, and according to hymnologist Albert Bailey, “revived the use of the solid tunes of early English composers and so did much to improve the quality of congregational singing.” He wrote about 100 hymns, himself. Havergal was obviously inspired by her father’s efforts. She possessed a natural musicianship, as well as a love for walking, swimming and mountain climbing. By the age of 7, she displayed a talent for writing verse. She was converted at the age of 14.

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Easter Sunrise services are probably found in every community in America, perhaps in multiple churches as well as in joint community gatherings.  What a wonderful way to make an emotional as well as a devotional connection to that first Easter morning.  Many of us have happy memories of such services from our childhood, especially if we lived far enough south so that Easter morning would not be a final day of winter’s snow, or if the weather was conducive and we didn’t have to come with umbrellas to avoid being drenched in spring rains. 

On Florida’s east coast, it’s quite common to find such services being conducted on the beach so that there can be an unobstructed view of the sun rising above the horizon, glistening on the waters like sparkling diamonds blinking on the waves.  One of those kinds of memories for this writer is the Miami area Easter Sunrise Service conducted on the floating stage of the Miami Marine Stadium, which could seat several thousand, with an area on the water between the stands and the stage for people to engage in the service from their boats. Sponsored by Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church, local pastors and musicians were part of the service, which usually included a special guest.  One year that was Joni Eareckson Tada. But the great reality should not be memories of our sunrise services, but of that first “Son-Rise” when the Son of God rose from the dead, as He had promised to do.  That monumental event marked the death of death (as John Own famously described it) and the ratification of the Father’s acceptance of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on our behalf (as Paul described int in Romans 1).  Paul also rightly describes the resurrection as one of those things of first importance in 1 Corinthians 15, the passage from which countless Easter sermons are preached each year. 

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Sometimes we might get a little too sophisticated for our own good.  Yes, there are great hymns with glorious melodies and harmonies and with rich and profound lyrics.  But there are also wonderful hymns – “classic” hymns – with simple but beautiful music and with uncomplicated but immediately understandable lyrics.  We need to maintain, and perhaps renew, our appreciation  of the gospel songs we learned as children in Sunday School.  We might be tempted to think these songs to simplistic and sentimental, characteristics of much of the hymn writing of the Victorian era.  But isn’t the gospel simple enough for a child to understand, and a truth that has not touched us unless it has also touched out emotions?

Such are the hymns (more than ten thousand of them!) from the heart and pen of Francis Jane Van Alstyne, whom we know as Fanny Crosby (1820-1915).The daughter of John and Mercy Crosby, was born in Southeast, Putnam County, New York, March 24, 1820. She became blind at the age of six weeks from maltreatment of her eyes during a spell of sickness. A traveling “medicine man” (!) offered to help with an eye infection when she was just an infant.  The poultice he prepared and applied to her eyes permanently burned them, preventing her from ever gaining sight.  Her family sought professional medical care later, but to no avail.  She remained blind for her entire 95 years.

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Palm Sunday in 2026 included a somewhat ironic, if not humorous, contrast.  On the day before this celebration in the Christian church calendar year, Americans across the nation gathered in silly frog costumes and childish masks holding signs to celebrate “No Kings Day,” chanting angry slogans about their hatred for President Donald Trump.  And the next day, Palm Sunday, Christians around the world gathered in their Sunday best holding Bibles and hymnals to celebrate “King Jesus’ Day!” singing joyful songs of His triumphal entry, and in passionate longing for His return.  What a difference!

The world doesn’t want a king, at least not the kind of divine king Jesus claimed to be and continues to prove Himself to be.  His entrance into Jerusalem was an unmistakable statement that He came as the promised Messianic King.  The Old Testament prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 was explicit and precisely fulfilled in Jesus’ arrival. 

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Psalm 24 is regularly a part of Palm Sunday services.  We celebrate the coming of the King of Glory, entering the gates of the city of Jerusalem. 

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“Preeminence” is a powerful word in any context. It is the word used to describe something or someone that is at the very top, the greatest in authority, importance, power, influence, or value.  In Colossians 1:18, Paul said that Jesus is preeminent.  The Greek word he used, proteuo, occurs in no other place in Scripture.  It is a very fitting way to speak of Jesus in His all-encompassing greatness.  The full section in Paul’s epistle is an awesome statement about Jesus’ preeminence.

     ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

     ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

In this section of chapter 1, Paul was describing to the believers in Colossae that preeminence of Jesus in rather extravagant images.  In some ways, the way Paul presents Jesus sounds like the account of the dazzling glory of Jesus revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration.  That, along with Isaiah 6 and Revelation 1, convicts us that our view of Jesus falls far short of the glory that is inherently His.  In Colossians 1:15-23, we have what many have suggested is an early Christian hymn, a hymn about the preeminence of Christ.

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Paul wrote a letter from his imprisonment in Rome to the church in Philippi.  This is one of the most joy-filled books of the Bible, in which Paul was filled with praise because of His appreciation of what Jesus had accomplished.  Despite his circumstances, Paul wrote, “Rejoice always; again I say, rejoice!”  Professing that he was forgetting what was behind and straining toward what was ahead, acknowledging that he hadn’t reached the goal yet, he was pressing on with all his might.  And what was that goal?  Read his words in chapter 3 again with fresh amazement.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

To know Christ in this way will be the conscious longing of every heart that has been born again.  These words, and these verses from Philippians 3, have led to an absolutely marvelous hymn, written in 1993 and released in a 1995 recording “Is Anyone Thirsty?”.  The song is known by its title, “Knowing You, Jesus,” as well as by its opening line, “All I Once Held Dear. The composer, Graham Kendrick (b. 1950), has been described as a “father of modern worship music” whose songs are “crammed full of poetic, divine, biblical truth” that have “sculpted a view of God that has impacted generations.” In short, he writes songs that help the church to sing. Since the release of his first album in 1972 Graham has been at the forefront of contemporary Christian music in the UK, having written and recorded over 450 songs, many of which are sung around the world, including “Shine Jesus Shine,” “The Servant King,” “Amazing Love,” and “Knowing You.”

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Humility is one of the great virtues of a Christian’s heart.  As we progress in our sanctification, we not only see more of the greatness of the Lord’s love for us.  We also see more of the weakness of our love for Him.  We see that reflected in the dynamics of Isaiah 6 (which is a great template for a worship service today!).  Isaiah saw the Lord (this was Jesus, according to John 12:41), high and lifted up and seated on a throne, with seraphim crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”  And then he reflexively saw himself, and he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost (literally in Hebrew ‘disintegrating’), for I am a man of unclean lips.”  And since he was a prophet whose lips proclaimed the word of the Lord, even this, where he was at his best spiritually, was terribly deficient before the Lord.

Surely that duality will be reflected in the souls of growing believers.  Few today would be sold brazen as to claim that they lived at greater spiritual heights than the apostle Paul.  But after years of walking closer and closer to the Lord, Paul confessed that he was the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), not because he was sinning more then, but that his spiritual vision had improved to the point that he was then able to see more clearly into the depths of his own redeemed fallenness.  Such genuine, honest humility is perhaps truly one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity.

The first of Martin Luther’s “Ninety Five Theses” was this: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Matthew 4:17), He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”   He was right.  “Repentance” is not just one thing to check off the list when we come to saving faith in Jesus.  It is something we must do every day, as the Holy Spirit convicts us further of our sin and our need of a Savior.  It is what Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”  Such is a life of humility before the Lord.

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