151. Hymn for the 12th Sunday after Trinity

This time the Epistle is 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 and the Gospel is Mark 7:31-37, the healing of a deaf-mute, which involved Jesus spitting, sticking his fingers in the man's ears and touching his tongue with a finger (possibly moistened with spittle) before groaning the Aramic word "Ephphatha," meaning "Be opened!" My original tune for this hymn is titled EPHPHATHA, but really there are loads of existing tunes that would suit.

He has done all things well!
The deaf hear Scripture read;
The slow of speech His praises tell;
His voice revives the dead.

He has done all things well!
It must indeed be He
Whom God would send to conquer hell;
The words and signs agree.

He has done all things well,
Yet deigns to use mere spit!
His fingers need no magic spell
His promise to transmit.

He has done all things well!
His word in all its forms
The pow’rs of earth must far excel,
Such marvels to perform!

He has done all things well!
If bonds of ear and tongue
His “Ephphatha” can so dispel,
What chains will not be sprung?

He has done all things well!
This confidence is ours:
In His new testament we dwell,
Served by His Spirit’s pow’r.

He has done all things well!
On Him alone we build,
And shall all other spirits quell
Till we with Him are filled!

He has done all things well!
No glory can transcend,
Nor ear can hear, nor tongue can tell
What Christ to us extends.

For He is working still,
Preparing us a place
Where we, all fetters broken, will
Both hear and speak His grace.

150. Hymn for the 11th Sunday after Trinity

With this, at least the 150th original hymn I have written, I return to my "Sundays of the Church Year" hymn project. It is based on the story of the Pharisee and the publican (i.e., tax collector) told by Jesus in Luke 18:9-14, the Gospel for Trinity 11. In the last stanza there is just a touch of the Epistle from 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. The tune is SPIRIT OF CHRIST, which I wrote earlier this year for a hymn by my friend Matthew. Actually I ruthlessly bullied him into revising and condensing his original poem, which wouldn't have fit this tune, and in the end I think he liked his original version better; so perhaps this is not so much a case of reusing an existing tune as rescuing one all Tinkerbell like from the edge of oblivion.

Hear, you who trust your rightness,
Thinking yourselves exempt
While you, with feigned politeness,
View others with contempt:
Hear Christ describe the Pharisee
Who, praying to the Lord,
Other men’s sins abhorred!
Praising his pious purity,
He had his full reward.

Hear, you all-but-despairing,
Knowing your sinful ways,
Toward heaven hardly daring
To lift a hopeful gaze:
Hear Christ describe the sinner who,
Beating his breast in shame,
Owned sinner as his name!
Justified was he of the two
Who to the temple came.

Hear you indeed the story
Of the most holy cross,
Nor heed the lie of glory
Told to secure your loss!
Hold fast the gospel that alone
Points to your Lord who died!
Thereby does He provide
Grace to approach the Father’s throne,
Perfectly justified.

Noncompliant Dream

Early this morning I had a dream that broke all the rules of the "showed up in school in your tighty-whities" genre.

Rule 1: Without any explanation, you suddenly find yourself at school in the middle of the day wearing nothing but undies. Me? I showed up early for school in my undies, reckoning it was due to some kind of hazing ritual or a handicap in a game. I was just glad to get ahead of the morning rush.

Rule 2: Your response to the looks everyone gives you is to wish you could die of embarrassment. Me? I gave anyone who looked in my direction the "Got a problem with that?" stare.

Rule 3: You remain paralyzed with horror until the dream ends or you wake up. Me? I went to my locker, rummaged around in it and brought forth a T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants I had discarded there on some previous occasion. Not a perfect solution, still a horrible outfit, but at least it was one I could lie low in. Then the dream moved on to another challenge.

It would be nice to feel so in-control of the everyday crises in my waking life.

The Full Cupboard of Life

The Full Cupboard of Life
by Alexander McCall Smith
Recommended Ages: 13+

Botswana's first private detective works a case she doesn't even get to finish in this fifth novel of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It isn't terribly mysterious. Her client, a successful businesswoman, has decided to settle down and get married, so she asks Mma Precious Ramotswe for advice on which of her four suitors is the most suitable. Could it be the earnest, if dull, schoolmaster who takes a single-minded interest in reforming bad girls? The popular radio host? Or if neither, one of the others?

The investigation takes a back seat to other matters around the shared offices of the agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. As has happened before in this series, things develop so quickly that time seems to run out on the case before the investigation really gets anywhere. But after all, the cases in this series are more studies of human character than actual mysteries.

Among the characters it studies are the matron of the Tlokweng Orphan Farm, who hectors the kindly mechanic Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni into agreeing to jump out of an airplane for charity. Then there's Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who faces not only this terrible ordeal but also a confrontation with a tough but dishonest colleague in the auto repair trade. The absurd young apprentice named Charlie gets a starring role, and of course Mma Ramotswe stands at the center of it all, trying to bring her engagement to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni to its long delayed culmination.

What this book, and each book in this series, lacks in breadth of structure or in the force of a mystery-thriller plot line, it makes up in warmth, truth to its characters, gentle humor and a touch of lyricism. All these merits shine out even more in the audio-book version ready by Lisette Lecat. The next of so far 16 books in this series is In the Company of Cheerful Ladies.

149. Visitation Hymn

The Feast of the Visitation is July 2 in the historic Lutheran lectionary. The Epistle, for want of a better term, is Isaiah 11:1-5. The Gospel, really the text of this hymn, is Luke 1:39-56, in which the Virgin Mary (while pregnant with Jesus) visit her kinswoman Elizabeth (who is pregnant with John the Baptist). It's a text I have used before as the basis of a hymn, but to a different purpose. The tune is HOLY DAY, which I previously wrote for my "Third Commandment Hymn" - though the musical joke I worked into it doesn't have any relevance to this text.

Blessed shall all kindreds call her
In all ages yet to come,
Though sharp anguish would befall her
And the issue of her womb:
Mary, mother of our Lord,
Who believed the angel’s word,
Nor let maiden shame appall her
As she neared her cousin’s home!

How is it that flesh was able
To enclose our Lord and God?
Sooner may our supper table
Bear the flesh of Him we laud!
Can a womb become the shrine
Of the infinite divine?
Can a narrow manger cradle
Him who spans the heavens broad?

As the angel spoke, believing
Mary knew it would be so.
So Elizabeth, receiving
Her with joy, had felt the throe
Of the unborn prophet’s leap.
Can our hearts remain asleep,
Nor with her rejoice, perceiving
God incarnate here below?

May such faith as theirs be granted
In our time to such as us!
May Christ’s presence be implanted
By the Spirit even thus!
When as kinsmen of God’s Son
To His dwelling-place we run,
May our joyful hail be chanted
To His name in praise profuse!

148. Ash Wednesday Hymn

Here I go again, way out of season, just filling another gap in my hymn tour of the church year! Ash Wednesday, forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays, because they're all Easter), is the beginning of the Lenten season, which focuses on repentance and a spirit-over-flesh sort of discipline. The Epistle, which in this case would better be called the First Lesson, is Joel 2:12-19. It's actually not the only time this Old Testament prophet's slender, three-chapter book pulls Epistle duty in the historic lectionary; the other is Pentecost, with a selection from the end of the same chapter. The Gospel (for Ash Wednesday, mind you) is Matthew 6:16-21. The tune is UNCTION, which I wrote in 2003 for a hymn by N.F.S. Grundtvig.

Fast, dear children, mourn and tremble;
Rend your heart and not your clothes!
Solemnly come forth, assemble
Your transgression to expose!
Turn with all your heart, repenting
That the Lord might hear, relenting
From His just and wrathful oaths!

For your Lord is kind and gracious,
Slow to wrath, in mercy swift;
Prayer with Him is efficacious,
Turning curse to precious gift.
Gather young and old together,
Brides and husbands, seeking whether
He our bill of shame might lift!

Ministers and congregations,
Gather to be purified,
Lest our woes incite the nations
To blaspheme our Lord who died!
God will answer and take pity,
Saying, “O beloved city!
What boon will I not provide?”

Fast indeed, lest fleeting pleasure
Rule your heart with charms that cloy;
Rather seek eternal treasure
None can pilfer or destroy!
Fast to tame your vicious members
Till your frame its Head remembers:
Christ your fullness, Christ your joy!

Fast in freedom; fast in spirit,
Not as to be seen by men,
Nor by fasting to gain merit
Lest by pride you sin again!
Rather fast with Him whose dying,
All God’s justice satisfying,
Made you righteous there and then!

Fast in faith, yet feast on pardon
In Christ’s name these forty days,
Who from wilderness to garden
Walked by self-denying ways;
Lest His agony be cheapened,
Rather be your hunger deepened
For the love His cross displays!

147. Hymn to Depart

I wrote this hymn to fill a use in my planned collection of "useful hymns." It goes to the tune GENESIS, which I wrote a little while back for a hymn on creation.

Go in grace, dear sisters, brothers!
Go in peace, your souls restored!
Go in love toward one another!
Go in faith toward Christ our Lord!
May God bless your meditation!
May He answer all your prayers!
May He strengthen your vocation!
May He lessen all your cares!

Live with patience, kind and gentle,
Humble, self-controlled and meek;
Be not haughty or judgmental,
But the mind of Jesus seek!
As you would be seen by others,
Be in truth, at inmost heart;
So build up your sisters, brothers,
As God’s temple, set apart!

Parents, tell your children truly
All that Christ would have them know;
To His presence bring them duly,
That their faith may thrive and grow!
By your teaching and example
True disciples will arise;
For the Spirit’s pow’r is ample
And God’s kingdom is the prize.

Come again, repentant sinners,
Knowing pardon is your need;
Whether experts or beginners,
Come, receive the gospel seed!
You who hunger for salvation,
Come and take the living Bread,
Every member in his station
Growing up in Christ our Head!

Go with joy, returning often
To be filled again with joy!
Let each planned reunion soften
Our regret at each goodbye!
And should triumph intercept us
Or the grave’s dividing veil,
Go to Christ, who will accept us
With His joy-perfecting hail!