No Act Falls Fruitless

In this time of year many churches are emphasizing the theme of stewardship in preparation of their annual budgets.  Unsurprisingly, this is generally considered to be about money, but sometimes there will be discussion about other gifts we can bring to our communities and to the wider world.  This hymn reminds us of the smallest kinds of things that we can do every day in the stewardship of our spiritual mission.

Scorn not the slightest word or deed,
Nor deem it void of power;
There’s fruit in each wind-wafted seed
That waits its natal hour.
.
A whispered word may touch the heart,
And call it back to life:
A look of love bid fear depart,
And still discordant strife.

No act falls fruitless; none can tell
How vast its power may be,
Nor what results infolded dwell
Within it silently. 

Work on, despair not, bring your mite,
Nor care how small it be; 
God is with all that serve the right:
The holy, true, and free.

Anonymous, 1845; alt.
Tune: TALLIS' ORDINAL (C.M.)
Thomas Tallis, 1567

The 'mite' in the last stanza refers to the widow's mite, or offering, in Mark 12:41-44;  Generations of Sunday School children filled mite-boxes with small coins each year (and probably still do).

The language of this text is perhaps a bit more formal than necessary, but I still think there's some value in an older text like this, unknown though it may be..

My Thirst Was Quenched

 In many churches during Lent, the hymns are a bit quieter and gentler.  Some places go so far as to restrict the use of the organ during the season.  

Today's quieter and gentler hymn by Horatius Bonar, loved by many, depicts the words of Jesus bringing comfort in various circumstances.  Each stanza is based on a specific passage of scripture: the first, from Matthew 11:28; the second, from John 6:35; and the third, from John 8:12.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

"Come unto me and rest.

Lay down, O weary one, lay down

Your head upon my breast."

I came to Jesus as I was,

Weary and worn and sad;

I found in him a resting place,

And he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

Behold, I freely give

The living water, thirsty one,

Stoop down, and drink, and live."

I came to Jesus, and I drank

Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"I am the living Light.

Look unto me, your morn shall rise,

And all your day be bright."

I looked to Jesus, and I found

In him my Star, my Sun;

And in that light of life I’ll walk,

Till traveling days are done.

Horatius Bonar, 1846; alt.

Tune: THIRD MODE MELODY (C.M.D.)

Thomas Tallis, 1567

This text has been matched with several different tunes over the years, but I like this one best for its contemplative mood (it should perhaps be played a bit slower than on the sound file here).  Two tunes often used in the nineteenth century which were written specifically for this text are VOX DILECTI by John Bacchus Dykes and AUDITE AUDIENTES ME by Arthur Sullivan.  Both of them change key from major to minor for the second half of each stanza which tells the result of hearing the voice of Jesus.  It's the kind of compositional trick that was once admired but is less popular today.

Saint Barnabas

June 11, the feast-day of Saint Barnabas, is probably mostly celebrated these days only by churches that bear his name.  An early convert to Christianity, his story is mostly told in the Acts of the Apostles.

Henry Alford, in the second hymnbook he complied, Psalms and Hymns (1844), appoints the following hymn for this day.  It appears that it was chosen simply because it includes the word consolation, and Barnabas is traditionally called the Son of Consolation.  In his later collection, The Year of Praise (1867), Alford wrote his own hymn for the day (see the second link below) which is, perhaps, somewhat more appropriate.

Author of mercies, in thy Word
What endless glory shines!
Forever be thy name adored
For these celestial lines.

Here the fair tree of knowledge grows
And yields a free repast;
And richer fruits than nature shows
Invite the longing taste.

Here springs of consolation rise
To cheer the weary mind,
And thirsty souls receive supplies,
And sweet refreshment find.

Here the Redeemer’s welcome voice
Spreads heavenly peace around
And life and everlasting joys
Attend the blissful sound.

Oh, may these hallowed pages be
Our joy by day and night,
And still new beauties may we see,
And still increasing light.

Anne Steele, 1760; alt.
Tune: TALLIS' ORDINAL (C.M.)
Thomas Tallis, c. 1567

This text, by hymnwriter Anne Steele, was almost certainly written with no thought of Saint Barnabas, but you never know what a hymnal editor will do with your work years later. This was actually one of her better-known hymns for many years.


Four Years Ago:  Saint Barnabas

Two Years Ago: Saint Barnabas

In Tempests As They Blow

It's been raining here for the last few hours, with much more predicted to come overnight and into tomorrow. Hurricane Irene has already caused death and destruction with more to come, probably, as it approaches New York City. Many churches in the Northeast have cancelled services tomorrow as the storm is predicted to be at its height during the morning hours, so don't forget to pray for those affected as you worship tomorrow in other places.

Looking around the internet today I came upon this blog post from several years ago by the Reverend Scott Wells, a Christian Universalist minister who writes at Boy in the Bands. I had been thinking about Eternal Father, strong to save but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. This, too, isn't quite what we might sing today but it has some interesting ideas (I especially like the final stanza). Given that the East Coast felt an earthquake this week too (small though it was), the first line of the second stanza jumped out at me too.

Amid surrounding gloom and waste,
From nature’s face we flee;
And in our fear and wonder haste,
O nature’s Life, to thee!
Thy ways are in the mighty deep;
In tempests as they blow;
In floods that o’er our treasures sweep;
In lightning and the snow.

Though earth upon its axis reels,
And heaven is veiled in wrath;
Not one of nature’s milling wheels
Breaks its appointed path;
Fixed in thy grasp, the sources meet
Of beauty and of awe;
In storm or calm, all pulses beat
True to the central Law.

Thou art that Law, whose will be done,
In seeming wreck or blight,
Sends the calm planets round the sun,
And pours the moon’s soft light.
We trust thy love; thou best dost know
The universal peace;
How long the stormy force should blow,
And when the flood shall cease.

And though our path around some form
Of mystery ever lies,
And life is like the calm and storm
That checker earth and skies
Through all its mingling joy and dread,
Permit us, Holy One,
By faith to see the golden thread
Of thy great purpose done.

Edwin Hubble Chapin, 1871
Tune: THIRD MODE MELODY (C.M.D.)
Thomas Tallis, 16th cent.

Universalist minister Edwin Hubble Chapin was one of the editors of Hymns of Christian Devotion (1871), where some of his other hymn texts appeared with this one.


Two Years Ago: Thomas Gallaudet

Thy Best Name of Comforter

O Breath of God, breathe on us now,

And move within us while we pray:

The Spring of our new life art thou,

The very light of our new day.

O strangely art thou with us here

Neither in height nor depth to seek:

But ever shall thy voice be near

Spirit to spirit, thou dost speak.

Christ is our Advocate on high;

Thou art our Advocate within.

To plead the truth, and make reply

To every argument of sin.

Be with me when no other friend

The mystery of my heart can share;

And be thou known, when fears transcend,

By thy best name of Comforter.

Alfred H. Vine, 1895

Tune: TALLIS' CANON (L.M.)

Thomas Tallis, 1560

We have a long way to go until Lent this year (which is fine with me), another whole month before Ash Wednesday. In the meantime, a hymn to the Holy Spirit is never out of place.

It's been nearly a year since I last used TALLIS' CANON for another text, but it's a good, familiar tune that people sing well. I don't know that I'd sing it as a round in this particular case, but it's always a possibility.

P.S., the window above is in the Latin chapel of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

More Voices Found: Lucy Larcom

Lucy Larcom (March 5, 1824 - April 17, 1893) was born in the seaside town of Beverly, Massachusetts into a family of eight daughters. Her father, a retired sea captain, died when the girls were young, and her mother moved the family to the town of Lowell, where she opened a boarding house for workers at the local cotton mills.

Lucy, like her sisters, worked in the mills herself for ten years, starting at age 11. A brief description of life in the mill can be found here, but she wrote a far more lasting account in the autobiographical A New England Girlhood (1889) her most well-known book, which is still in print today.

During the time Lucy worked at the mill, the girls there formed a kind of literary club called the Improvement Circle, where they read books and wrote poems and stories, which they published in a magazine, the Lowell Offering, said to be the first American magazine written solely by women. The Offering came to the attention of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who took an interest in Lucy's work and became a lifelong friend.

After her employment at the mill, Larcom attended the Monticello Ladies' Seminary in Illinois, earning her tuition by also teaching some of the younger classes. She returned to Massachusetts where she taught at the Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College) in Norton. Poor health caused her to give up teaching, and she became the editor of Our Young Folks, a magazine for children.

Larcom published several volumes of poetry during her life, and edited some collections by her friend Whittier. Several of her verses on religious themes have been used as hymns. Probably the most widely-known of these was Draw thou my soul, O Christ, but this one caught my eye for today. It first appeared in her book Wild Roses of Cape Ann (1880), and may have been first used as a hymn in the Song-Hymnal of Praise and Joy (1924), a collection edited by Pluma Brown which included twelve hymns by Larcom, perhaps more than any other hymnal.

Into the ocean of thy peace,
Almighty One, my thoughts would flow;
Bid their unrestful murmurings cease,
And thy great calmness let me know.

The world is bright and glad in thee!
No hopeless gloom its face enshrouds;
Joy lights the mountains, thrills the sea,
And weaves bright tints through all the clouds.

O God, how beautiful is life,
Since thou its soul and sweetness art!
How dims its trifling fret and strife
In thy all-harmonizing heart!

One soul with thee forevermore,
Borne high beyond the gulfs of death --
A joy that ripples on thy shore --
With life's vast hymn I blend my breath.

Lucy Larcom, 1880
Tune: TALLIS' CANON (L.M.)
Thomas Tallis, 1560

By the time she wrote this text Larcom was living once more in Beverly; its title in Wild Roses of Cape Ann was "A Sea-Side Hymn." In Pluma Brown's hymnal it is matched to the tune ERNAN by Lowell Mason, but I chose the older tune by Tallis for its somewhat gentler mood (and because it's more likely to be sung again with a better-known tune).


P.S. I know there are several new readers here in recent months, and you might be curious about the More Voices Found heading used on the last two days. It's an ongoing theme at CWS and I've written about it in two previous entries: here and here. And if you click on the tag below you can find several of the reclaimed works by women.

Thomas Tallis

Today is the anniversary of the death of English composer Thomas Tallis, in 1585. Almost nothing is known of his early life, not even the exact year of his birth (best guess seems to be around 1505), let alone the date.

In 1532 he became the organist at the Benedictine priory in Dover, and this seems to be the first date recorded in association with his life. Other organist positions followed until 1543, when he received a royal appointment as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, a musical job in which he sometimes sang in or led the choir, played the organ, and composed music for the services there.

Though Tallis did compose some works for keyboard, most of his compositions are sacred choral music. Due to the changes in the monarchs of England during his lifetime, he had to compose both in English for the services of the new Church of England, and at other times had to compose in Latin for the Catholic liturgy. Tallis himself was Catholic, and some scholars believe that his Latin pieces show his sympathy for that side.

The hymn tunes of Tallis (some of which are still used today) mostly come from an edition of the Psalter that was translated in 1561 by Matthew Parker, who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Queen Elizabeth I. Tallis wrote nine tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter, eight of which were used for multiple psalms (the ninth was solely used for a translation of the hymn Veni sancte spiritus). This particular tune, probably the most well-known by Tallis, was adapted from the eighth tune of the psalter.

All praise to thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light!
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thine own almighty wings.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of evil me molest.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be..

O may my soul on thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

Thomas Ken, 1693; alt.
Tune: TALLIS' CANON (L.M.)
Thomas Tallis, 1561

This hymn by Bishop Thomas Ken, originally had eleven stanzas (and he added one more a few tears later), but most of them have not been sung in the last two hundred years or so. One that I find interesting, though it was perhaps a bit too vivid for the Victorians:

Dull sleep, of sense me to deprive!
I am but half my days alive;
Thy faithful lovers, Lord, are grieved,
To be so long of thee bereaved.

P.S. This hymn was Number Four on the list of The Best Church Hymns seen here last week.