Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling
Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909
Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me; See on the portals he's waiting and watching, Watching for you and for me.
Come home.
Our hymnbooks are full of invitations.
Sometimes the songs request that God come to us. Sometimes they bid us to come home to him.
Written in 1880 by Will Thompson, an Ohio music-store owner and music publisher, this soft and tender invitation became a favorite at the turn-of-the-century revivals.
Nineteen years after the song's publication, Thompson visited a dying Dwight L. Moody-—-the premiere, nationally renowned evangelist of his day. Though visitors were restricted, Moody insisted that Thompson be allowed to come in. A reflective Moody, looking back over his persuasive ministry, his crowd-drawing preaching, gave Thompson the ultimate compliment:
"I would rather have written 'Softly and Tenderly,' than anything I have been able to do in my whole life." Thompson's song tugs at the heart.
Come home, come home, Ye who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling, O sinner, come home.
Another notable in Moody's circle of friends, gospel songwriter Fanny Crosby, once nudged a New York "Bowery bum" toward the Kingdom, piquing his interest by noting that "the sweetest words in our language or any other are mother, home, and heaven."
Come home. The invitation works for the dying: The choir of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church sang Thompson's classic at Martin Luther King's memorial service.
Time is now fleeting; the moments are passing . . . Shadows are gathering; deathbeds are coming, Coming for you and for me. Come home. Come home.
It works for the homesick. Cynthia Clawson's interpretation of the song winds hauntingly through the 1985 movie Trip to Bountiful, the story of an old woman's obsession: to escape Houston and her ditzy daughter-in-law and get back to her homestead in Bountiful, Texas. (I think of the William Wordsworth lines: "Homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food."
It works for the wayfaring. My colleague Peggy says she came to Christ, being drawn by Thompson's music as rendered in the Bountiful movie, which is ultimately a woman's journey to freedom. Not freedom from a daughter-in-law but freedom of spirit. Peggy recalls watching the movie when it was broadcast on TV.
"It was one of those serendipitous events. I turned on the TV and there were two women riding on a bus, talking. Believe it or not, the scene was compelling. Then came the song: 'Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, See on the portals he's waiting and watching, Watching for you and for me.' The image flashed into my mind of Jesus standing on a rock beckoning me with soft and loving eyes. He was motioning to me with his right arm to come to him. He could not understand why I would not come and accept this love that was waiting, just for me. For weeks afterward I sang that song and tried to learn the words. I sang and cried while I did the dishes. I sang and cried while I folded the clothes. One day my husband started singing along. Startled, I asked him how he knew the words. He said it was an old hymn they sang in all the Baptist churches. (I had never heard it in a Catholic church.) I was amazed—right here in my own home was someone who could teach the words to me. 'How could you know this song and not sing it or share it?' I demanded. To him it was just another hymn among many. To me it evoked a personal call from Jesus to me to open my heart to him. It was the most beautiful music in the world:
O for the wonderful love he has promised . . . Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, Pardon for you and for me. Come home. Come home.
Fanny Crosby placed home among the most beautiful words in any language. And poet Wordsworth pictured God as being "our home."
Home, where the porch light is always on, beckoning. Not understanding why any homesick child would not come all the way in.
If you make the Most High your dwelling ...
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
Psalm 91:9 -10
Lord, I have come to you as my home. And yet I know that you are always beckoning me further in. I open myself to you today. I hear your call to come home, past the parlor, into the kitchen to sit at your table.
From the book: "Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns" by Evelyn Bence.
...............................
Ah yes, the Passover is the time to draw close to Christ, to meditate on His love and mercy; a time to deeply think about sin, yes to remember we are sinners, but also to be lifted up in praise and wonderment that Jesus gave His life so we could live forever in the Father's Kingdom. We are indeed saved by grace. If you have never studied my study called "Saved by Grace" on my website, then you need to do so. I feel it is one of the best and most important studies I was inspired to write.
I have posted that study above as I enter all this in April 2023.
Keith Hunt
JESUS I HAVE PROMISED
John Ernest Bode, 1816 - 74
O Jesus, I have promised To serve thee to the end; Be thou forever near me, My Master and my Friend.
An Anglican clergyman, John Bode wrote this testimony of intent for the confirmation service of his daughter and two sons—the original poem (titled "A Hymn for the Newly Confirmed") reading "O Jesus, we have promised."
The bold beginning of this hymn reminds me of a camp-meeting testimony one never hears anymore: "I'm going to go all the way with Jesus." I'm going to be faithful to the end, till I die; God and you all can count on me, come hail or high water.
It also draws me to the gospel story of Peter's brash claim that he would never deny his Lord: "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will" (Matthew 26:33).
But as I take a closer look at Bode's pledge of fidelity, it does seem less rash than Peter's. Only four of Bode's original forty-eight lines describe "my promise" as opposed to God's provision. Its bravado is tamed by its humble request for help. God, I promise to serve you—to the end. And you—be at my side; be my guide and guardian; let me feel you; let me hear you.
Two "let me see you" verses are consistently deleted from our hymnals. One of these refers to Jesus' response to Peters broken promise.
O let me see . . .
The look that beamed on Peter
When he thy name denied;
The look that draws thy loved ones
Close to thy pierced side.
Lord, if I stumble, if I'm not faithful on some count, gently tug me back to and through repentance.
Peter didn't keep his rash promise. But his fall didn't keep him from making a more reasonable claim a week later, after Christ's resurrection. As the disciples finished a seaside breakfast, Jesus fired a question direcdy at a humbled Peter: "Do you truly love me?"
"Yes, Lord."
Then "take care of my sheep" (John 21:16).
Then get up. We're going to keep walking—to the end. Follow me; serve me. In this conversation Jesus even gave Peter a hint of what his "end" was to be-—-a martyr's murder.
And empowered by the Spirit, Peter remained faithful. He saw his service through. For his children—and for us-—-Bode explains how:
My hope to follow duly Is in thy strength alone.
As I first looked at "O Jesus, I Have Promised," I saw it as a presumptuous testimony of intent. Oh, be careful little tongue what you promise. But I have softened my view. Thanks to Jesus' redemptive response to a humbling Peter. Thanks to Bode's graceful lines. I can see why it has been ranked high in polls of "favorite hymns." I can see why it was recendy sung at a funeral, as a testimony to the life of a generous, committed woman. She had made and by grace kept the promise.
And Jesus I have promised To serve thee to the end; O give me grace to follow, My Master and my Friend.
And in the end, she had staked a claim:
O Jesus, thou hast promised To all who follow thee That where thou art in glory There shall thy servant be.
O guide me, call me, draw me, Uphold me to the end; And then in heaven receive me, My Savior and my Friend.
Bode wrote a testimony to live by and die by. A prayer for the young and old. For tomorrow and today. For you and me.
Lord, make this testimony of intent the theme of my life.
From the book "Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns" by Evelyn Bence.
..............................
Jesus said, "He that shall endure to the end shall be saved." We must start on the road to salvation with Christ as our Passover sacrifice. And we must keep on the straight and narrow road to eternal life, with Jesus and the Father IN us ..... John 14:23; Gal.2:20. And yes in the last part we can change to "And when you come receive me, My Savior and my Friend." If you didn't know it, to be correct with Scripture, we do not go to heaven, anytime, but heaven is coming to us, at the resurrection when Jesus returns. All that theological truth is on my website in many studies.
Keith Hunt
No comments:
Post a Comment