10/15/13- Praying Favorite Old Hymns

A Month in Prayer

Praying the Hymns            October 15

Songs of the Saints

The hymns for today are dearly beloved. You may notice the words of Be Thou My Vision differ from those in our hymnbook. Hymns are living expressions of faith. Verses are often added or discarded. Seeing all five verses lets you compare  the original verses and see how hymns can change. After you pray these favorites perhaps you can look up
your favorite hymn and pray it. You can also look up the history of the hymn and learn more about its music and those who wrote it. This is a great devotional exercise.

Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish Poem

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish Poem (attributed to Dallan Forgail – c.530-598) This hymn is an ancient Irish poem.  This is the only hymn in our collection which includes stanzas not in our hymnal. This is to give a greater glimpse into the Celtic Christianity of ancient Britain.  The hymn is sometimes attributed to a Celtic saint, Dallan Forgall.  He was a descendent of one of the legendary High Kings of Ireland.  Dallan was a devout monk said to have gone blind as the result of his intensive study. He was beheaded in 598 when pirates broke into his monastery.  The poem is believed to have been recited regularly in monasteries. It then fell into disuse and was forgotten. In 1905 Mary E. Bryne, a research worker in Dublin, translated the poem literally into English. It was put into verse a few years later by Eleanor Hull in a book of poetry.

The hymn tune is "Slane."  It is named after a special hill.  The Druids and Irish pagan kings all extinguished all their fires except for the high king's fire.  As part of homage to the king and part of Druid worship they would light all the fires from the king's fire.  It was on the Slane Hill that Patrick extinguished the fire to point out that God alone is the source of all light that extinguishes darkness.  

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Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Robert Robinson

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of  God’s unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Robert Robinson (1735-1790) lived in England and his father died while he was young.  During his teens he became involved in a life of debauchery with a gang of hoodlums. At the age of 17 he went to scoff at George Whitefield , the noted evangelist, but when he heard him preach he instead professed his faith in Jesus Christ. Soon he felt the call to ministry and became a pastor. He wrote this hymn when he was just 23 years old.

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Jesus Loves Me
Anna Bartlett Warner

Jesus loves me!
This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so

Jesus Loves Me
Anna Bartlett Warner (1820-1915) Written in 1860, this hymn is the first song, statement of faith, and prayer many people learn. The hymn was written as part of a best-selling novel written by Anna and her sister, Susan. The hymn was included as a poem that one of the characters recites to comfort a dying child. Karl Barth, the most prolific and influential theologian of the 20^th century, was asked for his most profound theological insight. His answer was, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”