Sabbath Rest.

We are into old hymns around here. Sometimes, the beautiful old verses are a bit lost on us, because the original melodies can sound ponderous or dated. ( EDITED TO ADD: I should emphasize SOME of the melodies can sound ponderous or dated....we treasure many old hymns with their original melodies!!) So we love it that groups like Indelible Grace and Red Mountain Church are reworking old melodies so that we might experience the richness and beauty of these very old lyrics.



(We stand on the shoulders of giants, I think.)



Here are a couple of hymns that are a comfort to me, now and always:

These are the easiest-to-hear versions I could find online, sung by Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb. (It's a live concert, so forgive the chattiness before the songs begin):

O Love that Will Not Let Me Go:

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.



-George Matheson, 1882




Thy Mercy:

Thy mercy my God is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue.
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here.
Sin would reduce me to utter despair,
But through Thy free goodness, my spirit's revived
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground
And weep for the praise of the mercy I've found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own
In the covenant love of Thy crucified Son.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.

-John Stocker, 1776