“Victory Through Grace” performed by the choir of Cornerstone Church
“I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer” (Revelation 6:2 KJV).
Franny Crosby is that familiar, Methodist Episcopal hymn writer whose hymns are lodged in my head so neatly I can’t remember which ones are hers or when I last sung one. I don’t think this hymn has come up in our church in a long time, but it could be that I just can’t remember it.
I think the theme of this hymn is out of fashion today, and believers need it as much as they ever did. The battle is not to the strong; the race will not be won by the swift. Victory will be given by the Master to his own on his own terms.
1.Conquering now and still to conquer, rideth a King in His might; Leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fight; See them with courage advancing, clad in their brilliant array, Shouting the Name of their Leader, hear them exultingly say:
Refrain: Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful vict’ry is promised thro’ grace.
2. Conquering now and still to conquer, who is this wonderful King? Whence are the armies which He leadeth, while of His glory they sing? He is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and Monarch divine; They are the stars that forever bright in His kingdom shall shine.
3. Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus, Thou Ruler of all, Thrones and their scepters all shall perish, crowns and their splendor shall fall, Yet shall the armies Thou leadest, faithful and true to the last, Find in Thy mansions eternal rest, when their warfare is past.
I went together with a friend to stream the Minnesota Historical Society’s production of Runestone! A Rock Musical on Saturday. This review will be entirely useless to you, because the show’s run is now finished, but I figured I’d report on it anyway, for the benefit of future generations. And also to fill blog space.
The production is a fairly low-budget affair, presented on a circular stage (but not theater in the round – the audience sat in front). A screen behind the actors, for most of the program, concealed the band members. Costumes and staging were minimal – the men tended to wear suspenders or vests, to suggest 19th Century clothing, and a few props were set up to suggest settings – including, oddly, a tractor to indicate the farm, though the main character died well before such vehicles became common. A small cast filled the roles, most of them playing more than one (this was exaggerated in the performance that was streamed, as a couple actors were missing. Other actors filled their parts “on book,” sometimes crossing gender lines).
The production opened with a mealy-mouthed statement from the director or somebody, which included a groveling declaration of their profound awareness of the fact that they were standing on stolen land, and declaring their commitment to the goal of “decolonization.” I’m not entirely sure what decolonization means in real life. I’m inclined to think it means genocide.
The drama goes on to portray Swedish-American farmer Olaf Ohman and his son in 1898, as they discover a carved stone buried in the roots of a tree on their farm near Kensington, Minnesota. The local banker persuades Olaf to display the stone in the bank window, and rhapsodizes about the possibility of making Kensington a tourist destination. Preliminary statements from Minnesota historians tend to support the stone’s authenticity, and spirits are high, until a Norwegian scholar dismisses the whole thing as a hoax.
At this point the actors switch to an alternate narrative, describing how Ohman, the banker, and a neighbor could have colluded to create the stone simply as an exercise in “rural humor,” meant to trick the city folks and have a laugh at their expense.
Now Ohman becomes a pariah, a subject of ridicule. He takes the stone back home with him and tries to forget it all until he’s approached by the writer Hjalmar Holand (they pronounce “Hjalmar” wrong), who takes possession of the stone (there’s some disagreement about whether Ohman sold it to him or not), and turns it into his own meal ticket, giving many lectures and writing several popular books. This leads to a final break between Ohman and Holand.
The production seems to lack any interest in making a judgment on the question of authenticity. This is fair, I suppose, and certainly prudent in a state where feelings still run high on both sides in some circles. But it’s also kind of cowardly, and makes the production more a documentary than a work of art. I might mention that the “flashback” scenes depicting the voyage of the Norsemen who may have carved the stone feature very tacky costumes including crude horned helmets. This obscures the important fact that these men (if they ever existed) were 14th Century Scandinavian Christians who’d probably have been offended to be called Vikings. If Vikings ever wore horned helmets. WHICH THEY DID NOT!
I’ve always been touchy about urban productions portraying country people (I hated the Andy Griffith Show and Green Acres back in the day). So it may mean nothing that I found the portrayals here arch and sometimes borderline insulting.
The music was not memorable. This was no Tommy or Jesus Christ, Superstar. None of the songs lingered in the mind. Sasha Andrews did a pretty good job portraying Ohman. But all in all, I found Runestone! A Rock Musical unimpressive.
“Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” performed by Stephen Tharp
Today hymn is believed to have been originally written by Ignaz Franz (1719-1790), chaplain at Gross-Glogau and vicar of Glogau in Silesia, Poland, during the 1740s. Clarence A. Walworth (1820-1900) translated it from German.
1 Holy God, we praise thy name. God of all, we bow before thee. All on earth your scepter claim; all in heav’n above adore thee. Infinite thy vast domain, everlasting is thy reign.
2 Hark, the loud celestial hymn, angel choirs above are raising. Cherubim and seraphim, in unceasing chorus praising, fill the heav’ns with sweet accord: Holy, holy, holy Lord.
3 Lo! the apostolic train join thy sacred name to hallow. Prophets swell the glad refrain, and the blessed martyrs follow, and, from morn till set of sun, through the church the song goes on.
4 Holy Author, Holy Word, Holy Spirit, three we name thee; still, one holy voice is heard: undivided God, we claim thee, and adoring bend the knee, while we own the mystery.
I’ve been doing these Saturday blogroll posts for a while now, and I’m always happy to see a kind of theme emerge from the articles to which I link. This post will be more random. Sorry.
What do Red Letter Christians who disparage Paul’s words in favor of Jesus’s quotations do with the fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the gospels, not Jesus himself? Jesus didn’t write anything. If you say the biblical authors may have gotten their letters wrong, it applies throughout. Or are we saying that only the parts I dislike and challenge my modern sensibilities are the parts that probably are not inspired Scripture?
Music: “There are all these different metal bands out there from Scandinavia who incorporate Viking and pagan culture into their art. I always wondered why no one that I knew of had done that with Native American culture.” Album Offers Today’s Hits — Sung in Cherokee (nextcity.org)
We who belong to the church, who have cognitively accepted the Unseen Reality, as Evelyn Underhill described it, also suffer from constricted imaginations. The disenchantment we have all undergone as products of the modern world has critically stunted our spiritual development, our knowledge of ourselves, our hopes and dreams for God in the world.
Photo: I-84 near Hammett, Idaho. 2004. John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
This song differs from the usual congregational singing I share on Sundays. It’s a gorgeous arrangement of Psalm 100 with a few benedictory words at the end.
Here is the lyric as rendered in a 1982 Episcopal hymnal. I’ve always found the last verse to be marvelously triumphant music that should fill the earth.
O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. [Ant.]
2. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. [Ant.]
3. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name. [Ant.]
4. For the Lord is gracious; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth from generation to generation. [Ant.]
5. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
“Softly and Tenderly” performed by the Altar of Praise Chorale
Today’s hymn published in 1880 by the composer himself, Will L. Thompson (1847-1909) of Ohio. A member of the Church of Christ, Thompson started his own business to sell his music and later pianos, instruments, and other sheet music.
This performance by the Altar of Praise Chorale skips the third verse, which may be darker than some ministers want.
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me; shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me.
Come home, come home; you who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
“My Worth Is Not in What I Own” performed by Fernando Ortega & Kristyn Getty
The song today was written in 2014 by modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty along with Graham Kendrick. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s one to know with other classics.
I’ll repeat the first two verses here. The rest are on the Getty’s YouTube page.
My worth is not in what I own Not in the strength of flesh and bone But in the costly wounds of love At the cross
My worth is not in skill or name In win or lose, in pride or shame But in the blood of Christ that flowed At the cross
“Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” performed by Nathan Drake
This long-favored hymn was written by Methodist Episcopal Fanny Crosby in 1868 to a tune by industrialist William H. Doane, who “wrote over twenty-two hundred hymn and gospel song tunes, and he edited over forty songbooks.”
Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry, While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.
“This Joyful Eastertide” performed by Akua Akyere Memorial Youth Choir
George R. Woodward of England (1848-1934) wrote “This Joyful Eastertide” to a seventeenth-century Dutch folk tune. The Akua Akyere Memorial Youth Choir of Ghana performs above.
1 This joyful Eastertide away with sin and sorrow! My love, the Crucified, has sprung to life this morrow.
Refrain: Had Christ, who once was slain, not burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain: but now hath Christ arisen, arisen, arisen; but now has Christ arisen!
2 Death’s flood has lost its chill since Jesus crossed the river. Lover of souls, from ill my passing soul deliver. [Refrain]
3 My flesh in hope shall rest and for a season slumber till trump from east to west shall wake the dead in number. [Refrain]
