When All Else Fails.....Rejoice!

Though the fig tree does not blossom 

Nor grapes on the vines; 

Though the olive crop fails 

And the fields yield no fruit, 

Though there are no flocks in the stalls, 

Yet will I rejoice in Yahweh 

And will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Lord Yahweh is my strength; 

He makes my feet like the deer's"

He makes me [able] to tread on high places. 

For the Director of Music. On my [Habakkuk's] stringed instruments. ---Habakkuk 3:17-19 

Habakkuk had been praying to Yahweh (God) throughout this book about various injustices. God's own people were cheating others. Then the Babylonians (Chaldeans) were to come to punish the Jews, but the Babylonians were a violent people. But each time, God gave Habakkuk an answer, and the prophet wrote this song in the end to praise God, whatever the circumstances surrounding him might be.

God of Our Fathers

(posted for the 10th Anniversary of 9-11)


God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.
-----Daniel C. Warren, 1876 (for our nation's centennial)

(this hymn, while written by a Christian, granted, does not have the saving grace of Christ spelled out in its text)

I shall know why (untitled)

193

I shall know why—when Time is over—
And I have ceased to wonder why—
Christ will explain each separate anguish
In the fair schoolroom of the sky*—

He will tell me what "Peter" promised**—
And I—for wonder at his woe—
I shall forget the drop of Anguish
That scalds me now—that scalds me now!

---Emily Dickinson, circa 1880

* Many people have speculated that in heaven, we will have all our questions answered, but that, then, it won't matter anymore.

**Probably a reference to Peter's promise to Jesus that he absolutely would not deny Him through the hard times coming up. Those hard times were Jesus's trial later that night, His suffering and His death. Peter did, indeed, deny Christ, three times, and then went out and wept bitterly when the rooster crowed (as Jesus had prophesied), and Peter laid eyes on Jesus. This was Peter's anguish. Dickinson is probably making a parallel to the ways she knows she has fallen short and the anguish that brings, realizing that her anguish will fade when (1) confronted by Peter's in person and (2) she is in the presence of Christ. Since "Peter" is in quotes, Dickinson may be going beyond the literal Peter of the Bible to refer to someone, some man, who left her feeling betrayed.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness*

1."Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

(Chorus) "Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
"Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!

2. Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

3.Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

---Thomas Obediah Chisholm, 1923

*Based on Lamentations 3:22-24: "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (NIV)

Creator, Spirit, By Whose Aid

(a hymn for Pentecost)

Creator, Spirit*, by whose aid

The world's foundations first were laid.

Come, visit every humble mind;

Come pour Your joys on humankind.

From sin and sorrow set us free;

May we Your living temples be.

Giver of grace, descend from high;

Your sevenfold** gifts to us supply.

Help us eternal truths receive

And practice all that we believe.

Give us Yourself that we may see

The glory of the Trinity.

Immortal honor, endless fame

Attend the Almighty Father's Name.

The Savior, Son, be glorified,

Who for all humankind has died.

To You, O Counselor***, we raise

Unending songs of thanks and praise.

---Rabanus Marus, early 9th century A.D.; translated by John Dryden, adapted c.m.b., 2011. *For more on the Holy Spirit in creation, see notes on Gerard Manley Hopkins's "God's Grandeur" below

**Sevenfold gift of the Spirit: (Isaiah 11:1-2). The Catholic Catechism defines them as "wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord." While this is not a Biblical listing, it is a listing worth considering.

***Greek "Paraclete", counselor, advisor, comfortor, legal counsel (lawyer), all-in-one.

May

I cannot tell you how it was, 

But this I know: it came to pass 

Upon a bright and sunny day 

When May was young; ah, pleasant May! 

As yet the poppies were not born 

Between the blades of tender corn;

The last egg had not hatched as yet,

Nor any bird foregone its mate*. 

I cannot tell you what it was, 

But this I know: it did but pass. 

It passed away with sunny May, 

Like all sweet things it passed away, 

And left me old, and cold, and gray. 

---Christina Rossetti, (1830-1894) 

detail from a tablecloth sold by Vermont Country Store

*in the world of birds, many males leave their mates after the babies are old enough to fly away

Joseph the Faithful Carpenter

 (March 19th Commemorates Joseph, Stepfather of Jesus)


Joseph, the Faithful Carpenter
Ponders the news he keeps concealed
His bride-to-be is found with child—
A father’s name is not revealed.

As Joseph slumbers fitfully
An angel enters Joseph’s dream
To tell him that this comes from God
And things are not as they may seem:

“O, Joseph, banish all your fears
And take Young Mary as your wife
And be a father to God’s child
Who comes to share in human life.”

Good Joseph, born of David’s line
(Which matters not in days of Rome)
Bequeaths a human royalty
And gives the Boy a godly home.

A jealous Herod fears this King,
So Joseph takes them speedily
To Egypt, where again he works,
To care for his small family.

An angel tells that Herod’s dead,
So Joseph brings them all back home;
He brings them to quaint Nazareth
And raises God’s Son as his own.        

---C. Marie Byars, (c) 1999