Jesus Calls Us – Cecil Alexander

She had someone or a group of people in mind as she penned words for a song to accompany her husband’s upcoming sermon one Autumn day in 1852. Thirty-four year old Cecil Alexander evidently wanted to draw some parallels between her neighbors or fellow churchgoers and a well-known apostle (see his picture here, along with his brother Peter and the Christ, by Caravaggio). It may even be assumed that her preacher-husband gave her some thoughts to get her prose rolling that day when “Jesus Calls Us” was written.  That she had been most accustomed to writing children’s songs may have also been why she needed the advice and encouragement of another adult when she went about composing this hymn for grown-ups. Do the words resonate with you, as an adult?

Cecil Alexander’s composition “Jesus Calls Us” indeed was something of an unusual exercise for this composer, considering the audience for the song and what was her routine for her poetry. She’d written many of her poem-songs for children by the age of 20, really not that long after she had left her own childhood behind. These had been published by 1848, and then she married two years later, an occasion that most people regard as entry into the adult world. Her husband, William, a minister in a poor local church in Ireland, was preparing one November to deliver a message based on the example of the apostle Andrew – a called individual. William asked his wife to think of a hymn for adults as the Anglican holiday, St. Andrew’s Day, approached on the last Sunday of the month. He evidently wanted a memorable song to accompany his sermon, and knowing his wife’s pedigree, he must have felt pretty confident, though most of her experience had been writing for children. But, her experience also included ministering to the people of the area herself, with lots of sick, cold, and hungry people that she saw daily. So, she no doubt had a personal and practical familiarity with a calling to help others. The ‘tumult’ and ‘sorrows’ she wrote about must have been not just in her imagination, but in fact real hurts that she witnessed every day, just as were the ‘vain world’ and ‘idol(s)’, interspersed with a few ‘joys’ and ‘pleasures’ that she observed also.

Her husband’s influence also showed in the words she wrote, although the verse she composed that he read in the church service has not normally survived in our modern hymnal texts. That’s unfortunate, because it helps communicate the hymn’s background, its genesis (see the link below). She calls out Andrew’s example of dropping his profession, literally, and following the Master upon encountering Him. That episode must have been electric, wouldn’t you imagine? It makes one ponder … to what does He call me today? Should I stop working? Is there a greater task He has for me to do? Cecil must have seen and heard a lot from her neighbors that had her thinking they needed to reach beyond their own world, perhaps because there was just too much privation, too much disappointment where they were. Would it be an ironic twist, if I have so much, and were less inclined to turn my head when he calls out to me?  He offers more, incredibly more, even if I am very physically blessed here. Read Cecil’s words, and see if they make you re-think things.           

           

See more information on the composer and the song in Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985

See the link here for a 2^nd verse rarely seen in print, which really lends some context to the circumstances of the poetry that Cecil Alexander wrote – a reference to the subject of her husband’s sermon that day in November 1852. http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/e/s/jesuscus.htm

All Things Bright and Beautiful – Cecil F. H. Alexander

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander loved three things, if the song she wrote in 1848, “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, is an accurate portrayal of her personality. God, nature, and children are blended into the verses of the song, weaving a message that was unmistakable. It would surprise no one if the song was said to have been written by someone with a child-like spirit -- she had been a poet from her childhood years. The song communicates something clearly, easily understood even by children. Each verse says something every human has experienced.

Cecil Alexander was 30 years old when the song was written, but adults like herself were not the intended audience. She wrote this song and others as part of the publication Hymns for Little Children. It is thought that she may have composed the words near Sligo, Ireland while at Markree Castle (see a picture of it above), suggested perhaps by one verse that speaks of a castle and its inhabitant, versus the more humble existence of a poor man. But, rich or poor, all experience equally some basic elements of our shared existence on planet Earth that Alexander mentions in this poem. Even children could identify them: little birds, mountains, sunsets, wind, fruit, tall trees, green grass. They all present themselves without my help. I might have planted seed for fruit trees or grass, but who made them grow? I can climb the mountain, but who put it there in the first place? Arguing about how these things arrived on the scene, while ignoring the wonder of Him who made them, is pointless. I, in my attitude of strict discipline and conviction about my faith, might have called the unbeliever impudent, if I had authored this poem’s conclusion. But, is that the way a child would say it? No, there is another message of the song that I have missed, until now.

The words of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” are gentle. They caress the mind and soul with images that remind the hearer of the power and grace and certainty of God’s creation. Alexander reminds me as a worshipper in the song’s last verse to testify confidently about the Creator, since He has given me eyes and lips to witness His greatness. But, if I do this like a child – as it seems Cecil Alexander suggests - I don’t need to be pushy or arrogant as I do this. I merely act, as I exist in the shadow of my Creator, like the other things He has created. I’m here because He made me, nothing more or less. I’m humble like a child, so that I can magnify Him. See the below link for all six verses that Mrs. Alexander wrote: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/l/l/allthing.htm

Information on the song was also obtained from “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.

See this link for biographical information on Mrs. Alexander: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Frances_Alexander