All Rise -- Babbie Mason

Once you hear some details of how her life and this song developed, see what you think. Did Babbie Mason know what she was doing when she decided to step away from teaching as she approached 30 years old? Maybe she already had something in mind a few years earlier when she moved to Georgia (she and her family now live in Carroll County, west of Atlanta – see the map), from where she wrote “All Rise”. Babbie must have had thousands of worship services in her experience by the time the mid-1980s arrived, so it’s not really much of a mystery what spiritual thought sparked the poetic words she crafted for this song. They summon images of an episode she probably had heard illustrated numerous times, a time that she and others had already been dreaming about – Eternity. On Easter, especially, it’s good to allow the mental imagery to take over for a few minutes. Join in!

Though a specific downbeat incident motivated Babbie’s poetry in “All Rise”, the end result expressed in the song she wrote was at the opposite end of the spectrum from what her emotions initially told her how she should feel. Babbie had failed in something she cared dearly about – a music ministry that she really wanted to base her life upon. She had just returned from a music competition, one in which she felt she’d failed, coming in just third. In the aftermath, walking soberly through her home a few weeks later, it suddenly dawned on her the key words that spurred “All Rise” – all believers would one day stand before the Judge of all the earth! So, how did a mere competition rank with that thought? Here was a pastor’s daughter, who had played the piano in church services as a youngster and must have heard her dad speak numerous times on the subject of the afterlife. Babbie had begun her adult life as a teacher in her home state of Michigan, and then at age 25 moved to Georgia, where she continued on that path, at least at first. By the middle of the 1980s she decided to pursue music performance professionally, and one can surmise that “All Rise” was among the first efforts she recorded in this new venture. Though she was far from Michigan, one can presume the mental scenery that she’d remembered from all those sermons growing up must have still been present. Imagine arriving in His presence, to receive the reward of being with Him and being made new yourself; this was what stuck with Babbie from Michigan to Georgia. While Babbie envisioned a ‘holy hush’ (v.1) among all the assembled, the throng wouldn’t be silent for long. ‘We were singing alleluias’ (v.2), and moreover, who could sit still while this was happening? ‘All rise’, she hears the Spirit say, again and again. Arise! Was Babbie indeed thinking of us mimicking Jesus rising at His Father’s command? If it was indeed Easter when Babbie wrote her words, that would be appropriate, but  those stirring thoughts she penned in “All Rise” cannot be confined to a single week of the year. It’s too big. (And, by the way, Babbie returned to that music competition the following year, and was the winner. How appropriate, she won when she focused on the big win in heaven, after experiencing a loss here on earth.)

Babbie might have had the words of any of several scriptures to stimulate her musical composition about people rising. Just think of what the ancient apostle said to a group from Thessalonica (1 Thess. 4:16). Or, how about what this same writer said to those in Ephesus (5:14)? He said much the same in the presence of the highest authority of his time (Acts 26:23). Could we say that he too was inspired, years later, by a rising among his own generation, when the Son had said that a guy named Lazarus would emerge from a grave (John 11:23-24)?  What about what an ancient prophet said to stir the people of his time (Isaiah 60:1)? There’s many, many more. God must want us to know something, beyond a shadowy doubt. This rising isn’t to be missed. Babbie is just underscoring it for all of us one more time. If you feel defeated like Babbie did that day in Atlanta, think how that earthly episode ranks –or really doesn’t – with what awaits you and me on the great gettin’ up morning! Now, get up!

The source for the song story is the book “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever”, by Lindsay Terry, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2008.

Watch this recording of the author-composer singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7EFZgKLrtQ

Read her biography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbie_Mason

See also this link: https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/babbie-mason-b-1955

Here’s the author-composer’s official site: http://www.babbie.com/index.php?id=3

Sanctuary -- J.W. Thompson and Randy Scruggs

If their words did not spell out their thoughts more clearly, these two authors’ vision of something metaphorical might have been misunderstood to be something physical. After all, who thinks of the human body as a “Sanctuary” in the way that John W. Thompson and Randy Scruggs wrote in 1982? Most of us think of a very exclusive place in a worship space, perhaps not unlike what we can read in our bibles and imagine (like this picture). It’s a very hallowed meeting place, reserved for the very few who meet some strict standards. It might even have been described as a dangerous place – this holy of holies. So dangerous, in fact, that Jewish tradition and some scripture indicates that the priest who entered that area wore bells, so that when others outside heard them, they were reassured that the priest was still alive and that the offering had been accepted. If the opposite were true, a rope tied around the unfortunate priest’s ankle allowed those outside to retrieve his body without entering the area. Hmmm…still wanna be a sanctuary?

We know but a few details about John W. Thompson and Randy Scruggs in the year 1982, the year associated with the publication of the song ‘Sanctuary’. John’s co-authorship of the song was close to the time when he wrote another song – El Shaddai (with Michael Card) – that has gone on to various accolades. John was 32 years old, when he wrote about a human being accepting the notion of being a holy dwelling place for God. Randy was 29 years old at the time, and had already been busy in the music-making business for over 15 years, pretty exceptional for someone who hadn’t yet reached the three-decade mark. His first recording was as age 13, so he apparently wasn’t intimidated by songwriting. Yet, did Randy and John ponder long the gravity of what they were saying in ‘Sanctuary’? We know no details of the circumstances of the song’s emergence, including where they were; we have only the words they penned. Preparing to be a holy receptacle for God’s presence – His Spirit – is something every believer accepts, although none of us totally understand that at the beginning. You get the sense from the words John and Randy wrote that they appreciated the difficulties involved in this proposition. Verses two and three contain suggestions that the human might fall short in this endeavor – ‘…weakness’, and ‘temptation’ inhabit some of their words. They ask the Holy One to intervene to purify this fallible vessel, with words like ‘Who gives me strength’ (v.2), and ‘Take away all my sin’ (v.3). In fact, ‘prepar(ing)’ to be a sanctuary is not a one-time event, as John and Randy might have been implying they understood in the poetry that they wrote. ‘Prepare me to be a sanctuary’ is the song’s refrain (and therefore, sung repeatedly), so they perceived that this reshaping of the person is an ongoing process. It’s never over, is it?          

God must know us well by now, after trying to inhabit all of us all these centuries. On the other hand, do His people know Him as well? Those who stood outside the temple, and on occasion drug out the priest with the rope, might have feared Him more than others, wouldn’t you say? Those people thought the sanctuary was pretty imposing. A good measure of gravitas is probably a good thing when considering Him dwelling inside. Yet, He’s there also to comfort and guide, not just to convict. ‘Wonderful Counselor’, I’m told is His name. I should think about that more, as I encounter those who don’t yet know Him, and convey that characteristic more readily. He’s here to counsel me, but He can take on many more in His court of justice. Is he wonderful to you today?    

Read one author’s biography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Scruggs

Website for J.W. Thompson’s singing group: http://thereminders.net/about-us/

See also these two links for some scant information on Thompson, and a bit more on Scruggs: https://hymnary.org/person/Thompson_J

https://hymnary.org/person/Scruggs_R

I've Been Crucified with Christ – Paul, the Apostle

A dispute was threatening the foundation of the newborn church, and he was committed to reversing this. He was Paul, the once-accuser, now-fervent believer, who wrote the words of a letter to a group of straying Christians to express dismay and denunciation, and to underscore his allegiance to the One he defended by saying “I’ve Been Crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Though he was probably elsewhere, the Apostle who wrote no less than 13 messages contained in 21^st Century bibles was thinking of a place called Galatia (see the map) in a time when the 1^st Century was around 50 years old. Today, we would say it was in central Turkey (in Paul’s time, known as the Roman province of Asia Minor), where Paul had visited and first converted some to unadulterated faith. He was saying, for effect, ‘how dare you!’

This apostle usually didn’t hold back his thoughts, did he? As a persecutor, he was rabid in his methods to chase, capture, and condemn to death many Christians. And then, he had his own fanaticism stood on its head while on a road to Damascus, causing him to sacrifice a very promising Jewish status, perhaps even leadership of people. But, he gave it all up, putting himself in harm’s way multiple times, and walking a path that would eventually get himself killed. So, undoubtedly Paul was sincere in the purest sense as he stressed to these people in Asia Minor how much he believed – he knew his faith was a dangerous one, that he was ‘crucified with Christ’, in effect. If he put himself out on this spiritual limb, he wasn’t about to be dismissive of what he saw as gross error in their morphed beliefs. They were still pinning down people with outmoded Jewish practices – circumcision, chief among them. Particularly galling for Paul were the hypocritical actions of a brother – Peter. Paul’s words are vivid straight out of the box as the letter begins…’astonished’ (Gal. 1:6), ‘…pervert’ (1:7), ‘…eternally condemned’ (1:8). It’s therefore not likely a mis-print when he addresses with an exclamation mark this group as ‘You foolish Galatians!’ (3:1) Christ is supreme, and loyalty to Him requires nothing else to save the believer, period. Toss the old law aside, Paul emphasized, and focus on Christ’s gracious sacrifice. Paul’s own life was subsumed in the Divine One, according to the words of this one-verse song. Paul lived, even if crucified; he was still fleshly, but with a consecration to the spiritual One who had sacrificed for him, the still-fleshly.

So, stop counting on one’s own effort, because it will never get you within eyeshot of the Holy One. Only His own sacrifice has meaning in God’s throne room. Twenty centuries after Paul’s original words, an anonymous music-writer fused the notes with the words that he read in the King James Version of the bible, creating a memory tonic for Paul’s meaningful words first penned for a people committing grievous error. What does one do to underscore a commitment to another? Paul knew what to do. He lived it, and died for it. He crucified his old life for it.        

The only resource used for the above story is the KJV version of the bible for the original words used in the song verbatim; and the New International Version of the bible for background information on the letter to the Galatians.