How Long Has It Been? -- Thomas Mosie Lister

 

Was he perhaps on his knees as he thought over what he wanted to verbalize? “How Long Has It Been?”, Mosie Lister wanted to ask so many people for whom he was praying one day. He may have even been reading and reflecting on the way God Himself was postured in a garden during His own most difficult earthly episode (see the artwork here of Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofman in 1866). Lister had been studying, singing, and composing music for some time, and yet he probably didn’t come upon what he wanted to say the first time he considered his acquaintances who had drifted away from a faith they once held. Instead, it more likely was a gnawing feeling that stayed with him, until one day he happened upon the words, some that he’d been rolling over in his mind. So why not use these words?

 

That question was so simple, that Mosie Lister barely waited another moment to start scribbling the words to voice his musical question. That episode did not mean that Mosie’s songwriting penchant was a ‘natural’ thing however, a fact to which his own parents and his educational pursuits would attest. Though he would say that the words to ‘How Long…’ were finished in ten minutes, one would have been surprised to expect that from the youngster whom the Lister parents coaxed to start singing in rural Georgia in the 1920s/early 1930s. He apparently possessed no ear for musical tones, but through lots of effort, including his pre- and post-World War II pursuits to formally study music, he overcame the deficiencies his parents had initially identified. By his mid-to-late 20s, Mosie had been in three professional singing groups before he altered course into songwriting and forming a publishing company in his early 30s (by 1953). By this time, he surely had seen at least a few people around him also alter course, but in a negative way to walk away from God. This bothered Mosie deeply, readily provoking the thoughts that were on his heart to say to them, some of whom had abandoned God years before. Mosie’s purpose was obvious – convict them, turn them around. And, it wasn’t just a casual conversation that he suggested they pursue. Besides being on their knees (vv.1 and 3), these wayward who wanted to return to Him should share ‘…hidden secrets’ (v.1) and speak with God all night (vv. 1 and 4). One of Mosie’s longings for the lost people was that they would find peace, compassion, friendship, and purpose for living that begins with submission in prayer (vv. 2 and 4).

 

Mosie’s words resonated with thousands, even millions of people. Over a million copies of ‘How Long…’ had reportedly been reproduced by the early 1960s, five years after Mosie’s hand first wrote in a burst what his spirit was feeling. Mosie must have thought that a prayer is one of the most effectual enterprises. From a personal and professional standpoint, how great was it that Mosie’s 10-minute effort garnered more than a million copies of profit? But, in an infinitely greater way, how effective is it to pray to God? He’s called the Almighty, and so many other names because it’s really impossible to capture Him in just a few names, or even dozens or scores of names. He’s infinite, many times more than a million. And, I can pray to Him. What is standing in the way of you connecting with the unbounded God? Mosie asked you, too. Are you ready to ask yourself?

   

See the source for the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006. 

 

See the story here also: https://thescottspot.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/how-long-has-it-been-written-in-1956/

 

See brief biography of the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/l/i/s/t/lister_tm.htm

See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosie_Lister

Shine Down – Billy Smiley, Mark Gersmehl, Bob Farrell

He made the light, so He knows how it works. Did these three musicians imagine that such a light would behave like this animation, as it passes through a prism and is dispersed in all of white light’s various colors (see the picture/animation here)? To someone who knows not how it works, nor trusts the Creator of this phenomenon, this spectacle would probably be alarming, even terrifying. That must have been what three young men (all of them in their 20s or early 30s) named Billy Smiley, Mark Gersmehl, and Bob Farrell thought when they collectively asked God to ‘Shine Down” a light on their world. Something or someone was disturbing them and their journey, so they boldly sought the intervention of Him, the One who is the Maker and Preserver of all good things. The paths of Billy and Mark would co-mingle for several years, while Bob’s was in a different but not dissimilar area; and so, at least a brief collaboration ensued between the three men to say something they all believed.

 

At least two of the ‘Shine Down’ authors emerged from the influence of Bill Gaither and his southern gospel music ventures in the early 1980s. Billy and Mark were part of the Gaither Vocal Band in 1981, a time when they and some others from Gaither musical groups decided to form a new group, White Heart. Perhaps Bob Farrell had at least an indirect musical relationship with the Gaithers or with White Heart in the early 1980s when ‘Shine Down’ was conceived (in 1984). Bob’s ventures in Christian music since the early 1970s included (according to the Farrell and Farrell website that he and his wife Jayne sponsor) performance and songwriting with various Christian music artists, so we could imagine the paths of the Gaithers, Bob Farrell, Mark Gersmehl, and Billy Smiley, and probably many others, criss-crossing on occasion. That’s just the way the music industry is; sharing ideas between like believers is also one way His Spirit moves and makes things happen synergistically. And so, these three collaborated in a way that remains untold, except for the two verses and chorus that they penned. And, that’s OK, because what they said was not about themselves, but instead about the light-giver. Were the three of them actually sharing with each other what an ancient writer had to say about light and darkness (John 3:19-21), that the darkness is afraid of the light because the misdeeds of evil people are exposed when it comes?  It would not be uncommon for fellow believers to share with one another the miseries of life, and to pray for rectification. They pleaded for His power to visit one or perhaps several circumstances, because ‘…darkness flees..’ when He is around. And, it wasn’t just a relief from trouble that they wanted, but the courage they would gain from His presence – ‘…let the people see.’  

 

Does the light ever really vanish, or do we just not see some of it at times? Like the light before it goes through a prism, is some of His working – His colors – unnoticed until we look more closely? Billy, Mark, and Bob’s two verses extend the initial thoughts they give us in their chorus refrain. We can beg Him to send light to earth, but they remind us that there’s a place and a time when light will always be present. That land full of glory (v.1), that city (v.2) where He lives, will be forever illuminated. This ground where I live is covered by darkness, sometimes up to 14 hours every day in the deepest part of winter. Some people actually have a condition called SAD, seasonal affective disorder, because of the minimal light. How about you? Are you SAD, but because God’s light is missing? You’re not alone – Billy, Mark, and Bob felt the same way once. We can all go to the perpetual light, someday!

 

 

See here for brief biography of two of the authors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Smiley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Gersmehl

 

here’s a link to the group that two of the authors formed, and which may have contributed to the song’s development: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Heart

 

The is a link to a site for the possible third author and his wife: https://www.westcoast.dk/artists/f/farrell-and-farrell/

 

The Church's One Foundation -- Samuel Stone

 

Could there have been any more majestic structure than the one where he sat and considered the importance of the church? Samuel John Stone was a 27-year-old serving in England’s Anglican Church at the Windsor Castle (St. George’s Chapel [at the left] and the Round Tower [center-right] at the castle are shown here in this 1848 painting by Joseph Nash) in London when he put pen to paper to express his strong opinion about “The Church’s One Foundation”. He heard and read some opposing viewpoints that challenged what had been accepted for many generations, even centuries. Samuel wanted there to be no mistaking how he felt, probably explaining why he wrote seven verses to passionately articulate his view and defend the institution in which he had chosen to serve. The issue at the heart of a brewing debate was deeply affecting to Samuel, so it should come as no surprise that the song he wrote was just one of many that occupied his thoughts at the time.

 

Samuel Stone, like those of his generation and many before him, had grown up and studied to become a servant of the church by relying on the tenets of the Apostles’ Creed. Twelve basic truths occupied this creed, including the ninth that Samuel wanted to address in his hymn ‘The Church’s One Foundation’. Why? Simply put, Samuel had become aware of writings that were skeptical of the historic accuracy of the bible’s Old Testament. He and others believed this modern, liberal viewpoint was damaging the unity of the body – the church – that Stone loved so much. So, he returned to the creed, which at that point in the mid-19^th Century had served as a set of guiding principles for Christian believers for well over 1,000 years. The creed’s focus is on who God is and what He has accomplished, including the ninth point that highlights the church that He started. Samuel echoes the creed’s point regarding the universality of that body in his poem’s second verse – ‘…from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth...’. Stone extols the church’s resilience through most of the verses, after setting the foundation in verse 1 – Jesus Christ. All the attributes of the church flow from this seminal relationship to Christ -- its permanence (v.3); its role as a haven for believers during strife (vv.4-5); its spiritual connectivity between the living and those who have gone on before us (v.6); and its place in the lives of believers who have a hope and certainty of an eternal reward (v.7). Pretty important things, aren’t they?

 

Would anyone seriously disagree with Samuel that God’s church is bigger - much bigger - than one local congregation, or group of congregations in one country? If you’ve taken part in church life, would you take exception to Samuel’s opinion that church folks can help when you have a life-challenging struggle? How do you feel about church, as you long to see loved ones again who’ve preceded you in death? Can you imagine what life would be like without a church to help actuate your days? Whose inspiration is at the root of the church you think of as God’s body? If you’re at a loss to answer the preceding, just look at Samuel Stone’s poem. He had the answers. You can, too.         

 

   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982. 

 

See brief biography of the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/t/o/n/stone_sj.htm

 

See all seven of the hymn’s original verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/h/o/f/chofound.htm

 

See the basic tenets of the beliefs that the hymn’s author and other conservatives of his time shared:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed