Holy, Holy, Holy (Hosanna) -- Peter Scholtes

What would it be like to encounter a seraph? (See here St. Francis' vision of a seraph, entitled Stigmatization of St Francis [fresco attributed to Giotto; [1267–1337].) We know what one might say, even if its appearance might be something quite unfamiliar, apart from the six wings that Isaiah (6:3) noted were on the seraphim he observed. Peter Scholtes echoed these seraphim calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy” in 1966. It was part of Peter’s determination to bring God into the community where he lived that made him take the words of the seraphim and repeat them, so that they might ring more clearly in the world of 1966 South Side Chicago. How could what angels said to Isaiah be relevant to a culturally diverse neighborhood where Peter’s church resided, and where he tried to minister through a youth choir in a basement? Some people might have thought the rhythm style that Peter chose to accompany the seraphim’s words was rather unusual, maybe even a bit irreverent. It suggested that God could hear people in unconventional ways. Is God conventional? And, is the God of Isaiah’s time connected to other times? Peter answered that in the lyrics he pulled from both bible testaments.

 

Peter probably would have answered ‘no’ to the above question about God’s supposed predictability, when he put together his version of what the seraphim said. He appeared to Isaiah in a vision, after all, a method that God uses with not just anybody. He had a mission for Isaiah, one of prophecy. ‘Deliver my message’, God essentially said. It began with a reassertion of God’s nature, as testified by His servants -the seraphim. God is love, and is also holy. That was not something confined to the 7^th/8^th Century B.C. (700s/600s), as Peter’s words help us recall when he repeated what the crowds said about Jesus Christ when He entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9/Mark 11:9/Luke 19:38/John 12:13); with words like ‘Hosanna’ and ‘blessed is the One’, Peter reminded the people in that Chicago basement and in the surrounding community that God has not been confined to one time, nor to one place, and certainly not to just one people. With this kind of diversity, Peter surmised that God should not be restricted to one type of music to accompany the words about Him. The Missa Bossa Nova that Peter used was his way of connecting a Catholic mass with a bossa nova rhythm that would be familiar to those Chicagoans of 1966, though it originated on another continent (in Brazil). To some traditionalists in Christendom, this syncopated samba mingled with American jazz while singing ancient words to laud God was probably a bit too out-of-the-box, at least at first. You can listen for yourself (see the link below), but perhaps Peter was really just using what his observation of Jesus had already taught him. He upset everyone’s applecart with His methods, but did He stop? No, His was a resolute conviction (Luke 9:51).

 

Nothing was going to stop Jesus’ message, and that’s still true today. Only discomfort and stubborn natures can suspend temporarily what He wants done. He’s already spoken loudly in so many ways – like through His creation and through the bible -- that only the spiritually deaf, blind, and unrepentant would reject Him. ‘Bossa Nova’ in Portuguese means "new wave" or "new trend/knack", and that certainly spoke of Jesus. Even people today, particularly of other faiths, still cannot fathom or accept that this God would allow Himself to be sacrificed for our sins. With such utter power, and even after the crowds hailed Him as king, why would Jesus have to die? If you have ever tried to relate to people of a different culture, perhaps you have felt the divide that seems like it cannot be bridged. Is there anything that connects all of us, that overcomes the babel we use with each other? Human nature does indeed connect, and Jesus knew that – that’s why He came, to be like us. All of us humans have needs, which only a Divine Provider can meet. So, don’t let a different style get in the way of communicating a message that’s got a common foundation. Jesus had a different style, but He was still God, still love, and still holy. Now isn’t that something to celebrate with a bit of samba and jazz?        

 

Read about the song/album background here: https://vulcanhammer.org/2013/03/04/peter-scholtes-theyll-know-we-are-christians-by-our-love/ (hear the song here beginning at 15:30 in the distinctive bossa nova beat) and here: https://hymnary.org/person/Scholtes_P

 

Read about the author here: https://pscholtes.com/obituary.htm

 

See more information about the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giotto_-_Legend_of_St_Francis_-_-19-_-_Stigmatization_of_St_Francis.jpg …The author died in 1337, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931.

 

Sovereign -- Chris Tomlin, Martin Chalk, Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, Jason Ingram

 

We often think of God as sovereign when He created everything in Genesis, but He will also be sovereign when time will reach full flower, as in Revelation, because His purposes for humanity will not be overcome by all the evil forces of the world and the universe. That is what John discovered in his vision of Him when he was on Patmos, and why he bowed in His presence. (See the Sovereign God depicted in The Vision of John on Patmos, woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld [1860]). Chris Tomlin, Martin Chalk, Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, and Jason Ingram also had some thoughts about His role as “Sovereign”, and how that impacts us today. It really makes a difference in my attitude and outlook to know that He made everything, and that He still is. He’s the I AM and He’s made a way for me. So, the trust that these five songwriters placed in God as they thought about His sovereignty in 2012 was not one that acknowledges Him as mere ruler. Why would anyone trust a ruler who is just powerful? That inspires fear. This Sovereign is also Love.

 

Chris Tomlin shared in a live performance and with an interviewer what ‘Sovereign’ has meant for him and what it should mean for those who take in the song’s words. The initial inspiration came from Matt, as Chris responded to a journalist’s question about how he and the others came to write about this special king. The first words that Matt shared were captivating, so that Chris and the others were able to build on what Matt had started. Just think about what it means to have Him as Sovereign – that was the essence of what Chris said was so powerful, especially when this name for Him is repeated throughout the lyrics. ‘Get that in your hearts, church’, is a paraphrase of what Chris said he hopes believers ingest as they hear and sing the words. He’s in our greatest accomplishments, but also there in our greatest failures. That makes Him someone who is perpetually available, a God who allows us to express the joyous overflow of thanksgiving for blessings, and who is also there to embrace and comfort us during the lowest points, too. He’s also not absent during the in-between, during tedium and ho-hum moments, Chris said, because He knows from moment-to-moment where you are. That quality of Him makes it possible for you and me to respond to Him on any occasion, and that’s how Chris suggested the song could be most effective. Give searchers, who can admit that they feel something must be missing in life, the opportunity to look inside of themselves and draw closer to Him who can fill that gap, no matter how big or small it is. And, as Chris further emphasized, He’s got more than gap-filling capability – He can do the amazing in anyone’s life, so just let Him do what He does to give you purpose. Your life doesn’t have to wallow in a solitary confinement pit when He’s in the picture.    

 

Chris also said that this Sovereign is not only powerful and compassionate, but also omniscient. He knows everything about me. And yet, He still wants me, even if I’m struggling and don’t know at times if He’s really there and has a plan for me. He doesn’t have to have a team of detectives follow me and discover what’s up with me. He already has the insight into me, because He’s got angels – like messengers or protectors -- to send in my direction. And, there’s all those like-believers that He’s given me for fellowship, advice, and edification. He’s got all the tools, all the people placed in my life, to give me a better handle on life’s challenges, and also so that I can mimic Him in lending fellow mortals a helping hand. It’s called community. It’s all the preparatory work of this Sovereign that has made this available. ‘Mountain air’ and ‘ocean floor’, in the ‘calm’ and the ‘storm’, and during the ’dark(ness)’ and at the ‘dawn’ – His fingerprints are on all of that, as these five songwriters remind us. ‘Trust’ emerges from knowing that crucial fact. His ‘everlasting arms’ don’t get weary; but, He’s not got them folded across His chest, either. Instead, He's stretched them out wide – cross-wide for you and me.  

 

One of the songwriters (Chris Tomlin) shares some thoughts about the song in a live performance at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVpk-QmISRo (watch from 0:35 – 1:45)  …and also see this link: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/sovereign-chris-tomlin/ for more on the song shared by Chris Tomlin (from 0:15 – 1:50)

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_236.png …The author died in 1872, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

From Every Stormy Wind -- Hugh Stowell

Sometime around the third decade of the 19^th Century (in the 1820s), the author of some song lyrics, about something we don’t often hear mentioned, wrote with an utter confidence and joy, because “From Every Stormy Wind” he felt his rescue and eternal home were secure. Hugh Stowell was an English cleric in the Anglican Church, so it was not a surprise that he was steeped in theology and could thus write and speak boldly about safety in Christ. And what had he seen or heard that would enable him to do that? It was a “Peace at the Mercy Seat” (his hymn’s original title) that was Hugh’s foundation. He’d connected what God had said to Moses in the desert during the exodus from Egypt, and what a writer said centuries later about that same special place called the mercy seat (see a picture of it here, as it is depicted in the 1890 Holman Bible). We might not hear this term – atonement -- very often either, but Hugh certainly had. Saved, forgiven, rescued, graced…those might be more familiar to us, but put yourself in Moses’ sandals for a few moments. What was it like for him to meet the Holy God, and to know he couldn’t be clean enough for Him, except for His provision of mercy. Only God could take the steps necessary to ‘repair or make amends for a wrong action in restoring a relationship’. That last phrase is how your PC might define atonement for you.

 

Hugh must have been familiar with these two scriptures, and many more. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. (Hebrews 9:5) and also, the following: “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (Exodus 25:17-22) God planned to speak to the people from the mercy seat. Only He can occupy that space. Hugh didn’t have to ponder other earthly circumstances with dread from that point forward, as he expressed in his six lyrical verses. Nothing overwhelms His mercy when I accept what He’s done. Moses got it too, and so the people constructed the ark and the mercy seat as instructed. He could not see God’s face – he could not have survived such a vision – but he could do what God told him in order to meet His mercy. And, so can I.

 

‘Stormy wind’, and ‘woes’ (v.1) – those are about as much as Hugh had to say about mortal challenges, for there were so many other words to use in praise of the mercy seat in his poetry. Oh, we might feel ‘tempt­ed’, ‘de­so­late’, ‘dis­mayed’, or ‘de­feat(ed)’ (v. 4), but High did not dwell on those for long. Instead, he sensed ‘calm’, ‘sure(ty)’ (v.1); the ‘oil of gladness’, and ‘sweet(ness)’ (v.2); ‘blend(ing) of spirits’, ‘fellowship’, and ‘friend(ship)’ (v.3); being able to ‘soar like an eagle’, and a ‘greet(ing) from ‘Heaven’  -- what an amazing thought! (v.5). It was enough to make Hugh undismayed, even if his hands no longer worked as well, or if he could no longer speak, or even if his own heart stopped working (v.6). If the mercy seat remained a place where God still would want to meet him, that was enough. Moses may have sensed God’s anger on occasion – and so did the people. But, was it not worse when He stopped providing mercy for a time, as He did on multiple occasions during the time of the judges, when the people needed to be chastened (see Judges 2:11-15 as one example)? Even then, He responded in pity to bail them out when they groaned in pain (Judges 2:18). He’s still willing to reach down for me today, and you too. He’s got Jesus in the mercy seat, so go meet Him there.

 

 

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; and 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982.

 

See here for the hymn’s original six verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/f/r/o/m/e/fromevsw.htm

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holman_The_Mercy_Seat.jpg …This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1931, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_seat