Abide With Me -- Henry F. Lyte

(Luke 24:29)

He was a 54-year old, who knew the end might be near. And so, Henry Francis Lyte wrote for all of us “Abide with Me”, allowing us to imagine what was in his soul as he pondered the conclusion of his mortality. What would you or I record, if granted the opportunity and the calm demeanor to pen meaningful words for others to read? Would it matter if the approaching finality was sudden or expected? Perhaps Henry’s version might have been considered a curse by some, since he had to bear for a pretty long period the ill health that ultimately cornered him. But, on the other hand, maybe it gave him the proper perspective, and helped gestate his poignant words over time. Perhaps death should be something you and I consider carefully.

Henry Lyte was a sickly minister in the Church of England throughout all of his adult life, but it’s said that he didn’t let that diminish his effort to serve. He’s the one who would have preferred to ‘wear out, rather than rust out’, and so is it ironically possible that this desire drew him to an early grave? He ministered energetically, despite his chronic asthma and the tuberculosis that ultimately caused his demise. It was only as his health reached a new low that Henry decided a temporary move to a warmer climate in Italy was a good idea in 1847. Nevertheless, he gathered himself for another sermon as he prepared to depart, delivering a final message to the crowd to whom he’d ministered for some 20 years in Lower Brixham. His words reportedly stuck with his hearers, who remembered his admonition that they consider their own mortality with great care. Was his sermon in fact based upon the eight-verse poem that he composed about abiding? Some have said his thoughts were, at least in part, from the perspective of two 1^st Century disciples who encountered Jesus after He arose, but did not immediately recognize Him. These Emmaus travelers (Luke 24:13-35) were glum, initially, because of death – Jesus’ death. But their spirits rebounded in His presence, especially when He prepared to eat the evening meal with them. Is that what Henry imagined – perhaps a bit cheated and down in the dumps, but then deeply satisfied and hopeful because of the promise he possessed as a believer, too. He called out for God’s abiding presence, knowing this was not in vain. Some historians have speculated that Henry may have in fact composed much of the poem decades earlier, and then polished it as he prepared to depart for Italy years later. No matter – thoughts of eternity and its import for many years or even decades would not have been unusual for someone in Henry’s circumstance. In fact, the fog of ill health likely would have compelled the composer’s entreaty to God from an early age. Perhaps it was a fog that he felt was lifting, as he earnestly sought his hearers’ attention with his last sermon and this poem.     

He was thinking about Jesus, but not about His death. Instead the moments after life began anew for Jesus may have been on Henry’s mind. My favorite of his eight verses is number seven. It’s where Henry paraphrases what Paul writes to some Corinthians about death’s sting being muted (1 Corinthians 15:55). The potency of the old apostle’s words weren’t worn out, unlike Henry’s body. They’re from Paul’s spirit, and therefore from the Spirit above. It seems that Henry found something there that gave his own spirit an injection of life. Plug into somebody that cannot die, and abide with Him! That was Henry’s solution to his own situation…how about yours?    

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, 1985; A Treasury of Hymn Stories, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House, 1945; and Then Sings My Soul, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.  

See this site for all eight of the original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/b/i/abidewme.htm

Send Your Rain -- Kelly Carpenter

‘He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous’ (Matthew 5:45). So, was there a particular rainstorm that Kelly Carpenter was remembering in 1996 when he asked the Creator to “Send Your Rain”? Was Kelly appealing for just some of the same common grace of which Jesus was speaking (like when the rain fell on my street recently [see the picture]), or was there something more consequential about the rain he wanted to fall from the heavens? Did Kelly’s home’s climate coax him to write about rain? One can gather lots of questions when so few answers present themselves. Just try reading some of this songwriter’s biography, and you might be able make an educated guess about what his focus might have been, as he prayed for a weather event. See what you think.  

 

Any number of biblical episodes might have sparked Kelly Carpenter’s imagination as he lifted his thoughts skyward with a simple prayer, perhaps an occasion that intersected with something unique in his own life. Numerous characters in God’s story experienced His wrath or His blessing through rainfall. Did the people of Noah’s day even know what rain was, since none had been sent by Him to nourish the earth (Genesis 2:5), and no rain is mentioned again until Noah had finished building what God had told him to make (Gen. 7 – 9)? Certainly, those people must have felt God’s rain that time was a curse, so we can surmise that Kelly was probably not thinking of Noah and the ark when he prayed about rain. How about when Moses (Deuteronomy 11 and 28), or when Samuel (1 Samuel 12) told their contemporaries about rain, and how that spoke of God’s relationship to the people? But perhaps it was the episode between the prophet Elijah and the corrupt king Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 17 and 18) that spurred Kelly’s thoughts. Elijah told the them that no rain would fall – and it didn’t for three years – until God told him it would, apparently as punishment for evil among the people, such as idol worship that God detested. Justice, on God’s terms, may be visited upon a people when He is particularly incensed; perhaps it takes a years-long drought and a slaughter of false prophets on Mount Carmel and a nearby valley for some people to admit who is the true God. Was there something similar that Kelly saw in 1996 that he thought needed some Divine retribution and correction? He asked for the Lord to ‘bring your kingdom’, for people’s ‘hearts’ to be ‘soft(ened)’, and for the ‘Spirit’ to be ‘pour(ed) out’, not unlike what Elijah prayed on that mountain (1 Kings 18:36-37) when Baal’s believers were humbled and punished. Who is Kelly Carpenter, you might ask, that might make him pray for rain? Besides singing the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) – about the kingdom coming, and His will being done here – Kelly says in his own bio that he seeks ‘peace and social justice’ and wants ‘to make a difference’, by using music and the arts as vehicles for promoting ‘peace, justice, equality, and prosperity’. He sounds like guy who does his part to bring the rain, doesn’t he?

 

More of Kelly’s personal information and some ‘bio bits’ on his website indicate he has been based in the Pacific Northwest, and seems to be a fan of the Mariners in Seattle, a place pretty familiar with wet weather. Additionally, his spiritual life apparently deepened at one point when he was led to the Vineyard Church in the 1980s and ‘90s, the period in which he wrote ‘Send Your Rain’. Here’s some more about this guy: described as a ‘natural musician from childhood’; thinks D-minor is the saddest of all musical keys; likes sci-fi movies, though his favorite movie is The Sound of Music; and says he almost always has at least one song occupying his thoughts. So what…why should you know some trivial details about one guy named Kelly? Do you think God has that reaction when he listens to each of us when we pray? He wants to know what is motivating each of us, and whether we see Him on planet earth each day, or whether we just shrug our shoulders when a few raindrops fall. When’s the last time you stood on your porch and watched the rain, and said ‘Wow!’? Let the rhythms of the world He made say something to you, OK?     

  

See the following for songwriter’s official website: About | Kelly Carpenter (kellycarpentermusic.com)

 

A video of this male artist singing another song he wrote: Kelly Carpenter sings "Draw Me Close" - YouTube

 

The picture of rain was taken in Fairfax, VA by the blog author on 7/19/2023, and therefore has no copyright restrictions.