This songwriter was prepared, or someone might actually say he was surprised, when the story of “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary” is told. The Scottish minister John M. Moore responded to an urgent call one day in 1952 while going about his daily routine in Glasgow, and he did what ministers do when called to visit someone in the hospital. The young fellow whom he saw could not have been said to be in a foxhole, since he was in fact a seaman, but he nevertheless did what others in danger like that do: call for a man of God to help ‘lift the burden’, and bring some sense of peace and protection. John had a handy piece of literature (see a picture from it here) to give this seaman, probably a sign that he had some experience at this sort of ministering – you give the afflicted some really good, to-the-point advice that is written just for that specific circumstance. John must have felt a sense of accomplishment and confirmation, as he left that hospital, that he had done his duty well. Later that night, John’s hospital experience stayed with him, perhaps in a way that he could not have predicted.
The day’s events compelled John to write some song words to match the picture of what had happened. Part of their inspiration came from the tract he had probably carried in his bag for some time; it was one from Pilgrim’s Progress, and it had seemed very appropriate for the young seaman’s troubled spirit that day. The sick mariner nodded that he felt the weight of a burden on his back, but his facial expression when he prayed with John and sensed that the weight had been removed got John’s attention. John just had to write what his mind would not allow him to forget. What he saw on the man’s face was a glow -- no more ‘sorrow and care’ (v.1), ‘worry and fear’ (v.2), or heartache and tear (v.3). John must have felt especially that ‘Jesus is very near’, because he wrote this concluding thought in every verse. Though John may have seen similar reactions from others from time-to-time, something special had occurred in that hospital room. Was it the depth of this merchant mariner’s conviction, as if his life was filled with more debauchery than the average person, that underscored the transformation of the man’s despair into peace? It was like a man walking out of the prison cell through the door opened at long last. How would you feel toward the person who put the key in the hole and turned it so the door unlatched and let you free? That’s kinda what John Moore saw happen that day in 1952.
John Moore was just 27 years old that day in 1952. Just a young pup in ministry was he, he might say, looking back on this episode. He went on to several other locations in a lifelong ministry that was ongoing still in 2013 (he was apparently still living, as of 2022, making him 97 years old, according to available sources). How many more times did John pull out that Pilgrim’s Progress that had proved so effective that day in a Glasgow hospital? What’s so great about this incident is not that it happened one time and created a special memory. No, it keeps going on, because the heart of the song’s message is still true. John just rediscovered that it was so in 1952.
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 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.
Also see this link for a brief version of the author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/o/r/moore_jm.htm
See link here to the key piece of information the author used in this story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress
No comments:
Post a Comment