Jesus, Rose of Sharon -- Ida A. Guirey

She must have been looking at a very specific portion of Biblical text as she mulled over how to call out to

God’s son. “Jesus, Rose of Sharon” sprang from the consciousness of Ida A. Guirey in the early 1920s, but what compelled its emergence? Was it something unique to herself that she wanted to say, matching the select nature of the text at which she peered? Was she seeking or in a special marital relationship that drew her to the text she read? How old was she? Did she appreciate nature, including beautiful and fragrant flowers, like roses (or tulips, like these that could be the ‘rose’ on Israel’s Plain of Sharon)? The answers to a host of questions like these and maybe others could tell us important details about her, but since “Rose of Sharon” is still here, it provides us some insights of her that we can reflect back upon ourselves.

The few details we know of the otherwise anonymous Ida A. Guirey tell us she wrote song poetry in the early 20^th Century, including ‘…Rose of Sharon’ that she must have composed as she looked at one of the more obscure books of the bible. She composed only a handful of song poems, including one (in 1909?) during the first decade of the 20^th Century, so by 1921-22, when ‘…Rose’ is attributed to Guirey, her age probably was that of at least a young woman, if not older. Only Song of Solomon (aka Song of Songs; chapter 2, verse 1) uses the phrase Guirey borrows for her song’s title and oft-repeated phrase. Love is on the mind of most of us when we open the pages of this bible book…was it also Ida’s state of mind? We know not if she had an intimate bond with someone on earth as she read Solomon’s words, but certainly she loved Jesus, and sought His embrace and impact. We could also surmise that perhaps she appreciated nature’s beauty, and the facet of Jesus’ nature that a Sharon rose calls to mind. Flowers might seem fragile to some minds (like mine), but Ida’s thoughts tell us she believed His strengths lay in that imagery. Perhaps she had a green thumb (!), along with a deep desire to see His way more deeply affect her life and those around her.  Roses need good soil and other nourishment –sunshine, water—that really only He can give. Ida Guirey may have concluded that our Creator is the unique source of growth and beauty, to make herself and others flourish and be who He created His offspring to be.  

What Ida prayed to receive is common to all of us, if we want His best. She apparently had deduced that God’s creative power and beauty could flow through herself and be a magnet for those nearby (v.1), if only she would allow those things to increase personally (v.2). To heal others’ spiritual ills and infuse them with a submissive desire to honor Him (vv. 3-4) was the model Christian community—even a worldwide one—that Ida envisioned. Ask yourself, ‘am I there today’? ‘Impossible’, you say? Ida must have thought otherwise, or judged the connection with Him was worth the effort. She might have thought there was an extraterrestrial place where the ideal could culminate, too. Know where to go to find that?  

The following links are the sources for songs by the composer, the only scant information on the composer: http://hymntime.com/tch/bio/g/u/i/guirey_ia.htm

http://www.hymnary.org/person/Guirey_Ida

The Lily of the Valley -- Charles William Fry

This 40-ish English-Scottish musician and bricklayer was probably helping with an evangelism campaign and perhaps receiving input from family members when he wrote out some words that today are known to us as “The Lily of the Valley” (see one pictured here). It was also the year before this fellow Charles William Fry died, in the latter part of the 19^th Century. So were the words he penned significant to him, as if he knew what was approaching? Or were they merely coincidental, reflecting what was important, but yet what was routinely true of Fry’s life at the time? And why did he choose the metaphor about this particular flower?

Charles Fry was the composer, but his credit for “The Lily…” was probably a footnote in his life among all the other details of the song’s development. Fry is known to have composed just a handful of musical works, perhaps because his vocational and musical endeavors kept him otherwise occupied. Though his trade was as a bricklayer, Fry was a notable musical influence in his community in southern England. He directed a band and an orchestra at a chapel, earning him the unofficial title as the “first bandmaster of the Salvation Army”. As this label suggests, he and his family’s participation in the Salvation Army’s campaigns were as common as was that of the organization’s founder, William Booth. We know that “The Lily of the Valley” was spawned as part of Fry’s involvement with the Salvation Army’s efforts in London, telling us his focus was on sending a message to those who Booth was trying to reach. The ‘lily’ of which Fry wrote indicates he was engaged in studying the Song of Solomon (chapter 2, verse 1), the only biblical reference point for the song title’s phrase. Or, perhaps it was Booth, as he prepared a message, or one or more of Fry’s family members in the band who was inspired by the bible passage and floated the idea for the song. It was a tune this family of musicians would be playing together, after all. It may have been Fry’s last composition, of the few he reportedly created, because he died the following year, in 1882. Could he have known of his impending demise? We know nothing of this possibility, but the last two lines of his third verse are nevertheless a fitting epitaph for this musical director-believer.  Fry writes of being carried away ‘to glory’ and dwelling among ‘rivers of delight’. If he indeed felt his own end was imminent, he doesn’t sound doomed, does he?    

If I were writing something that would be near the end of my terrestrial life, what would that be? I’d want to be gleaning something from His word, as Fry apparently was doing in 1881. Something hopeful, drawing me toward the One whom I’ll be meeting. Maybe trying to take some others with me, as Fry was thinking about when he composed this for the Salvation Army’s use. That’s two pretty good thoughts to keep primary, isn’t it? Getting myself ready to go, and urging others to come along.      

A brief biography of the composer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/r/y/fry_cw.htm

Also see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lily_of_the_Valley

And here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/i/l/lilyvall.htm

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned -- Samuel Stennett

Was he thinking of marriage at the age of 60, of matrimony like King Louis IV’s (see the picture)? The words he wrote near the end of his life seem to ring with what a wise poet had penned many centuries earlier as he gazed upon his beautiful mate. Samuel Stennett had fallen in love probably at least twice in his life, as he set about composing the words for “Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned” in 1787. Like the poet whose words spilled out yearnings of devotion in the book with Solomon’s name on it, Stennett too wanted to express his deepest feelings. Some people might blush to say things that speak so openly of another person, but maybe that’s the gift of advanced age – candor – that permits one to share without hesitation.

Samuel Stennett was born of a minister father, and indeed a long family-line of ministers that probably imprinted his faith on him at an early age.  Five generations of Stennetts would be ministers in England, including Samuel and a brother who were among the 4^th generation. Samuel inherited from his grandfather the penchant for hymn writing, and eventually wrote 39 in all, including also “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”. The hymn “Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned” also was originally known by two other titles, “The Chief Among Ten Thousand” and “The Excellencies of Christ”, and had up to nine verses, although we often have just four of them in published collections today. It’s said that the hymn has historically been a favorite for communion time among the churches that have favored Stennett’s hymns, so we can guess that perhaps that tradition was actually promoted by Stennett himself. It is further suggested that the Song of Solomon (5:10-16) was a relevant text that Stennett read to gather his thoughts, the passionate recitations of a man and his bride. ‘Wait, Stennett!’, someone might have said, ‘that’s far too mushy to describe us and our Lord”.  And, doesn’t it seem a bit of a contradiction to call someone ‘sweet’ and ‘majestic’ in the same breath?

Though it’s not discussed in historical records, Stennett must have experienced love himself while on earth, similar to what the writer expresses in Song of Solomon. Stennett had at least one son, who like the four generations before him, became a minister. So, we can presume that the composer-minister Stennett had also experienced earthly marriage by 1787, when he was pondering his spiritual marriage to Christ. And, having been a minister for nearly 50 years, he must have had significant relationships with members of that church. In fact, it’s said these close connections reached inside the English throne, to King George III and other government officials. Do you suppose Samuel was drawing a comparison between the Divine King and his terrestrial sovereign with the first few words of ‘Majestic Sweetness’? After 60 years, Stennett must have, like others before and after his time, grown weary of earth’s ways. In eight short years, he went to meet his ‘groom’, in 1795. Perhaps he was thinking of his own life up to that point as a betrothal, a prelude to a nuptials ceremony that would culminate above. Kinda makes you reevaluate death, huh?     

Information on the song was obtained from the books  “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1982, Kregel Publications; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 

See the following website for the hymn’s 9 different original verses:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/a/j/majestic.htm

Biography of Stennett: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/t/e/n/stennett_s.htm

And: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Stennett

And: http://www.hymnary.org/person/Stennett_S