Beautiful Things -- Michael and Lisa Gungor

 

Was it pre-natal depression syndrome, a diagnosis a doctor might have offered to reassure a young couple expecting a first child? That might have been what Michael and Lisa Gungor would have heard, had they actually been pregnant at the time, about a decade into the 21^st Century. Instead, there were lots of other events outside of themselves, assailing their emotions as they tried to make sense of it all. This was in the months before they wrote that some “Beautiful Things” do indeed inhabit the world their God has created. Had the mile-high altitude affected their minds earlier, in their new home in Denver (see its flag here)? The world was a mess, and lots of their friends also had reasons to doubt the goodness of God in their own personal crises, so Michael and Lisa were asking poignantly for God to break through. And, He did…or showed that He already had.

 

The multifaceted anxieties of Michael and Lisa Gungor met up with their faith part way through the first decade of the 21^st Century, and ‘Beautiful Things’ can be seen, more or less, as the ensuing discussion that this couple must have had with each other about all that was going on. War and poverty were on Lisa’s mind during that time, not to mention several friends who were having miscarriages. Was God trying to tell Michael and her that something was amiss? Was God even watching? The Gungors wanted to have children, and yet they couldn’t help feeling apprehensive about this world. It was Lisa who began to sort through it all, and a chorus emerged about how God makes some beautiful things, even ‘out of the dust’ of the ground. And since all of us flesh-and-blood beings come from that dust, He can make beautiful things ‘out of us’, too. One can imagine Lisa and Michael looking through Genesis, the very beginning, and reassuring themselves that the Creator knows what He’s doing. Other elements of human existence, which might seem dirty or unredeemable, can likewise be transformed with God’s influence. Nevertheless, I cannot initially see all that He sees, so my doubt coexists, for a time, with evidences of Him. ‘Pain’ (v.1), and even the ‘earth’ itself (v.2) are two concrete, doubt-inducing evidences that contest God’s goodness. These things don’t just surface occasionally, either. One might say that pain and all the other difficulties on planet Earth proliferate, threatening to suffocate what is good. So, you can hear those emotions in the Gungors’ verses, those misgivings that could choke out the courage through faith that we otherwise can have. A ‘garden’ and ‘hope’ are His gifts to us, to offset – or even re-make -- the alternatives that inhabit the ‘chaos’ and ‘lost’ things. He can ‘make me (and you) new’, a realization that perhaps hit Michael and Lisa most palpably months later when they had their first child, a life He made.

 

They admit that their daughter’s arrival helped speak to Michael and Lisa about Him, so that they could see other things with His fingerprints on them. He’s capable of creating, and re-creating, so He’s able to communicate hope to me, just by being who He is. Juxtapose that characterization of Him with what His opponent wants to do. You can find it all in your bible, if you choose to look. Peter said this noxious alternative to the Creator wants to ‘devour’ humanity (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is a tempter (Matthew 4:1-10), not even stopping with Jesus. He binds people in pain (Luke 3:16), is a liar and a source for others who lie (Acts 5:3), is a masquerade artist (2 Corinthians 11:14), and the source of injustice and ultimately the lawlessness that is to come at the end times (2 Thessalonians 2:9). But, He’s been beaten in eternity (Revelation 20), so what is your choice? You want to be with our Creator of beauty, or with the beaten in a fire pit?    

 

The information for the song story is here: https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/2011/03/gungor_finds_beautiful_things.html

Battle Hymn of the Republic -- Julia Ward Howe

Passion. If ever there was a hymn attached to one emotion, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” could probably meet that standard. Julia Ward Howe knew this too when she considered writing her verses (eventually six), because the U.S. Civil War was in full view, and no one at the time had a neutral perspective on its merits or the desired outcome. It was late 1861, and Julia and some travelling companions to observe Union troops near Washington heard something that was the spark for what she would write in the middle of the night, as the scenes and the sounds that she’d witnessed and the broader vision of God’s purpose among humanity coalesced in her mind. (The scene here is a depiction of the Antietam battle, which was the most passionate, bloody one day [September 17, 1862] of the war.) Do the song’s words and tune stir you as you hear it today? It’s no accident, as the background and the continuing use of this great hymn since its inception have added to the underlying meaning it has for us.

The Battle Hymn’s predecessor tunes and the way the words have been used since Julia Howe wrote them have a rich history that expose fissures and conflicts in American history, far beyond this blogger’s ability to describe. So, I have only a few signposts to underscore, and a very fine book (see it referenced below in the notes section) by two scholars and co-writers John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis to recommend that tell the story of this hymn completely. Here’s some key words you’ll bump into as you read, regarding other tunes that preceded Julia’s composition: “Oh Brothers”, and “John Brown’s Body”. Especially the latter possesses a fanaticism about the social order that helped push the nation into war. The other was a folk tune used in religious camp meetings. Julia was attempting to add a respectability to the hymn with better words for Union troops, but that hasn’t meant the feelings surrounding the social issues in the Civil War and the episodes for over 100 years since that time have been coolly debated. She must have sensed that too, with words about seeing the ‘glory of the Lord’, a‘terrible swift sword’, and ‘fateful lightning’, all in just verse 1 (!), that throw fuel upon the flame of emotions for those who employ this song. Many socio-cultural, political, racial, and other themes (including mobilization for war in the 21^st Century, as in Julia’s 19^th Century) have played out with the Battle Hymn engineered to whatever purpose the spearheads of these movements have sought to further. 

Enough said from this corner…   

   

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; Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003; and A Treasury of Hymn Stories – Brief Biographies of 120 Hymnwriters with Their Best Hymns, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House Company, 1945.

Also, see the very extensive history of the song in the book The Battle Hymn of the Republic --  A Biography of the Song that Marches On, by John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis, Oxford University Press, 2013.

Also see this link, showing all six original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/a/t/batthymn.htm

Also see this site for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic

Where the Gates Swing Outward Never -- Charles H. Gabriel

Were there tears, and a passionate embrace? With just a few words of the story, the audience of this narrative might plausibly imagine that Charles Hutchinson Gabriel and his son did experience these things in their shared poignant moment around 1917 in a New York harbor, when the younger uttered the words “Where the Gates Swing Outward Never” to the older man. (See this shot of 1919 New York harbor, very much like what the Gabriels might have seen.) How would we typically cope with such a bitter occasion, a tearful and anxiety-ridden good-bye? Can we presume that the emotions are always fretful in all situations like this, particularly if both people expect to see one another again in a much happier future circumstance? Maybe that’s what the father in this song’s story tried to accomplish, in focusing his emotional energy beyond the moment, and into a time and place where apprehension is overpowered.

By the time he reached the age of 61, Charles Gabriel had written many dozens of songs, including both the words and music, and had traveled a somewhat circular route from the Iowa farm where he grew up, out to the American west coast, and later back to the Midwest. So what was he doing along the other coastline by 1917? Doing what many other thousands of families were also doing, as war drew young men into its grip. It’s said that the father had brought his son (also Charles) to the place of departure along the east coast, where ship after ship boarded soldiers headed for Europe and the Great War (World War I). Many a scene of loved ones bidding each other God’s speed must have been recurring as the Gabriels looked into each other’s face that day. They were both believers in the great hereafter, and indeed it’s often said there are no atheists in foxholes on the battle front. The son evidently leaned upon their great hope of life in the beyond to say something his dad couldn’t forget: ‘See you up there…’, and then concluded this thought with the song’s title. Our contemporary vernacular probably would have recorded the words as ‘Seeya later’, but that would not have captured the moment like this son did for his father. This songwriter, the elder Gabriel, had no doubt spent much of his life to this point concocting songs in various circumstances, but had any of them ever been quite this personal? Had his own flesh and blood been in danger with any of the other episodes? If it was a heartrending moment for the two, Charles Sr. must have wanted to remake it, emotionally injecting it with reunion-born energy in which he trusted.        

Charles’ verses alternate between the ecstasy he awaited and the troubles he endured as a mortal. He had both at once, tugging him to and fro --- ‘…in Glory’ (v.1) versus ‘burden’ (refrain); toil and tears alongside ‘…be (ing) with Him’ (v.2); ‘steep hills’, ‘deep valleys’, ‘no flowers’, ‘lone(ly) nights’, and stones for pillows were the impediments toward the ultimate ‘joy’ (v.3); until joy triumphs and obscures sighing and dying (v.4). It’s almost as if Charles was watching his son go off to fight in ‘the war to end all wars’, while fighting his own war on a different plane. Would his son survive (Charles Jr. did indeed survive the war)? But, perhaps Charles Sr. was more focused on the broader war, instead of the earthly, urgent one, though the latter must be credited with sparking his musical epiphany. The way the two Gabriels saw things, once heaven was achieved, you don’t have to keep fighting to stay. The doors don’t reverse themselves. Once God has me home, He’ll not toss me out. As I heard others say just today, friends and loved ones are there already, planning the grand reunion. Let’s go already! What do you suppose Charles Gabriel would say?  

Brief story of the song is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/h/e/r/wheregat.htm
Site of the composer’s son’ history: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/g/a/b/gabriel_ch_jr.htm