Beyond the Sunset -- Virgil P. and Blanche Brock

 

Maybe only a person without eyesight could have seen enough to write this one. That’s a concise way of putting it, Virgil and Blanche Brock might have said, as they remembered ‘Beyond the Sunset” that they and a blind man spontaneously collaborated to write in 1936. There are many stunning sunsets, but how can one say he’s seen beyond one? Could viewing one from outside planet Earth be one way to fathom this – perhaps like this one shown here from the planet Mars? If it’s beyond, perhaps that’s why it looks rather dim from Mars. But, that’s probably not what Virgil’s cousin meant when he was describing what he saw, and then coaxing his dinner partners to write and sing what he could envision through their eyes. What was it they saw together?

 

It was pretty lucky, or was it something else, that contributed to Virgil Brock and his wife writing a song they hadn’t planned to craft one summer evening in Indiana? Virgil did not even know how to write music, but his wife Blanche did. And, Virgil’s cousin, Horace Burr, could not even see. So, how unlikely was it that someone without music-writing skills and another who was blind would help put together ‘Beyond the Sunset’? Good thing Blanche was there, right? From a purely human standpoint, that might be true. But, who made the sunset that the Brocks, and Horace and Grace Burr, and others at the dinner were able to admire on the nearby Winona Lake that evening? That’s not a hard one to answer, and the dinner companions must have all been thinking and imagining with the same thoughts, for the four verses of ‘Beyond…’ came to life before that evening was over. The sunset they were seeing actually spurred their vision of a sunrise in the Creator’s home, where they all longed to be. The Brocks and Burrs recognized the Divine One’s hand in the sunset that evening, as the lake gleamed with the brilliance of the beams from millions of miles away. At the same time, clouds that He also made gathered overhead to warn of a coming storm. The coalescence of these wonders brought out the exclamations, including Horace’s, who noted that he’d never seen a sunset so awesome, of course with the help of his seeing companions. Then, he blithely added that he could actually see ‘beyond the sunset’. The rest, as has been said of other events, is history.  They all saw heaven, without ‘clouds’, ‘storms’, or ‘fears’ (v.2), a place where all that mattered was the presence of the ‘Savior’ (v.1), ‘God the Father’ (v.3), and ‘dear loved ones’ (v.4).     

 

Sunsets are about endings, while the Brocks and the others in Indiana in 1936 yearned for the eternal beginning. Think about what it will be like for some to see in heaven for the first time with functioning eyes – people like Horace Burr, and others like Fanny Crosby. What a beginning! Their minds won’t be clouded by memories of earthbound sights, things that we sigh over here while we’re mortal. Everything will be new – ‘I am making everything new!’ (Revelation 21:5), He promises. You might think that it’s too much to take in; and, you’d be right. I cannot even take in adequately the sunsets and dawns while I’m here today; I’m usually otherwise occupied. But, in that great beyond, I will have forever to admire what He’s made for me to see. It’ll be new, just like it will be for Horace and Fanny, and everyone else. Wanna look?   

 

   

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 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985; and Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., 2003.

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/r/o/c/brock_vp.htm

See here also for song story: https://www.thedestinlog.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2018/10/03/story-behind-song-look-beyond-sunset/9714928007/

Also see this link, showing all four original verses: https://www.lyricsbox.com/religious-music-beyond-the-sunset-lyrics-5h8s6s9.html

The Unclouded Day (Oh, They Tell Me of a Home) -- Josiah K. Alwood

He was obviously paying attention to what was going on above his head one night, that there was something special up there. What captured the attention of Josiah K. Alwood one night was a storm and the spectacle he witnessed because of it, and these stayed with him the following morning, causing him to think of “The Unclouded Day” – actually a place where he would see many more spectacles one day. He was near the Ohio-Michigan border (see picture) late at night, as he had been on probably numerous occasions, having been engaged in a discussion about God and His purposes. So, his mind was already prepared to receive a special nudge, something unique that he just needed to put into words and fuse it with some music.  

Josiah Kelly Alwood’s “The Unclouded Day” is perhaps the only song attributed to this 19^th Century travelling preacher, making the incident that spurred its creation just that much more interesting. This 51-year-old was caught in a storm one night in August 1879, but the inconvenience of being alone, probably a little wet, and tired at one o’clock in the morning did not distract him from viewing an unusual rainbow that was set against a large cloud as he neared his home in southern Michigan. Unusual, because it was the dead of night, so a visible rainbow was indeed rare for that time of day. His own account of the incident (see the link below) indicates he was entranced by this episode, such that he arose the following morning still thinking about what he’d experienced. It wasn’t long before he’d penned the words to four verses and plunked out the notes on an organ. He must have thought about the place and time that awaited, where he expected to see wonders perpetually like the rainbow of the previous evening. What kinds of visions did he imagine on the unclouded day? Most of all, perhaps, he thought of calling this place ‘home’ (vv.1-2, refrain). Was it an accident that he was on his way toward home in Morenci, Michigan, when he saw something that made him dream of another more long-term home? What does one expect to find at home? Josiah thought of friends already there, and about how the God-provided sustenance – the tree of life – would nourish the place and its inhabitants (v. 2). And, of course Alwood thought of the sovereign in the home above, and how he would marvel at his appearance and the trappings of that place (v.3). Finally, Josiah could inwardly smile, knowing that everyone is happy there in the Divine One’s presence (v.4). This was some rainbow, to make Josiah reflect and record what his mind’s eye beheld!

Rainbow = promise. That’s what Noah could tell us about the one he encountered (Genesis 9:13-16). Is that what Josiah maybe was thinking when he saw that rainbow in August 1879, a sign that God was going to keep His promise? That would be a reasonable conclusion, since Josiah writes of the promise of heaven with palpable conviction. There’s other biblical rainbow talk, though, closer to the end of what God has to say to us. John saw and wrote about it (Revelation 4:3; 10:1), seeing the rainbow not as a promise, but as adornment of God and his servants. Maybe that’s part of what Josiah sensed too – a bit of God’s home breaking into view, a foretaste of what’s to come. A promise and a glimpse of Him. Keep looking for that rainbow.           

     

See more information on the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

Also see this link, showing all the song’s words and the song story: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/u/n/c/uncloudd.htm

Brief information about the author is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/l/w/alwood_jk.htm

Rock of Ages -- Augustus Montague Toplady

If he were here today to interview, he could tell us which story is correctly attributed to the hymn he wrote in 1776. Augustus Montague Toplady composed “Rock of Ages” as he was in a storm, either an emotional-theological debate or an actual cloudburst that drenched his clothes to the skin before he found shelter. Which one is true? One was subject to public knowledge, while the other was more obscure, perhaps an event that metaphorically underscored for Toplady the discussion, often passionately, that he was having with other believers.

The 36-year old Englishman Toplady recorded perhaps the most well-known words of his life in “Rock of Ages” that were published in 1776, a mere two years before his untimely death.  Reportedly, Augustus Toplady wrote the words in 1763 as a 23-year old, in the early years of what would later become a rather public debate with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. These founders of Methodism espoused a doctrine of man’s free will in a belief system known as Arminianism, while Toplady believed fervently in the Calvinistic election of man by God. Was Toplady carrying on this debate when he wrote his original verse two, a retort to his adversaries with the words ‘thou must save, and thou alone’? How acrimonious was the exchange then, as compared to 13 years later when published? 1763 was the year after Toplady’s education had concluded at Trinity College in Ireland, the birthplace of his faith as a teenager, and his ordination as a deacon in the Anglican Church. At the time, Toplady served at the Somerset church in southwest England. That’s where another story surfaced about the song’s genesis, one quite different from the theological dispute. In this one, Toplady was caught in a thunderstorm while walking in a deep gorge, Burrington Combe. He found a large rock (see its picture here)

with a crevice big enough to hide him from the storm. It was there he supposedly had a few moments of reflection, about life and perhaps about his beliefs in contrast to the Wesleys’ views. He discovered a stray playing card at his feet, and is said to have recorded at least some of “Rock of Ages” on the spot on this piece of litter. A thunderstorm-inspired message or a poem offered as a bit of satire for an opposition’s consumption…which would God choose to use?

Does it make a difference how it came about? The fact that “Rock of Ages” is still known to us some 250 years hence is a clue that He approves of its message. Both the Wesleys and Augustus Toplady would agree that God is the Rock for believers, that our faith’s foundation is nowhere else. His son’s blood on the cross is a fact. These thoughts are in Toplady’s poetry, be they couched in sincerity borne of an unnerving weather experience or other motives. God can use anything He wants to spur his message.

     

Information on the song’s composer and the hymn was obtained from the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and “Hymns of Faith”, by Ken Tate, edited by Ken and Janice Tate, published by House of White Birches, Berne, Indiana, 2000.