Eternal Father, Strong to Save -- William Whiting

Did the author know his original words would spark the thoughts of at least five other poets in the century after he penned his own? That fact alone tells us that William Whiting’s creativity would be a lasting statement, which was really a prayer that he was making when he called out “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” in 1860 in Winchester, England (see this period depiction of that place in the mid-19^th Century, as it may have appeared to William Whiting and the boys he mentored at the College Choristers’ School, in southern England). What William had to say must have lodged in the imagination of those other writers as they considered their own circumstances, or maybe those of others who were wearing a uniform of military service and encountering danger. It’s been said ‘there’s no atheist in the foxhole on a battlefield’, and the same may be said of others who engage in similarly perilous ventures.

      

William Whiting was 35 when he wrote the original verses that called out to his Eternal Father, on the occasion of a young student of his who was preparing to sail to America. This episode illustrated the close camaraderie that Whiting and the students whom he mentored at the Winchester-based school had developed, a relationship that may have repeated itself in many ways over the generation that William had been at this institution. Eighteen years had already passed since he’d taken the reins of leadership of the college’s musical program, so he had already taught many boys the art of singing, and evidently something about faith, too. As one of the boys made ready to set sail for the east coast of North America, the stories of such a journey and its hazards – still present in the mid-19^th Century – must have caused more than a little anxiety, so William offered a measure of encouragement to him and the other boys. He didn’t speak of his own experience on the seas – it’s unknown if he in fact had any to draw upon. Instead, he taught the boys to lean upon someone else – the Eternal God, the Creator of the sea that now presented itself to the uneasy one about to set sail. Whiting’s reputation among the boys evidently met with approval by the school’s authorities, for he would be there another 18 years, continuing what we see in this incident or other various forms of it for many more years. When he penned these words of reassurance in 1860, William was really just halfway through what would constitute the bulk of his life’s work.

Not much more is known of William Whiting, although a handful of musical texts and two books of poetry are attributed to him. William completed his own journey in 1878, some might say prematurely at just 53 years of age. But, he made an impact. He showed boys growing into manhood that it’s okay to admit one’s dependence on another source for protection, that I can ‘cry to Thee’ (v.1) when I’m afraid. That verbalization – crying to Thee – is in fact the most often-used phrase in Whiting’s lexicon of this song. It’s all right to cower a bit, he suggests. But, I needn’t quake irrationally, because He is also there. William must have said this to many boys across 36 years of service at Winchester. He’s still saying it today, really. This message resonated with an American president and an English prime minister aboard a ship in 1941, testifying to its potency. If wars continue, you and I may hear William’s words yet again. And, He’ll still be there to calm us.    

   

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; 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses, as well as six alternate verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/e/t/e/eternalf.htm

See this link for information about the primary author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/h/i/t/i/whiting_w.htm

Find Us Faithful -- John Mohr

John is a voiceover professional, so if you’ve ever heard a pleasing, resonant baritone voice in a commercial, it just might be his. His might be called a ‘velvet’ voice. But there’s another voice that John Mohr has used, one with a background story that he may sometimes wish had never moved him to speak – one that  admitted betrayal. What he felt in the wake of his admission of guilt spurred the words he penned in “Find Us Faithful”, a hope that he indicates has grown over the succeeding years as he watches a couple of generations proceed in his footsteps. Having bloodlines to those he wanted to motivate was undoubtedly part of the impetus for John’s words and notes in 1988, but the rest of us can broaden the audience to whom we look as we think about the coming journey of offspring – spiritual or not, those we may not have even met or imagined yet.

It’s not clear where John Mohr was when he wrote “Find Us Faithful” – perhaps he was in our near California (see its seal here), where he has lived much of his life with his family – but the story he tells indicates it was a life chapter that developed while he was in many places. It’s a story that John says emerged as he looked back on several years of marital unfaithfulness. After many years of deceit, John says multiple friends convinced him that he needed confession – complete and brutally straightforward – in order to make his life right. He describes his wife Luanne’s forgiveness as nothing short of miraculous, analogous to what he reflects upon is true for all those who confess and trust God’s leading – that freedom is the reward. In the wake of this realization, John composed ‘Find Us…’, probably because he already had children whom he wanted to impress with the importance of being in touch with a godly faith. He evidently did not expect that a journey that has included touring with the Gaither Vocal Band; or singing among other believers in various venues in the Nashville area; or even living in Ukraine where he worked with hospitals and orphanages with Luanne and their six kids was a guarantee of the message’s transmission. Even though the voice he has used most often in the last 10 years (2010-19) has been in thousands of commercials and even in an audio version of the bible, John’s words in the song he wrote in 1988 still resonate perhaps most loudly and personally. They are about himself, but invite others to personalize them.    

Think about what voice you want them to hear. That’s what John Mohr might say best sums up the poem he wrote as he felt the release from a guilty conscience and considered how others might listen to his words of encouragement. You and I may not have physical offspring, as John Mohr does. But, my own experience in faith has had me crossing paths with others whom I never knew until I was an adult – friends, church leaders, ministers, and others. I hear their voices, too. And, whether I appreciate this much, others may pay attention to my voice also. The trick is to get them to hear not me, but Him. John Mohr reminds me that I’m part of a ‘heritage of faithfulness’ (v.2), a group of ‘pilgrims on the journey’ (v.1), not a lonesome soul drifting into nothingness. Join the crowd, and grab some others to bring along!   

See this link for the song story: http://www.homecomingmagazine.com/article/find-us-faithful/

See the author’s home page here, and imagine his ‘voiceover’ voice singing the words he wrote in 1988: https://www.jonmohr.com/

Joy to the World -- Isaac Watts

This revolutionary writer might have intended these words first published in 1719 for some other season than when they are typically used today. Yet, would Isaac Watts have been bothered to know that “Joy to the World” has become a Christmas season song, or would this ground-breaker have been satisfied to see the season of Advent redefined with an with emphasis on Christ’s return instead of His arrival? Watts was not averse to challenging convention, since he was a Nonconformist like his father, and one might even say it was in his DNA to be so inclined. He might have thought Christmas needed some critical reevaluation (like what was observed in the illustration shown here, Josiah King’s The Examination and Tryall of Father Christmas, in 1686, which was published when Isaac Watts would have been 12 years old). Isaac wanted to express himself in his own words throughout his life as a Nonconformist, but he still recognized the great wealth of inspiration contained in the orthodoxy of scripture – like the Psalms and even Genesis – for what he penned that has survived for three centuries.

Watts may have drawn upon various scriptures for the four verses that he eventually penned about joy, according to various sources (see them below). Genesis 3:17-18, and Psalms 96 and 98 contain much of what Isaac perhaps was reading to write about Christ’s return and reign and how the creation responds (vv.1, 2, 4), and how He overturns what happened to the planet’s inhabitants shortly after creation (v.3). By his own words, Watts reported that the concluding words of the 96^th and 98^th Psalms were his stimuli for how he concluded his own poem, expressing the elation that we believers possess in trusting Christ’s rule in righteousness. We know not what time of year Isaac penned his poem, but since he writes of no angels, Bethlehem, a bright star, or shepherds, nor of the Christ-child particularly, we can deduce that it was not Christmas time. Isaac composed ‘Joy…’ for inclusion in a 1719 publication The Psalms of David, so perhaps that collection was the context of Isaac’s focus. His purpose in using the Psalms as a baseline for his poems was to recast them, “imitated in the language of the New Testament”, so that Christians could echo David’s Old Testament poetry with renewed vigor. Watts would have used other methods to emphasize his purposes in hymn-writing, for he was also a speaker-minister, theologian, and logician. One could be certain that whatever Isaac wrote, he had thought and read about thoroughly.

Its survival for 300 years indicates “Joy to the World” has something that is transcendent, something that Isaac thought was powerful, even if none of us have yet witnessed what he describes. Christmas is overtly about the Christ that has already come as a baby, clearly worth celebrating. But if that’s all He did, or is expected to do, could I be joyful? Is that what Isaac might have wondered? Although he may not have written these words during the season acknowledging the first Advent, Isaac’s character and life-purpose might have urged that His return’s import is incalculable, comparatively. The second Advent, what is yet to come, is what Isaac underlined for you and me. Attention to this is appropriate for any season of the year.               

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.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses and a brief account of the song’s development: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/o/y/w/joyworld.htm

Also see here for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World  

See author information here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/t/t/watts_i.htm

See here also for biographic information on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts