Pass Me Not -- Fanny Crosby

 

She was not one to merely read a bible story and lay aside its example. No, Fanny Crosby (more formally known as Frances Jane van Alstyne Crosby) certainly lived where she thought the Spirit was leading her to go, including to a prison in Manhattan in 1868 (see an 1870 sketch of it here). And so, when a prisoner called out to the 48-year-old Fanny in desperation that the Lord not forget them in ‘The Tombs’, as that place of incarceration was known, the words resonated with her spirit. She’d heard these similar words earlier in a much more peaceful atmosphere, but it took a potent and pungent place like that prison to imprint “Pass Me Not” on Fanny’s consciousness. Do you think Fanny was also thinking about an episode when Jesus was teaching about visiting inmates (Matthew 25:31-46), and wondering what it would be like one day to stand before a judge herself?    

 

Fanny Crosby was already a very talented poetess and songwriting phenom by the 1860s, when she decided to invest the last half of her life in domestic missionary work. Her reputation was accentuated by her blindness, a condition that nevertheless did not inhibit her work among the poverty-stricken residents of Manhattan. She’d just begun to collaborate with a musical tune writer, Howard Doane, who apparently first suggested the few words ‘pass me not, o gentle savior’ to Fanny, hoping she would quickly consummate a poem appropriate for a hymn. It took one of Fanny’s routine visits to ‘The Tombs’ many weeks later for the rest of the words to emerge, however. Who was the prisoner that cried out to Fanny that day? Perhaps it was the exclamations of multiple prisoners or just their profound desolation that stuck with her that day, prompting her to write four verses shortly thereafter. Their ‘pleading wails’ could not be ignored by Fanny, though most of these men probably had felt forgotten and neglected by the broader culture. The resulting hymn crafted by Doane two years later was reportedly the first Crosby-Doane effort, but certainly not the last, as many years and some 1,500 hymns later would abundantly testify. Perhaps Crosby and the inmates at the New York Halls of Justice sang “Pass Me Not” on many a subsequent occasion, or read Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25, in order to reassure these dregs of society that someone, even God speaking through a blind poetess named Fanny, did not think their bleak situation was hopeless. Someone still cared.

 

How many times might God have destroyed this creation in His image, but for his patience and care? Noah, Moses, and all the people during the period of the Judges certainly encountered His great anger, the wrath of a Holy Creator determined to punish a disobedient group of malcontents. And so, prisons that are full of criminals still today are not so much of a novelty. And, how often has one said ‘there but for the grace of God…’ when reflecting upon the circumstances of a convict? And yet, God doesn’t give up on us, even the ones of us that misbehave and receive the label ‘condemned’ by a court. Fanny took to heart what she had learned, applied the lesson in a prison visit, and let others ‘see’ what she could really only hear, through a poem. Humility, mercy, relief, contrition, brokenness, and comfort – these were the words (contained in her poem) that she thought a bunch of prisoners needed in 1868. Just them, or me too?       

   

See more information on the song story in this 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.

 

Also see this link, showing all four original verses and the brief recounting of the song story: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/p/a/s/s/passment.htm

 

Also see this link for author’s biography, in which the inspiration for the song’s development is also told: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Crosby

Come to the Table -- Claire Cloninger and Marty Nystrom

 

This one needs almost no guesswork to define why two musical people decided to write “Come to the Table”, a song that was published in 1991. The 48-year-old Claire Cloninger and 35-year-old Marty Nystrom were the collaborators who knew each other through a music-publishing company, and decided that a communion song for churches was needed. They evidently thought the experience for believers should feel personal, as if the worshipped person Himself were inviting the meal’s guests into a special place of remembrance. How often has a group of believers prayed that God’s Spirit would join them as they sing, pray, study, and eat together? What if this invitation-giving and receiving relationship were instead reversed? After all, He initiated this meal, and has provided its main ingredients.

 

It was a project for Integrity Music that had Claire and Marty teaming up to write something pretty simple, yet meaningful, for Lord’s Supper participants. That relationship was crucial, since the Seattle, Washington native Marty, and the Lafayette, Louisiana-born Claire might otherwise never have crossed each other’s paths, though both of their Christian faith backgrounds had some common threads. Claire’s musical and Christian upbringing helped spawn her career as an author and songwriter, with several awards from the Gospel Music Association to her credit. Marty’s musical directorship in New York (Christ for the Nations) and then as song developer for Integrity were likewise the result of Christian parents and a love for music that pushed him toward a university education in that area. Both Claire and Marty must have spent many years taking part in communion in one church or another before 1990, and yet something pushed them to think a new song was a good idea for this part of worship. Perhaps it was just a sense that something fresh was needed, an addition to the scores of songs and hymns already in use to accompany the eucharist. No other circumstances are known, but the song contains no words or phrases that seem mysterious, requiring further explanation. Claire and Marty did think it was the ‘Lord’s invitation’ that brings believers to that point of a worship service. We might often think of that phrase when someone is coaxing a non-believer to take the step in a life-commitment to Him. But, perhaps it’s more effective to think of it in the way that Claire and Marty used it. Who would turn down an invitation to a meal when hunger pangs are making the insides growl, after all?  

 

Claire Cloninger and Marty Nystrom had a simple mission in 1991. Craft a song that draws the believer toward eating a unique meal, one that I need to sustain me each week. It doesn’t have to complicate or embellish the story beyond what I have already heard, but I do relish knowing that He’s the host. He’s made all the arrangements, and has provided all that’s on the table to make me salivate in anticipation. That happens because no matter how often I eat this meal and enjoy it among other believers, I have yet to attend the feast with Him in Eternity. I’m getting a foretaste, for now. Someday, I’ll see the nail-scarred hands in person that Claire and Marty remind me has issued the invitation to His table. You and I can spend a lifetime working up an appetite for that meal.    

 

See here for information about the song: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-come-to-the-table

 

http://www.jubileecast.com/articles/22091/20190901/claire-cloninger-christian-author-and-songwriter-dies-at-77.htm

 

https://hymnary.org/person/Nystrom_M

Agnus Dei -- Michael W. Smith

 

He had read about a vision, and he wanted to share this sight, because it was too awesome to keep to himself. That’s what one might conclude when investigating what brought “Agnus Dei” from inside Michael W. Smith in 1990. There’s this mass of people, too numerous to count – ‘a great multitude’- and they are worshipping. Was Michael seeing in his mind something like this, reflecting on what John saw, when he wrote about the Lamb in Revelation (19:6)? (See 15^th Century artwork of Jan van Eyck, called “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”, which is giving its lifeblood into a cup.) It’s not a song of very many words, but then, how many do you believe you’ll be able to vocalize when you participate in this episode-yet-to-come? Perhaps Michael reminds us of all the words you and I will need.

 

Lamb of God. That’s one phrase that all probably all Christians have heard used to describe Jesus Christ. And yet, it’s not really used that often by anyone in biblical times. Just one very unusual fellow named John recognized Him this way (John 1:29, 36), until another John saw Him described in a vision as a Lamb (Revelation, chapters 5, 7, 14, 15, 19, 21, and 22). So, when Michael Smith borrowed this name for a song, he must have thought it carried something intrinsically special. Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopal, and Lutheran liturgies use this special name to call out in worship to God the Savior. Perhaps Michael – who has been associated with Protestant churches, and was friends with Billy Graham, perhaps the most well-know evangelical preacher in America in the mid-to-late 20^th Century – was especially moved by the Revelation accounts of the Lamb. Additionally, perhaps it was one or more communion services in a church that underscored for Michael that Jesus was a perfect lamb that was sacrificed on a Jewish Passover, a time when Jews also partake of a slain lamb. Singing about a lamb in Latin is a way to cover lots of bases among people of faith. This song was part of Michael’s 1990 album Go West Young Man, which was a notable success in the American secular music market. So, Agnus Dei might conceivably have reached some people’s ears who may have not taken notice of this deified lamb otherwise. Agnus Dei is like an invitation, therefore, to all people to stop for a moment and acknowledge what John saw in Revelation. Call out to a Holy One, John says that multitude cried, and it was thunderous and like rushing water to hear that many voices shouting in exaltation. Even if you don’t count yourself a believer, get that picture and that sound in your head, if you can. When’s the last time you had goosebumps at something you saw and heard? That vision that John had has now endured for two millennia. You might want to reconsider its value, if you haven’t yet done so.    

 

Agnus Dei takes this lamb and us to another plane, doesn’t it? Michael’s song is an offer for you to lose yourself in imagination, but not just that. We get a foretaste of a coming feast, for John says there will be a wedding supper (Rev. 19:9) after the singing. Keep singing with your friends in the faith what Smith’s song words provide. That’s what you might notice when you watch renditions of Michael’s song in concert, that audiences don’t want to let that time end; they don’t seem to grow weary of shouting ‘Alleluia’ to Him. Singing to the Agnus Dei is a way to keep anchored, keeping that amazing vision of Revelation undimmed. It’s a God-guaranteed epoch, and it’ll be worth the wait of a lifetime.

 

 

See here for information on the term “Agnus Dei”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei

 

See here for song story reference: https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/michael-w-smith

 

See here for author-songwriter biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Smith

 

See here for information on of Lamb of God: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God

 

Watch a rendition of the song performed by the author in concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBmFwBSGb0