The New Song -- Jesse Randall 'Pap' Baxter Jr.

And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. (Rev. 14:3)

 He was 39 years old, but already was looking forward to his ultimate destiny, with relish. How many people could have said that at mid-life? Jesse Randall Baxter had just entered upon a brand new business venture in 1926, and would live a very interesting and successful life beyond the time when he wrote “The New Song” that same year. So, why would someone like him be so eager to die? After all, ‘why not grab all you can before you depart?’, someone might have asked him.  “Pap” Baxter must have really believed what he read about the afterlife, and imagined that the songs he sang and wrote were a mere warmup for something much bigger than anything he’d seen or heard.  

J.R. Baxter may not be immediately familiar to you, unless you associate the name ‘Stamps’ with his. The Stamps-Baxter Music Company became one of the most recognizable names in Gospel music in 20^th Century America. Baxter’s and his colleague Virgil O. Stamps’ partnership by 1926 promoted hymns that live on into the 21^st Century. Baxter was also involved in a music school and production of a shape-note hymnal. Besides all of this, Baxter apparently wrote a large number of hymns himself (see last site listed below). So, one element of his life stands out clearly. Pap Baxter loved music, and especially music to God. No doubt that’s why he was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1997. But, reading the text of the song he composed in 1926, you sense that J.R. Baxter cared little about fame. His words in the three verses of “The New Song” show instead what prize he was aiming to acquire.  ‘Thrill’ is in the first words of his song, underscoring how Baxter felt about this part of his life. He makes clear that he had experienced something special, perhaps even magical or synergistic, with a church that loved to sing. But, his verse two words show he was also a realist, with his mind’s eye sensing a weaker voice in his future. And, as he reminds us in verse three, songs and their mirth are really only an interlude during the rest of one’s life, with its troubles and intrusions – even in Jesus’ life. All the more reason to aim high, Baxter says. 

You see, what we can only practice here will never end in that faraway place. No tired worn-out voicebox, no stale, familiar, old tune. And, it won’t matter that I’ve never seen before this song I’ll learn up there. With a glorified existence - -body, voice, and surroundings – I’ll be able to sing it and experience it like I never could anything here on terra firma. Pap Baxter worked his whole life to make others love God through music, to experience just a pale version of heaven. Even at 39, he must have read Revelation, and wondered what it would be like to hear something unimaginable, 144,000 people singing together. The closest thing we have here on earth is a stadium full of sports nuts. I wonder what it would be like if they were all God-nuts? Can’t wait to see and hear that!

Biographic information on the composer found in the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/x/baxter_jr.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=uqT-CJYcqskC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=%22jr+baxter%22&source=web&ots=jiqMYQJQI-&sig=p7VjKGlapFV6mLGt0Iu6MtX_ZmQ#v=onepage&q=%22jr%20baxter%22&f=false

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

Jesus What a Friend for Sinners -- John Wilbur Chapman

 J. Wilbur Chapman knew something about what he wrote, when he composed the words for “Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners” in 1910. He must have despaired at many points along the way  --  ‘What is this tragedy supposed to accomplish, God?’ Yet, looking back, and looking ahead, and involving himself in the lives of so much of humanity must have worked its therapy on him too. Maybe that’s what his words really say, a contemplative refrain about his life up until that point. Consider his other hymns, and think about this fellow. Step into his shoes, and see what you think you might have said if you were him. 

By the time the 51-year old Chapman was writing his hymn in 1910, he had experienced his share of heartache, but had also felt happiness and satisfaction many times over. His first two wives and an infant son died in the space of 21 years, leaving this widower with four children in 1907. Yet, Chapman’s evangelism focus and partnership with others in the early 20^th Century throughout North America and Asia converted thousands to Christianity. Chapman’s collaboration and leadership of scores of evangelism teams in Philadelphia reportedly brought some 8,000 people to God.  What a contrast in experience for Chapman – deaths so close to his heart, but also the exhilaration of seeing thousands reborn! It was in this period following the death of his second wife in 1907, that Chapman wrote two hymns in 1908 and 1909. (He apparently wrote several others, and also published a hymnal in 1899.) Then, perhaps as Chapman prepared to marry for a third time in 1910, he composed this hymn about his friend Jesus. What must it have been like, to look back over 51 years, and see valleys and mountaintops, to reflect upon travels from one end of the globe to the other?  If ever anyone needed a friend, J. Wilbur Chapman, must have seen and felt for himself the hurts of life upon many he came to know. Many of these same people probably had come through difficult episodes to meet and trust Christ. 

Is it autobiographic what Chapman writes in his five verses? The first four verses are allusions to trials and disappointments, perhaps ones that its author had concluded only the Omnipotent One could resolve.  Is that what it means to become 51 years old? Wounded, but wiser. And, leaning…no, in fact clinging to your ally. Seeing the end coming, you grip Him tighter, and appreciate Him more and more. It’s said that Chapman once related that his life-theme was to turn away from anything that drew him away from God. So, evidently if you’re Wilbur Chapman, you tell people you meet who really matters to you, and you gather people about you who want to stare at Him too. Don’t let my gaze drift elsewhere, despite troubles. He’s not left me alone, I think, if I’m J. Wilbur Chapman. Hey, maybe that’s not just Wilbur’s story, huh? 

        

Biographic information on the composer found in the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilbur_Chapman

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/e/s/jesuswaf.htm

 

 “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers.

“Turning Points – Moments of Decision in the Presence of God” (see 2 March entry), by David Jeremiah, 2005 Integrity Publishers. 

(This site also indicates Chapman wrote at least 17 hymns) http://www.hymnary.org/person/Chapman_JW

Jesus Is the Sweetest Name I Know -- Lela B. Long

She’s an almost unknown personality, except for the song associated with her name. Perhaps that’s the way Lela B. Long wanted it…to be faceless, almost nameless, in favor of making His name more well-known. “Jesus Is the Sweetest Name I Know” must have been a statement her family and friends could remember her saying, but we don’t have to rely on any published biography to learn this. She recorded her opinion for us. What opinions do I have that I would want to survive me? Just any pontification probably wouldn’t last, but what makes Lela’s opinion notable is that it strikes a chord with us still today.

There’s not much information on Lela B. Long, other than a record with the words she wrote that suggests the song was written prior to 1925. That would suggest she was an adult who was born in the late 19^th or early 20^th Century, and went on to eternity prior to the end of the 20^th Century. She must have had some affinity with people she knew, including unspoken names she says in verse one had moved her emotionally. But, she makes it clear that those names paled next to ‘Jesus’. Why would His name be so special to Long? Had she been affected by poor health, or events of her time like World War I, which robbed its survivors of friends and loved ones? What life circumstances drew her toward Him? We only know that she wrote three verses and a refrain (see the link below for access to them) to carry her message, though most often we hear only the refrain. She has us say repeatedly throughout the refrain that he’s genuine, as authentic and loveable as one can imagine Him. Isn’t that really the root of love, that this person to whom I cling is not a fake, but true? He’s worth my worship, she declares.

Can I identify with what Lela says? I live in a different time than her, but what’s really different? There are still people around, many of whom move me in different ways, as some evidently did for Lela Long in her life. She must have experienced illness, or other calamities that threatened her faith. War? The war she must have known was once known as the ‘war to end all wars’. Did it really accomplish this? How sweet was its conclusion for those who signed the peace at Versailles (see picture), if they lived to see what happened a generation later? Lies like that are too common. Likewise, health is too fragile for me to become complacent in my comfort. I must find something that won’t go sour. Lela did. It’s still pretty tasty, even decades after she savored it.      

Link to the song’s scant history and the three verses that accompany the chorus-refrain: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/i/s/jisnikno.htm

Sweet Adoration -- Lynn Sutter, Brown Bannister, Dawn Rodgers

The three of them decided that a love song was how they wanted to express what they felt in 1980. What they sensed may have elicited ‘Thank You’, or perhaps the title might have been ‘ Recreation’ to describe the request they make in the song’s third verse. But instead, “Sweet Adoration” was what they called it, as they focused on this basic emotion to describe the admiration they held for the Creator. What life events make someone express feeling like this? Do Brown Bannister, Lynn Sutter, and Dawn Rodgers say something about affection in this song that’s different from the other kinds of love we practice here?

The three of them wrote many songs (see the many links below), including this “Sweet Adoration” in 1980 for Debby Boone’s “With My Song” album. Though sometimes the song’s first verse may be all we hear or see included in a hymnal, that practice may tell only part of the song’s story. We can see the composers felt a deep devotion, according to the opening verse’s words, but verse two may tell us the circumstances that at least one of them was experiencing that spurred this song’s development. Someone, or perhaps Brown, Lynn, and Dawn together could remember times in which each of them had struggled, times when they called out to Him and felt His protection. His presence was more than an oasis to refresh them. In fact, He took them to another place, where heartache and anything terrestrial was a distant memory. God doesn’t just help us get over the hurdles…they don’t exist where He takes us. Even at a young age (Brown Bannister was probably about 29 years old or less in 1980, if he graduated from Abilene Christian U. in the 1973-75 period), people can have struggles that lay them low. What were the ones that made Bannister, Sutter, and Rodgers seek Him out in song, asking Him to transform them (verse 3)?

“Sweet Adoration” tells me that these three writers had discovered an avenue for managing life. Don’t try to pray away whatever’s inevitable here. Instead, seek out what worked for Him when He was here. Becoming like Him, at least as much as is humanly possible, is a method that Bannister, Sutter, and Rodgers evidently thought was an exercise worth pursuing. Why? After all, in one perspective, searching for His great heart could be a frustrating, lifelong quest for something intangible. But, perhaps these composers had also discovered something else here, something about trouble. He waits just on the other side. Could that be why Jesus was so resolute about the trouble that waited for Him one Friday?   

According to these links, all three of the songwriters are credited with the song as it was included on the Debby Boone 1980 album “With My Song”, and Sutter apparently married someone named Adler:  http://www.christianmusicarchive.com/album/with-my-song

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_My_Song

This site indicates that Lynn Sutter is credited with the 1978 album “Everlasting Kind of Love”: http://www.christianmusicarchive.com/artist/lynn-sutter

This You Tube site shows a picture of Sutter on the album “It’s a New Day”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vvjI7Nxf14&feature=related

Sutter also composed the 1984 song “Nobody Loves You Like Jesus”: http://music.aol.com/song/lynn-sutter/nobody-loves-you-like-jesus/4426678

Sutter composed the 1978 song “I’ve Never Been Loved Like This Before”: http://music.aol.com/song/lynn-sutter/ive-never-been-loved-like-this-before/4426682

Following site has biographic information on Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Bannister

This link shows a Dawn Rodgers album “Adoration”: http://www.amazon.com/Adoration-Songs-Worship-Dawn-Rodgers/dp/B0002IQORS

The following site has a second verse to the song: http://www.higherpraise.com/lyrics/cool/s/5022.htm

This site has a 3^rd verse to the song:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/Worship-Songs-Sweet-adoration-lyrics.html

The Lord Thy God -- Blaine Morris

He must have been studying one of the minor prophets the day he was moved to write this song, don’t you think? Blaine Morris, like so many songwriters who see themselves in God’s shadow, evidently did not make a very effective effort to promote himself, but instead is a signpost. What he saw and he experienced puts the emphasis in the wrong spot when you’re considering the song “The Lord Thy God” that Morris wrote in 1986. His name is practically all we know, similar to the prophet Zephaniah (shown here), with whom he may be identifying with the words he recorded for us to sing.

Blaine Morris apparently wrote many songs, as suggested by a comment someone posted on a YouTube video of Morris’ song “The Lord Thy God” as it’s sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (see link below). He and his wife Junel were traveling musicians and may have recorded some of their songs in a studio in Wenatchee, Washington. The words of his music’s first line were recorded centuries ago by Zephaniah (3:17), who stood in the shadows of others of his time, like Jeremiah around 625 B.C. So, Zephaniah and Blaine may have had similar egos too, in addition to the words they shared. Both were evidently content to remain relatively anonymous, perhaps a conscious decision so that the light shone more directly on the One whom they laud with their words. Why would someone shrink from the light…aren’t all musicians, including the travelling, perhaps struggling songwriter-types, looking for promotion? Maybe something more powerful called out to Blaine Morris. Did he call upon God with this song from a particular circumstance? What caused him to see Him that day? Was it just a bible study passage that moved him?

I have a friend, who when he prays calls upon ‘His Mighty Name’; I believe he's seen Him ‘high and lifted up’, and I think I know why.  You see, my friend is confined to a chair, yet he’s not debilitated. People who’ve seen Him, and experience His power, don’t feel weak. And, the connection to Him is fortified the more I throw at Him the attention that otherwise might come my way. Want to know more of what Blaine Morris was trying to accomplish here? It seems that here, maybe what the song’s story doesn’t say may be part of the message. Maybe when you sing his and Zephaniah’s words, you’ve completed his mission, despite not hearing any of his personal testimony about “The Lord Thy God”. When I meet Blaine someday, I’ll thank him for the lesson, shake his hand, and then return my attention toward Him. I suspect that’s what Blaine’s doin’ today.

Someone, who says he met Blaine and wife Junel Morris in Wenatchee, Washington at a recording studio, posted a message at this YouTube video site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX73DI1-pMY

The Great Redeemer -- Francis Foster

Who is the greatest purchaser in history? If you asked one guy named Francis Foster, in 1915 when he wrote “The Great Redeemer”, he’d probably say it was God. This divine being ‘bought’ all of us with something only He could offer as collateral for this transaction. It’s impossible to pin a dollar-sign or any other monetary measure (like the ones in the picture shown here) on this event. It was a one-time buyout, but really it’s still being played out, since all of us who are reading this have yet to finish off our end of the bargain. But, Foster’s words  suggest a way for us to verbalize our feelings about all this…to follow his exhilaration at the deal being offered. 

Francis Foster is a virtual unknown, except for a few facts and the words we can read of his devotion to God.   He wrote a handful of songs, among them many which were published in two Sparkling Jewels collections by Samuel Beazley and James Ruebush. Whether “The Great Redeemer” was in either Sparkling Jewels is not clear, but we can be sure many worshippers at the time considered it a treasure. Another source shows the song was listed in at least 10 publications. We may not know from first- or second-hand testimony what Foster’s motivation was for writing, but his emotions are evident in the song’s words.  He was ebullient, overwhelmed with what God’s atonement for him meant. No more guilt, no burden, just a ‘sunshine’-filled life. Foster must have been like so many who had come to a realization of his condition after some struggle. What was this crucible, this experience that burned into his consciousness what his destiny might have been except for the Great Redeemer?  It wasn’t just a one-time episode for Foster, since he wrote about his devotion in numerous songs. It’ll have to be one among many scores of anonymous or near-anonymous biographies that we’ll hear in eternity. 

 Imagine the encyclopedia that the Omniscient One is keeping up above. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say it’s closer to a library full of biographic sketches that only He and perhaps relatively few others know, but which have been preserved for humanity at large. In our internet, information-saturated age, a story worth hearing but yet remaining unknown is almost unthinkable. How much is that story worth? Do you have a redeemed life-story that has turned you upside down, and inside out? Foster’s words model the response I need to follow: Tell someone, and make it memorable, and inspirational for others. Then, expect to hear some more …go hear Francis Foster tell his in the first-person. I have one too, but you’ll have to go where I’m goin’ to hear it all. It’s not quite finished yet.

The following site shows 14 hymns to Foster’s credit: http://www.hymnary.org/person/Foster_F4

Little to nothing is known of the composer, except that some of his songs were published by Beazley and Ruebush in 1912, including 10 shown here. See the following: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/o/s/foster_f.htm