On and On We Walk Together -- J. R. Baxter

 

From what we know of his life, this author and music publishing hall-of-famer was in or near Chattanooga, Tennessee (see this scene from 1907 of Market Street, there) around 1938 when he wrote some words about a daily habit. Jesse Randall “Pap” Baxter, Jr. thought that, though this practice was routine, it was significant. “On and On We Walk Together”, he said about these regular meeting times with his Divine Guide. No special circumstances are known regarding what prompted Pap to write the words, but perhaps that dearth of information tells us something. If you do something every day consistently, it really needs no other justification to explain its importance – its repetition speaks for itself. His reliability translates to me, when I make our day-to-day appointments a pattern, an anchor. What’s that look like to others who might stop and take notice?

 

The 51-year-old Pap Baxter was well along the musical pathway of his life when he composed the poem about his daily walks. He’d become a partner with Virgil Stamps in a music publishing enterprise in Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas in 1926, a venture that continued even after Pap and Virgil had died (Virgil in 1940, and Pap in 1960; the company was later sold after Pap’s wife died in 1972). Pap’s musical career included the lyrics for over 500 songs, including ‘On and On…’. Evidently, he didn’t want his life’s habits and who he trusted eternally to be a secret. He’d found his life’s work, even as an economic upheaval (the Great Depression) afflicted the United States, could be an anchor and a buoy at the same time. Was it the message of hope that the Stamps-Baxter company helped promulgate that helped it survive amidst hardship for others in America at the time? That daily life was a struggle for millions of people in the 1930s was an understatement, so was there something that Pap could recommend to salve the pain? Pap could undoubtedly see the situation about him and others, as he noted ‘shadows dim’ (v.1), ‘fear’ (v.2), and ‘stormy weather’ (chorus) that could consume one’s life. Pap’s walks with ‘my Savior’ were his anchor to stabilize an otherwise shaky situation; how many other businesses did Pap and Virgil watch close their doors, while theirs survived? Other conditions must have spurred Pap’s thoughts, including the spiritual state of people he knew, so it was important when he noted that His hand ‘points to heaven above’ (v.1). God was a confidant for the spiritual and temporal challenges that lay across the pathway of Pap and others he knew, apparently. How many spirits did Pap’s words make more buoyant and resilient at the time? We’ll only know later, in another place.

 

In what time of day do Pap’s words best work? He says ‘daily’, and mentions ‘shadows’ and ‘sunshine’, so He’s available whenever I might feel a range of emotions, Pap suggests. Baxter and his partner must have had their down moments, times when they needed a lift, someone to come along side and give some advice and encouragement. They knew where to look. And, Pap told others how they managed to do this; whether morning or evening, the part that mattered was that it was daily. Make time with Him a way of life, not just an emergency call – that’s what Pap seems to be saying. 911 works with God, but try Him on every day, and see if you can head off some of those crises before they happen. He wants to be more for you than an EMT-on-call.          

 

         

 

 

See the site here for some biographic information on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

See also here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/x/t/baxter_jr.htm

See information here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company

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