Summer Series: Influences #1—"What Shall I Render to the Lord"

I've decided I'm going to do a series of posts over the summer about specific influences I recognize as having a large impact in shaping my outlook, behavior, or taste. Some will be musical examples, some will be book passages, some might be events. Some I will have realized their impact at the time, and others I will have only recognized the impact looking back.

I'm starting with "What Shall I Render to the Lord" by Richard Hillert. It is the Offertory from Divine Service Setting 1 in Lutheran Service Book. I wish I could find a good video that has good singing in it, but the organ-only video below is the best I can do. The text is below and is drawn from Psalm 116:

What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?

I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

I will take the cup of salvation and will call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people,in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

I grew up singing this in church roughly every other week. I always liked it, but I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have until the churches I attend/work for stopped using it for various reasons. I've probably only sang it in services ten times or so in the last decade, and I miss singing it.

One great thing about the liturgy is that you memorize the texts since you sing them so regularly. I still have the text of this canticle memorized even though I rarely sing it anymore. I consider this a great thing because this text helped me properly value three ideas linked to three phrases in the canticle:

     

     1.  "I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving..."

         Many people talk about what we must give to God for Him to be pleased with us. They say belief and faith is all well and good, but it is nothing without some sort of additional work, or effort, or sacrifice. Contrast that with how Psalm 116 and, consequently, the canticle deal with the idea of a sacrifice in response to the benefits God gives to us. The sacrifice offered is thanksgiving. We have nothing to give to God. God is the one doing the giving. We receive and give thanks, recognizing that all good gifts come from God, and nothing we have is our own.

            

      2. "...and will call on the name of the Lord."

          This phrase being repeated twice in a short canticle really drives home the point that all times are the right time to call on the name of the Lord. God has created us, saved us, sustains us, protects us, does all things for us, and gives all things to us. There is never a bad time to call on the name of the One who holds the entire universe in His hands.

     
     3.  "I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem."

          The ending of the canticle helped teach me to value attending church. Some people think they can do it on their own apart from attending church, but it is a huge gift to have the support and accountability of gathering corporately. It holds us accountable to ourselves in helping us realize when we are breaking the 1st commandment and valuing other things above God in our lives and in how we are using the gifts God has given us. It provides encouragement and witness to others within the Lord's house, while also giving us accountability with them to be faithful together. And it provides witness to the greater community around the church of our recognition that we are not our own—that we and our time, talents, and treasures belong to God. This means our priorities and behaviors might seem very strange to those outside the church, but having them notice and witness this "strangeness" is a great thing and an opportunity to provide further witness.

Another reason I'm starting with this canticle in this series is I've told multiple people that I blame this canticle and the liturgy setting it is from for why I'm a professional musician. I've also come to the realization that it had a huge impact on my musical taste and musicianship. First, It is very crafted music, and it has some difficulty to it. It is very difficult to hear once and have completely in your head. It is music that must be lived with. The melody requires vocal flexibility to sing, and the long phrases require good breath support and control to make it through.  I had to train myself to become a good musician to sing it properly, and I was singing this canticle long before I had any formal musical training.

Second, it blends new and old wonderfully. It has qualities of chant and modal writing indicative of centuries ago, but it also shows elements of a more modern harmonic approach indicative to 20th century classical music. It creates a sort of timeless sound. Much of my favorite music has this same sort of timeless quality and blend of old and new.

Lastly, it is thoughtful music. It helped teach me that music doesn't have to be flashy to be powerful—it doesn't have to be fast, it doesn't have to be loud, it doesn't have to be triumphant. Sometimes the most powerful music is the music that gives a sense of quiet resolve. There is power in music when there is recognition that some will miss the point or not understand, but it holds true to its underlying priorities of service to a text and the truth it conveys anyway. Thoughtful music is in it for the long game. Flash comes and goes, but the truth thoughtful music centers itself around will not.

Throwback Thursday: The stupidest thing I've ever done.

Today is exactly two years since I did the stupidest thing I've ever done. What is that you ask? Oh, you know, just driving back from Indy in horrific conditions after driving down to Indy during a snow emergency in -22 degree F weather with steady winds of 20+ miles per hour the previous day.

It was an adventure all right.

2015 Year in Review

This was a weird year for me and my 2015 did its best to defy summation. That said, let's just jump right in.

The little that never runs out

I'm a bit behind in writing this, but the Old Testament reading in the lectionary last week was the story of Elijah and The Widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17: 8-16 [ESV]:

Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

God told Elijah that he had commanded a widow there to feed him, but the widow didn't seem to know this when Elijah asked for food. She only had a little flour and a little oil, and was prepared to make one last meal of bread, eat it, and die! It appears like she had so little she had despaired of earthly provision. But God was there nonetheless.

She heard the promises of Elijah about what the Lord would do for her, and the little she had became the little that did not run out.

The world tends to measure provision in money, food, or possessions, or even good health, happiness, or lack of suffering. But plenty of God's children find themselves without some or all of these things. Yet, God surely provides for His children, even if the world is blind in seeing His provision.

God provides and sustains faith--sometimes maybe only the size of a mustard seed. But even just a little faith provided and sustained by God becomes the little that never runs out, even when all of the things the world looks to are gone. Even in death.

The closing stanza of the hymn "Jesus Lives! The Victory's Won" comes to mind:

Jesus lives! And now is death

       But the gate of life immortal;

This shall calm my trembling breath

       When I pass its gloomy portal.

Faith shall cry, as fails each sense:

Jesus is my confidence!

--Lutheran Service Book #490

I wonder if the widow was planning to eat and die out of despair, or if she planned to meet death in the knowledge faith brings that death couldn't hurt her. Maybe she was secure in accepting what God provided to sustain her, even when this means all earthly things have been taken away and meeting death in faith.

God's provision surely does sometimes include earthly wealth, health, happiness, and comfort. I'm thankful that I have been blessed with always having ample provision of my earthly needs. It is not hard to accept these gifts of provision from God. But we can learn with the widow to accept the provision God gives even when it means using up the very last of our earthly store and being unafraid of death. For with the confidence of faith provided and sustained by God, we can walk through death as the gate of life immortal.

Yes, we surely can be content in all circumstances and rejoice in the Lord always. For God provides us with and sustains us in faith, which, no matter how small a gift the world sees this faith as, is the little that never runs out.

On the Cross Our Sins Christ Carried (Baptism Hymn)

I've shared on this blog before a few of my original hymn texts, but there are many I've written that I haven't shared. The 4th hymn text I wrote was for a hymn for use at Baptisms, and I think the time has come to finally put it up here. You can find the text below, but let me explain why today is the perfect day to share it.

How the NEA's Resolution on Homeschooling gets nearly everything wrong.

Yesterday, I saw a discussion on Twitter that the National Education Association (NEA) had attacked homeschooling in their 2014-2015 Resolutions. I decided to investigate and look at the actual resolution on homeschooling myself and was very upset with what I read. This will be a very long post that will deal exclusively on the one NEA resolution on Homeschooling. If you would like to see the other resolutions, you may view them by following the link above.

God Calls to Us, Says “Here am I.”

God calls to us, says “Here am I.”
       Reveals Himself to us by grace.
“Keep to yourself! Do not draw nigh.”
       Our answer provokes to God's face.
“I am too holy” we go on,
       “Too holy for you.” to God say.
Our own devices drive us on
       To reject God, send Him away.

What holiness is this we name?
       Our hearts pour out their lust and pride.
What virtue do we say we claim?
       Our tongues lash out to curse and lie.
What love gives proof of sanctity?
       Our love of self and perverse wants.
What peace shows forth our unity?
       Our peace that rings out jeers and taunts.

If God had left us in our sin
       Imprisoned in our unbelief,
On judgment day how great a din
       Of wailing we would sound in grief.
God's fury He would on us spend
       To pay us our deservèd wage.  
The truth we then would apprehend      
       In endless torment ne'er assuaged.

But God in flesh Himself revealed
       To call unto Himself His own.
And though rejected, light revealed
       By which our darkness is well shown.
Yet in our disobedience crass,
       To which God binds all men by Law,
God shows His mercy on the cross
       From whence forgiveness flows to all.

What here revealed is wondrous grace:
       That though God's wrath we well deserve,
Christ bore this wrath--died in our place--
       So unto life God us reserves.
His sob'ring Word God speaks to us
       Lest we forget our source of life,
And spurn the grace God gives to us
       That saves us from our sin and strife. 

[Fall 2012]