Archives

Semicolon Review of Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Oct21

Reprint from May, 2005:

Peace Like a River tells the story of the Land family, father Jeremiah, two sons, Davy and Reuben, and a daughter, Swede. The children’s mother walked out on them long before the time of the novel. Reuben, eleven years old, tells the story. Davy is sixteen when the story starts, and Reuben looks up to his older brother even though the two of them are very different. The central salient fact of Reuben’s life is his asthma; Davy is the epitome of the strong older brother.

“Davy wanted life to be something you did on your own; the whole idea of a protective, fatherly God annoyed him. I would understand this better in years to come, but never subscribe to it, for I was weak and knew it. I hadn’t the strength or the instincts of my immigrant forbears. The weak must bank on mercy–without which, after all, I wouldn’t have lasted fifteen minutes.”

Of course, this statement of Reuben’s is reminiscent of Jesus’ saying to the Pharisees: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) Not that Davy is a Pharisee; he’s more like a lost sheep, an exile, by his own choice, from grace. Reuben, because of his asthma, knows that it is only by the grace of God, by a miracle, that he is able to breathe in and out. When crisis comes to the Land family, it is Reuben who survives and lives a healthy life, and Davy who is lost.

The language in this novel is beautiful. The author, Leif Enger, worked for many years as a reporter and a producer for Minnesota Public Radio, and the poetic, yet sparkling clear, language in this his first novel is obviously the work of a fine craftsman of words. Examples:

“No grudge ever had a better nurse.”

“Since that fearful night, Dad had responded with an almost impossible work of belief. . . . He had laid up prayer as with a trowel. You know this is true, and if you don’t it is I the witness who am to blame.”

“Listening to Dad’s guitar, halting yet lovely in the search for phrasing, I thought: Fair is whatever God wants to do.”

This last quote gives one of the central themes of the book. God is. He has compassion on the weak, on those who know their need of Him. But He doesn’t always work in the way we want, doesn’t make the story turn out the way we want it to end, doesn’t always give us the miracle. Toward the end of Peace Like a River there’s a wonderfully written chapter in which the narrator describes heaven. The chapter seems to owe something to C.S. Lewis, but it’s as good an imaginative description as Lewis ever wrote himself. Finally, at the very end of the novel, Rueben tells the reader:

“I breathe deeply, and certainty enters into me like light, like a piece of science, and curious music seems to hum inside my fingers.
Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?
No sir.
All I can do is say, Here’s how it went. Here’s what I saw.
I’ve been there and am going back.
Make of it what you will.”

Rueben is a witness as all Christians are. May I be as strong a witness in my weakness to God’s grace and mercy.

Hymn #3: It Is Well With My Soul

Oct21

Lyrics: Horatio Spafford, 1873.

Music: VILLE DU HAVRE by Philip Bliss, 1876.

Theme: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we[b] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:2b-4.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:17-18.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. I Peter 4:12-13.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Almost everyone knows the general outline of the story behind this well-loved hymn: In 1871, Horatio Spafford’s only son died. Also in October of that year The Great Chicago Fire ruined Spafford financially. In 1873, he sent his family, wife Anna and four daughters, on a ship to Europe; Spafford was to follow as soon as he had wound up some business affairs. The ship carrying Spafford’s family collided with another ship and sank. All four of the Spafford daughters drowned; only Anna survived. She sent a telegram to her husband with only two words: “Saved alone.” As Mr. Spafford passed over the Atlantic near the place where his daughters died, he was inspired to write the words of this hymn.

In 1881, the Spaffords, including two new baby girls, moved to Palestine and helped start a communal mission called The American Colony with the mission of serving the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf. Leif Enger also named his novel Peace Like a River from the lyrics to this hymn.

Wednesday’s Whatever: I Like Lists

Oct21

Especially book lists:
Time’s Top 10 Literary Hoaxes. This list is interesting, but it’s really the Top Ten Mostly Recent Literary Hoaxes. I’ve written about a couple of others that were perpetrated in the past:
Leonainie: The Poet Poe in Kokomo
Chatterton, the Wonderful Whelp.

C. Michael Patton’s Top Fifteen Must Have Books on Apologetics.

In light of today’s hymn (tba), Randy Alcorn’s bibliography of books about suffering and the Christian.

Also related to hymns, here’s a list of some of the hymnbooks that I have in my collection:

The Cokesbury Hymnal, For General Use in Religious Meetings, Printed in Round and Shaped Notes With Orchestration. Music Editor: Harold Hart Todd. Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press, 1923.

The Cokesbury Worship Hymnal. General Editor: C.A. Bowen. New York/Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1938.

All-American Church Hymnal. An inspiring Book of Hymns and contemporary Songs, practical and resourceful for use in all phases of religious services for Churches, Tabernacles, Sunday Schools, and Homes. Compiled by Earl Smith and John T. Benson. Nashville, Tennessee: John T. Benson Publishing, n.d.

Triumphant Service Songs. No publisher, no date. This one seems to have been published by the Homer Rodeheaver Company.

The Broadman Hymnal, Great Standard Hymns and Choice Gospel Songs New and Old, for Use in all Religious Services, such as the Worship Hour, Sunday School, Young People’s Meetings, Assemblies, and Evangelistic Services. Music Editor: B.B. McKinney. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1940. These were the “old hymnals” that we used at our church when I was growing up, banished to the Sunday School rooms upstairs, but not good (new) enough for the main worship auditorium.

Voices of Praise, A Collection of Standard Hymns and Gospel Songs Published for Use in the Worship Hour, Sunday Schools, Young People’s Meetings, Evangelistic Services, and all Christian Work and Worship. Editor and Compiler: BB. McKinney. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1947.

Worldwide Church Songs. Compiled by The Stamps Quartets. Dallas, Texas: Stamps Quartet Music Company, Inc., 1947.

Church Service Hymns, a superior collection of Hymns and Gospel Songs for every department of church work. Compiled by Homer Rodeheaver and George W. Sanville. Music Editor: B.D. Ackley. Winona Lake, Indiana: The Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Co., 1948.

Baptist Hymnal. Edited by Walter Hines Sims. Nashville, Tennessee: Convention Press, 1956. I was born in 1957 and grew up singing from this particular edition of the Baptist Hymnal.

Worship and Service Hymnal, For Church, School, and Home. Chicago: Hope Publishing Company, 1957.

Baptist Hymnal. Nashville, Tennessee: Convention Press, 1975. I remember when this Baptist Hymnal replaced the old 1956 edition. We thought we were really up to date, contemporary.

The Hymnal 1982, according to the use of the Episcopal Church. New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1982.

The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. Senior Editor: Tom Fettke. Waco, Texas: Word Music, 1986.

The Baptist Hymnal. Nashville, Tennessee: Convention Press, 1991. I wonder if my old home church in West Texas uses this hymnal now or if they simply project the lyrics on a screen as we do in my current (not Baptist) church?

I really like hymnbooks.

Hymn #4: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Oct20

Lyrics: Martin Luther, translated to English by Frederick H. Hedge.

Music: EIN FESTE BURG by Martin Luther.

Theme: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Psalm 46:1-3

Martin Luther: ‘If any man despises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then, one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.”

This video features Mahalia Jackson singing this hymn as it should be sung: slow, stately, full-toned, and powerful.

Fun facts and links related to A MIghty Fortress is Our God:

Luther played the lute and paid his school fees through the money he earned singing in the streets of Eisenach. He later said, “The one who sings, prays double.”

When discouraged, Luther is said to have turned to his friend and co-worker Philip Melancthon and said, “Let us sing the 46th Psalm.” A Mighty Fortress is, of course, a paraphrase of Psalm 46.

Go here to read an alternate English translation of this hymn: A Safe Stronghold Our God Is Still by Thomas Carlyle.

And here’s yet another translation: God Is a Stronghold and a Tower by Elizabeth Wordsworth, 1891.

A Mighty Fortress was sung at the funeral of President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, March, 1969. And it was also included in the National Service of Prayer and Remembrance, held shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks against America.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Sources:
Center for Church Music.
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God: Hymns as Poetry.

Texas Tuesday: Luke and the Van Zandt County War by Judith MacBain Alter

Oct20

From Canton, Texas: History:

According to the History of Van Zandt County by W.S. Mills, M.N. Crestman of Dallas claimed that in 1867, following the contest of ballots, which sent Texas back into the Union, a convention was held in Van Zandt County where it was declared by the citizens that their county be a free and independent state, free and independent of the State of Texas, Southern Confederacy and the United States of America, and put themselves in a position to fight for their liberty. General Sheridan heard of the “rebellion” and sent a troop of cavalry to quell the right. The men of the Free State used the woods in Van Zandt County to “pot-shot” on the Yankee soldiers to the extent they faded away. Following their victory, the men proceeded to celebrate. In the height of their celebration, Sheridan’s troops came riding from every point and captured the entire army of the Free State. Each prisoner received a pair of anklets safely locked on him. W.A. Allen and Hardy Allen, ex-confederate soldiers) were among the prisoners. W.A. Allen used a knife hidden in his boot to file down the anklets to a point where they could be broken. Once the rainy season came, the posts of the prison could be pushed upon and lifted out and the men escaped.

Luke and the Van Zandt County War tells the story of this historical incident through the eyes of fourteen year old Theo, the doctor’s daughter, and her foster brother of the same age, Luke. The story moves a little too slowly some of the time, and it leaves a few unanswered questions. Why is Theo’s father so uncomfortable relating to Theo and so readily available to Luke, a deserted child who talks his way into the doctor’s household? Why does Dr. Burford decide to become a pacifist? Why does he think the federal government will protect the citizens of Van Zandt County form the Ku Klux Klan when the governmnt does nothing about the lynching that takes place in the first half of the story?

Still, even with the sometimes slow pace and the questions, this novel is thought-provoking and worth reading, especially for Texas history students and fans. The author paints a portrait of one family and how and why they left their home in Mississippi to come to Texas after the CIvil War. the story includes appearances by the Klan, General Sheridan’s military government, and a few independent Texans trying to figure out how to live in changing times. Reconstruction was not an easy time to live, and the people of Van Zandt County deal with the difficulties in in different ways, according to their own philosophies and impulses. Over the course of the novel, Luke, in particular, sees some reason in the arguments of the secessionists as well as the the pacifist, law-abiding case that the doctor makes for staying out of the fray. This novel could be a springboard for discussion of secessionist movements in general and for examination of the independent tradition that is a part of Texan culture.

Theo is an interesting character in that although she hates housework and cooking, she accepts that since her mother is dead and there are no servants, she is the one who must do all the work of keeping house. Her father, who is not only disinclined to fight but also seems to be an indulgent father, still expects Theo to learn to cook and clean. He is patient with her fumbling attempts, but no one in the story even considers any other arrangement. Probably, this stereotypical female role is typical of the times, but it would be interesting to hear what young people nowadays have to say about this aspect of the novel.

Luke is the conflicted character. He admires the doctor, but he also remembers what his own father, who deserted him, taught him about standing up for his rights and fighting to protect himself and his neighbors. Luke’s decisions in the novel are influenced by the voice of his absent father, until he finally makes a decision that reflects the things that he has learned from the doctor since his father’s abandonment.

Again, this novel could provoke a great discussion in a middle school Texas history class, or even in American history when studying the Reconstruction era.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Hymn #5: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Oct19

Lyrics: Thomas Chisholm, 1923.

Music: William M. Runyan.

Theme: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23.

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was an ordinary man; he sometimes described himself as “an old shoe.” He was, at various times in his life, a country schoolteacher, editor of a small newspaper, a pastor who had to leave the pastorate because of ill health, and a life insurance agent. He wrote over 1200 poems and sent some of the them to WIlliam Runyan, a musician associated with Moody Bible Institute. Runyan took the poem Great Is thy Faithfulness and set it to music that he thought would bring out its theme of the faithfulness of a God whose mercies are new every morning. At age 75, Mr. Chisholm wrote these words in a letter:

“My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Sources:
Worship Matters: A Hymn for Ordinary Christians.
BIble.org Sermon on God’s Faithfulness
Suite 101: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Advanced Reading Survey: Diana of the Crossways by George Meredith

Oct18

I’ve decided that on Mondays I’m going to revisit the books I read for a course in college called Advanced Reading Survey, taught by the eminent scholar and lovable professor, Dr. Huff. I’m not going to re-read all the books and poems I read for that course, probably more than fifty, but I am going to post to Semicolon the entries in the reading journal that I was required to keep for that class because I think that my entries on these works of literature may be of interest to readers here and because I’m afraid that the thirty year old spiral notebook in which I wrote these entries may fall apart ere long. I may offer my more mature perspective on the books, too, if I remember enough about them to do so.

Author Note:
George Meredith was an author with his own highly original style, more poetic than prosaic, and at times confusing and even obscure. (Oscar Wilde said of him, “Ah, Meredith! Who can define him? His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning.”) He never attracted the general reader as did his contemporaries Dickens and Thackeray, and Diana of the Crossways, published in 1885, was his first novel to have great popular success. He became in his later years a respected poet and critic, at least respected by others in the field of literature.

Characters:
Diana Antonia Warwick–the heroine of the novel.
Emma Dunstane–Diana’s most intimate friend.
Mr. Redworth–Diana’s admirer and later, her husband.
Mr. Warwick–Diana’s estranged husband.
Mr. Percy Dacier–Diana’s admirer and friend.
Lord Dannisburgh–Diana’s friend.
Arthur Rhodes–a young poet, Diana’s admirer.

Quotations:
Diana: “The worst of a position like mine is that it causes me incessantly to think and talk of myself. I believe I think less than I talk, but the subject is growing stale.”

“Moral indignation is ever consolatory, for it plants us in the Judgement Seat. There, indeed, we may, sitting with the very Highest, forget our personal disappointments in dispensing reprobation for misconduct, however eminent the offenders.”

Diana: “What the world says is what the wind says.”

Perceiving the moisture in her look, Redworth understood that it was foolish to talk rationally.” (Yes, a male author could write such a thing back in 1886.)

She had come out of her dejectedness with a shrewder view of Dacier; equally painful, for it killed her romance and changed the garden of their companionship in imagination to a waste.

Emma: “Any menace of her precious liberty makes her prickly.”

Diana: “Expectations dupe us, not trust. The light of every soul burns upwards. Of course, most of them are candles in the wind. Let us allow for atmospheric disturbance.”

I think, if I am remembering correctly, the Austenites among us might enjoy Diana of the Crossways. It was published almost a century later than Ms. Austen’s novels were, but it has the same flavor of restrained courtship in polite society. However, if you decide to try it out, please do allow for atmospheric disturbance and for the lapses in memory that are attendant on my advanced years.

Hymn Sing!

Oct18

Have you ever been to a Hymn Sing? It’s just what it sounds like: people getting together and singing hymns, for fun and to glorify and praise the Lord.

Robert Cotrill, a Canadian pastor, writes here about how to host a community hymn sing.

The Common Room: All Day Singings

We’re getting to the end of my Top 100 Hymns Project. I thought it might be fun to give you all a chance to guess the top five hymns on the list. Click on the words Top 100 Hymns Project to see the hymns that have already been on the list, and leave your guess for the top five in the comments. I’ll send a prize package, items to be chosen by me, to the person who gets the closest to guessing the top five hymns and their position on the list.

The Top Five Hymns in the survey will be posted this week So, happy guessing and singing and reading to all!

Hymn #6: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Oct17

Lyrics: Robert Robinson, 1757

Music: NETTLETON, attributed to Asahel Nettleton.

Theme: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.

Several CCM artists and groups and choirs have recorded version of this old hymn. The words have been revised many times over the years and even the “traditional version” that most of us know is not really the version that Robinson first wrote. I’m rather fond of this musical version by Sufjan Stevens, and the video that is posted with it (African wildlife photos by Nick Brandt) grows on you:

As for lyrics, these are the words I learned in church growing up:

1. Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy unchanging love.

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

You can see several other variations, including Robinson’s original words, at Wikipedia. Interestingly enough, none of the lyrics at Wikipedia matches exactly the the words we sing at my church. Someone in my church, I think, objected to the words “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love” (conflicting with the doctrine of eternal security of the believer?), and so we sing something like ” Sorely tempted, Lord I feel it, Pulled to grieve the God I love.” I find the change unnecessary, but also not worth the bother of protesting.

There is an unsubstantiated story that Mr. Robinson did wander from the fold of Christianity in later years, but others dispute the veracity of the story. You can read more about it in the Christian History article linked below.

Sources:
Did Robert Robinson Wander As He Had Feared?, Glimpses of Christian History, June 9.