This morning I offer you a poem of John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), a Massachusetts journalist and anti-slavery campaigner. His work continues to find a place in modern hymn-books, far beyond the boundaries of the Religious Society of Friends.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of thy call,
As noiseless let thy blessing fall
As fell thy manna down.
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!
The musical selection, this morning, is entitled, The Human One.
This piece was commissioned and written for the String Trio, Musica Harmonia,
in 2015 and was premiered during the Shenandoah Valley Bach Music Festival in
Harrisonburg, VA. The Human One read
as Son
of Man in many translations of the Bible, is from a common
Greek word, anthropos, meaning human being. This humble work is a
meditation on the deity of Jesus with human appearance, characteristics, and
challenges. The Human One is God come to earth, made flesh, to live among us
within the human experience.
May you find peace,
Ryan Keebaugh
www.ryankeebaugh.com
