Once to Every Man and Nation

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My poem of the week this week is James Russell Lowell’s “Once to Every Man and Nation.” This version, which appears in some hymnals, is edited from Lowell’s original, and I have left out some verses which are problematic.

These three verses powerfully communicate the need to stand for truth whether or not you will be successful. They communicate in verse a principle I state often with my kids and in classes- better to die nobly than to survive ignobly.

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

 

– James Russell Lowell

 

Audio from “Read, Pray, Sing”

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ReadPraySing_header-400We had a blessed time at our conference, “Read, Pray, Sing: The Psalms as an Entryway to the Scriptures.” One of my favorite comments was from a man who said he and his wife had been attending conferences for 35 years, and this one was “the most reviving to our souls of any we have attended.”

I am excited to post that the audio is now available from our sessions. All the plenary sessions and most of the breakout sessions are available (we had technical difficulties with the recording of a few sessions). By common assent, one of the most powerful parts of the event was the Psalmfest, where we had the opportunity to put into practice what we talked about, singing the Psalms corporately. I am glad that we have audio of that portion as well.

Here is what is available in audio:

Ray Van Neste- Theme Interpretation, “Read, Pray, Sing: The Psalms as an Entryway to the Scriptures”

Chris Mathews, leading, Psalmfest

Plenary Sessions:

Heath Thomas, “God, Israel, and the Nations: Praising God and His Salvation in Psalm 117”

Andy Davis, “The Sufferings of Christ and the Subsequent Glories in the Psalms”

Breakout sessions:

Heath Thomas, The Magnificent 7: Seven Ways of Reading (or Misreading) Scripture 

Andy Davis, The Bible Comes to Life: How Scripture Memory Transforms One’s Life

Harry Lee Poe, “C.S. Lewis on the Psalms”

Paul Jackson, Don’t Miss the Forest for the Trees

Kevin Chen, God as a Poet: The Poetry of the Psalms

Be Strong!

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My poem of the week this week is another on the theme of perseverance. I am finishing out the school year with my boys memorizing these as an aid to stir them on to difficult tasks- and to stir me on as well!

Be Strong!

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle―face it; ‘tis God’s gift.

Be strong!
Say not, “The days are evil. Who’s to blame?”
And fold the hands and acquiesce―oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day how long;
Faint not―fight on! To-morrow comes the song.

–          Maltbie Davenport Babcock

Humility and Manhood

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My boys & I recently read George MacDonald’s Phantastes. C. S. Lewis famously said this book baptized his imagination. I can’t say our experience was so lofty. It is a challenging book to follow, though there are beautiful and wise comments along the way. The last portion of the book is quite good as the young man who is the main character accomplishes his quest for maturity and finds true manhood not in his conquests or his prideful pursuits but in humility, service and work.

The quote below captures the point of the conclusion of the book and is worth contemplation.

Then first I knew the delight of being lowly; of saying to myself, “I am what I am, nothing more.” “… I learned that it is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence. I learned that he that will be a hero, will barely be a man; that he that will be nothing but a doer of his work, is sure of his manhood. In nothing was my ideal lowered, or dimmed, or grown less precious; I only saw it too plainly, to set myself for a moment beside it. Indeed, my ideal soon became my life; whereas, formerly, my life had consisted in a vain attempt to behold, if not my ideal in myself, at least myself in my ideal.

“Determination”, by Edgar Guest

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My poem of the week this week is another selection from Edgar Guest. My boys are to recite it this morning.

“Determination”

I’ll see it through, whate’er the danger be.
One death is all that God assigns to me.
I’ll stand erect against the odds and shout:
“I may be whipped, but will not turn about!”

I will not play the coward! Fail I may,
But at the post of duty I will stay.
Nor dread of loss, nor fear of being hurt,
Nor softening pride shall tempt me to desert.

I’ll play the man! What if the way seems long?
I will not whimper that all care is wrong.
Blunder I may, but none shall ever cry
I died a failure, since I would not try.

-from Life’s Highway, by Edgar A. Guest (Chicago: The Reilly and Lee Co., 1933), 28

Here is a link to several of Guest’s works at Amazon

“Give me the heart of a Man!”

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My poem of the week this week is one my oldest son found a few months ago when I gave them a few books of poetry and required them to find one they would read and explain for all of us the following day. After reading it aloud for us he suggested it would be a useful one to have memorized. So today is the day for each of them to recite it from memory.

I want my boys to learn dogged determination and perseverance and this poem captures that well.

Battle Cry 

More than half beaten, but fearless,
Facing the storm and the night;
Breathless and reeling but tearless,
Here in the lull of the fight,
I who bow not but before thee,
God of the fighting Clan,
Lifting my fists, I implore Thee,
Give me the heart of a Man!

What though I live with the winners
Or perish with those who fall?
Only the cowards are sinners,
Fighting the fight is all.
Strong is my foe–he advances!
Snapt is my blade, O Lord!
See the proud banners and lances!
Oh, spare me this stub of a sword!

Give me no pity, nor spare me;
Calm not the wrath of my Foe.
See where he beckons to dare me!
Bleeding, half beaten–I go.
Not for the glory of winning,
Not for the fear of the night;
Shunning the battle is sinning–
Oh, spare me the heart to fight!

Red is the mist about me;
Deep is the wound in my side;
“Coward” thou criest to flout me?
O terrible Foe, thou hast lied!
Here with my battle before me,
God of the fighting Clan,
Grant that the woman who bore me
Suffered to suckle a Man!

by John Gneisenau Neihardt

The Hobbit & The Psalms

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My boys and I really enjoyed the recent Hobbit movie. We expected to enjoy it with adventure, fun characters, nobility, courage, perseverance, loyalty- what’s not to like? But I found myself captivated by a certain scene in a way I did not expect. And later I discovered it captivated my boys as well. I am referring to the scene with the song of the dwarves.

I was taken with the robust singing of male voices and the sense that this was a song of a people, one that had been passed down and which told their story, where they had been and where they were going. In singing this song the dwarves reminded themselves of their identity and embraced it anew. They also steeled themselves for their difficult task as the song called them to their duty. The song placed their lives in continuity with the past, calling them to play their part in the history of their people. The song reminded them of a kingdom lost and their duty to reclaim it. I was mesmerized. We bought the soundtrack, and as I listened to it I found myself thinking, “I wish my family had a song like this.”

Then it hit me- We do have songs like this. Not the Van Nestes, not even TN nor the US (though we have national songs as well), but the church. The church has songs which have been passed down through the generations which tell of our past, victories & defeats, which remind us of our identity & remind us of our task and where we are going. These songs are the Psalms. The Psalms retell the history of our people, the people of God, and remind us of the kingdom that was lost due to a dragon’s destruction. They remind us of our role in obedience to the true King who has come and will return to destroy the dragon and re-establish his kingdom. In singing these songs we steel ourselves for the difficult road ahead, and we reaffirm our identity as God’s people as we take up the songs of our forefathers. With these songs we also internalize these truths and shape our characters so that we might be faithful and honor our King.

Let us sing!

Courage, by Edgar Guest

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My poem of the week this week comes from Edgar Guest, a favorite of mine. I had my sons memorize this one last week and recite it this morning. There is much helpful here.

Courage

This is courage: to remain
Brave and patient under pain;
Cool and calm and firm to stay
In the presence of dismay;
Not to flinch when foes attack,
Even though you’re beaten back;
Still to cling to what is right,
When the wrong possesses might.

This is courage: to be true
To the best men see in you;
To remember, tempest-tossed,
Not to whimper, “All is lost!”
But to battle to the end
While you still have strength to spend;
Not to cry that hope is gone
While you’ve life to carry on.

This is courage: to endure
Hurt and loss you cannot cure;
Patiently and undismayed,
Facing life still unafraid;
Glad to live and glad to take
Bravely for your children’s sake,
Burdens they would have to bear
If you fled and ceased to care.
-from Life’s Highway, by Edgar A. Guest (Chicago: The Reilly and Lee Co., 1933), 36

“Read, Pray, Sing” Update

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We are now just about a week away from our conference, “Read, Pray, Sing: The Psalms as an Entryway to the Scriptures”, and things are coming together. There is still some space to get in on the special offers for the first 100 registrants:

a free copy of B&H’s bible software, WORDSearch,

and a free copy of one of the following books:

Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship, ed. Wells & Van Neste

The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying & Praising with the Psalms, Gordon Wenham

Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayers from the Psalms: From the Scottish Psalter of 1595, ed. David Calhoun

We are especially grateful to the generous donations from B&H Academic and Crossway Books.

 

Also, we have just updated the conference website so that it includes the titles for the plenary addresses as well as titles and summaries for all the breakout sessions. Our plenary addresses will be:

Andy Davis – “The Sufferings of Christ and the Subsequent Glories in the Psalms”

Heath Thomas – “God, Israel, and the Nations: Praising God and His Salvation in Psalm 117”

 

Then the titles for the breakout sessions are as follows:

Andy Davis — “The Bible Comes to Life: How Scripture Memory Transforms One’s Life”
Heath Thomas — “The Magnificent 7: Seven Ways of Reading (or Misreading) Scripture”

Kevin Chen – “God as a Poet: The Poetry of the Psalms”

Mark Dubis – “Ancient Backgrounds in Bible Study” 
George Guthrie – “Hearing the Psalms: Reading with Head and Heart”
Paul Jackson – “Don’t Miss the Forest for the Trees”
Harry Lee Poe – “C.S. Lewis on the Psalms”
Ray Van Neste – “Singing & Praying the Psalms at Home”
Scott Winter (B&H Academic)- “Inductive Bible Study using WORDsearch Bible Software”

 

Come join us!

“The Story of the Cross”

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My poem of the week has been Edward Monro’s “The Story of the Cross.” I discovered this poem reading Anthony Esolen’s recent column at Touchstone Magazine. I appreciated the meditation on Jesus’ cross work, enhanced by Esolen’s comments,  and hope you will as well.

In His own raiment clad, with His blood dyed;
Women walk sorrowing by His side.
Heavy that cross to Him, weary the weight;
One who will help Him waits at the gate.

See! they are traveling on the same road;
Simon is sharing with Him the load.
O whither wandering bear they that tree?
He who first carries it, who is He?

Follow to Calvary; tread where He trod,
He who for ever was Son of God.
You who would love Him stand, gaze at His face:
Tarry a while on your earthy race.

As the swift moments fly, through the blest week,
Read the great story the cross will teach.
Is there no beauty to you who pass by,
In that lone figure which marks that sky?

On the cross lifted Thy face we scan,
Bearing that cross for us, Son of Man.
Thorns form Thy diadem, rough wood Thy throne;
For us Thy blood is shed, us alone.

No pillow under Thee to rest Thy head;
Only the splintered cross is Thy bed.
Nails pierced Thy hands and feet, Thy side the spear;
No voice is nigh to say help is near.

Shadows of midnight fall, though it is day:
Thy friends and kinsfolk stand far away.
Loud is Thy bitter cry; sunk on Thy breast
Hangeth Thy bleeding head without rest.

Loud scoffs the dying thief, who mocks at Thee;
Can it, my Savior, be all for me?
Gazing, afar from Thee, silent and lone,
Stand those few weepers Thou callest Thine own.

I see Thy title, Lord, inscribed above;
Jesus of Nazareth, King of Love.
What, O my Savior, here didst Thou see,
Which made Thee suffer and die for me?

“Child of My grief and pain, watched by My love;
I came to call thee to realms above.
I saw thee wandering far off from Me:
In love I seek for Thee; do not flee.

For thee My blood I shed, for thee alone;
I came to purchase thee, for Mine own.
Weep thou not for My grief, child of My love:
Strive to be with Me in Heaven above.

O I will follow Thee, Star of my soul,
Through the deep shades of life to the goal.
Yea, let Thy cross be borne each day by me;
Mind not how heavy, if but with Thee.

Lord, if Thou only wilt, make us Thine own,
Give no companion, save Thee alone.
Grant through each day of life to stand by Thee;
With Thee, when morning breaks, ever to be.

By Edward Monro, in A Supplement to Hymns Used in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Leeds (Leeds, England: E. W. Sharp, 1864).