Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best Thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
The reading today in my community was from the Gospel of Matthew - the call of Matthew. Each time I hear this, I am struck by Matthew's immediate and complete response to Christ's call. My responsible self momentarily quivers, he left his post at customs?
As Jesus passed on from there,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Matthew is not moved by Christ's preaching, the mere sight of Christ so persuades him that he walks away from all the things of this world.
I listen to this song and wonder if my vision is sufficiently on Christ that I would follow him on sight?
What called you forth today? in song or in word....
I love this hymn...we didn't sing it but I wish we had. We sang a few familiar hymns, and then on for the feast day of St. Matthew...no one, no one knew it and no one sang the first verse....it was almost funny...then we bumped along and tried to get through the next three verses....oh, it was sad. Our organist, who has played for many years 40, at least, said that she has never played that hymn before....anyway...Be thou my vision would have been a great choice!
ReplyDeleteI once had a minister stop us half way through the first verse, asked the organist to play the melody, then had us start over.
ReplyDeleteWe did sing "be thou my vision" this morning. I preached in 2 yoked churches for a friend who was out of town. Church one uses the old red presby hymnbook, book 2 uses the less old blue one. none of the three hymns were the same in both. It does make life interesting.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone in having this be a favorite. We didn't sing it alas, but I'm so glad that althea's congregation did -- and that she could keep it all straight between congregations...
ReplyDelete-- mompriest, I sympathize! A few weeks back,the prior of the local Augustinians (who I join for morning prayer) asked if we could sing something (I have blocked what). The gathered assembly (all 6 of us) made some sort of noise of assent and we dove in.
It rapidly became clear that no, we COULD not sing the darn thing. At the end of prayer, the prior translated for us..."could we sing XX?" is not an announcement of the hymn, but a request for information!!
This is one of my favorite hymns, and it touched my heart. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteooh a favorite of mine as well... thanks Michelle this was a great calming exercise before bedtime!
ReplyDelete(much better than the exercise of walking mochajava puppy and getting bitten by mosquitos...)
I love and love and love this. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe sang the Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré (a setting of Psalm 84) for the offertory. It was lovely and peaceful and we had sung it the day before at a funeral for a wonderful choir friend's wife.
I heard This I Believe on NPR on my way to church - a 2 hour drive and had to incorporate it into my sermon- our woundedness and vulnerability is our gift: here.
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