Today we sang a hymn that was new to me when I began serving in the Presbyterian church. I may have heard the words before then as Dad often quoted words by Fanny Crosby or Frances Ridley Havergal, the latter being the author of this hymn.
Standing at the portal of the opening year,
words of comfort meet us hushing every fear,
spoken through the silence by God's loving voice,
tender, strong and faithful, making us rejoice.
Refrain:
Onward, then, and fear not, children of the day,
for God's word shall never, never pass away.
"I, your God, am with you: do not be afraid;
I will help and strengthen; do not be dismayed,
for I will uphold you with my own right hand;
you are called and chosen in my sight to stand."
God will not forsake us and will never fail;
God's eternal covenant ever will prevail.
Resting on this promise, what have we to fear?
God is all-sufficient for the coming year.
As we sang the third verse, I was overwhelmed by the truth of the words. God is all-sufficient for the coming year no matter if the year is 2009 or some year in the 1800's when the words were originally written. People then had fears for the future, whether they voiced them or not, just as today we do not know what the year ahead may hold, and may be fearful of the unknown. St. Andrew's is beginning a year of changes: change in leadership, a possible change of location - all unknowns at this point. I urge you, wherever you are to claim God's promise to be with us through the year ahead.
1 comment:
Glad to hear that you're passionate about church music, and gravitate particularly to our traditional hymnody. If you haven't bookmarked or linked to it already, I believe you'd enjoy my daily blog on the subject, Wordwise Hymns.
You quote Frances Havergal's great new year's hymn, "Standing at the Portal." On my blog today I also have a second of hers on the same theme, "Another Year Is Dawning." Why not come and pay me a visit?
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