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Hymn of Hope
A hymn that has given me
constant comfort s the hymn written by Joseph Medlicott Scriven,
born in 1820 and who died in 1886, and his hymn, O What a Friend
We Have in Jesus’ will remain a source of joy to those who have
accepted the Lordship of Christ. The explanation for the hymn
starts in Ireland, but the words were written in Canada.
Scriven was a promising young
man, a fervent Christian, born in Dublin. He graduated from
Trinity College, and he had a brilliant future before him. But
it all turned into a nightmare. The night before his wedding,
his sweetheart drowned in an accident. Scriven was only 25 years
of age, and he was never the same person again, the tragedy
altering his whole life. Before the tragedy he was weak
physically, but from then onwards he was always in pain and
discomfort.
He decided to emigrate to
Canada. He settled at Rice Lake, and then at Port Hope, Ontario,
where he was able to be employed as a teacher, but in his spare
time he laboured conscientiously among the poor and the
deprived. He fell in love again, and became engaged to Miss
Eliza Roche, but before they were married he had to face another
tragedy when his fiancée died before the wedding day. Scriven
wrote the famous hymn in Canada to comfort his mother, back home
in Ireland, when he heard that she was suffering from
ill-health.
The hymn was translated by a
Welsh Presbyterian Minister in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. His
son, Professor Rheinallt Nantlais Williams, was my tutor in the
Philosophy of Religion at the United Theological College,
Aberystwyth (1959-1962). He was an outstanding apologetic
philosopher for the Faith. His father, Rev'd William Natlais
Williams, (1874-1959), was a prolific hymnwriter. I remember
seeing him as a child in an Association Meeting held in my home
village in Cardiganshire. He had been minister of Bethany
Chapel, Ammanford from 1900 till 1944, and in 1904 he came under
the influence of the Religious Revival. In that year the fine
evangelist, Rev'd Seth Joshua, one of the most outstanding
open-air preachers that the Presbyterian Church of Wales have
produced, came to Bethany for ten days. The minister himself was
converted and rescued from the dead hand of formal religion
which happens often to men and women, it was his Revival
Experience that made a fervent exponent of the Word of God, and
a fine hymnwriter. So we owe a debt to Scriven and to Nantlais.
I would like to say:
1. That Jesus Christ is a
Friend to all who accept His invitation to come and follow Him.
I am always amazed that there are such a limited number of hymns
on the friendship of Christ. Jesus loved people, particularly
fishermen and those who tilled the land. It was from the
fishermen of Galilee that He called His disciples to be with
Him. Jesus was a friend to the widow and to the lepers, the
sick, the blind, the deaf and those who had been abused and
forgotten. A friend to those who were unable to fulfill their
obligations to others, those in marital entanglement like the
woman by the well in Samaria. He offered His hand of fellowship
to the two criminals who hung each side of Him on Calvary, even
inviting them into the Kingdom. To the robber that repented He
said "Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."
He was a friend to those who
had abused Him physically and mentally as they placed Him on the
Cross. He forgave them, and asked His Father to "forgive them
also for they have no idea what they are doing." no wonder we
say that there is no one to compare with our Saviour.
Dom Hélder Camara wrote:
"I can also grasp that in
Christ's agony there was not only the anguish of physical pain
and approaching death. There was also the vision of the world
and the world's sins: self-centeredness in particular, which is
the greatest sin of all, and the consequences flowing from
self-centeredness. He saw that, His sacrifice notwithstanding,
self-centeredness would go on crushing thousands on thousands of
millions of human creatures"
A Friend to sinners in all
generations.
‘what a friend we have in
Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to
bear.’
2. Secondly, Jesus is a Friend
and Brother in our time of need. I like the saying that "A
friend in need is a friend in-deed." Often we are faced with a
day of trouble. Joseph Scriven knew of them.
‘Is there trouble anywhere?’
Yes, plenty; ― in the island
of Haiti as I write these words ― in many a home that I visit ―
in towns and villages where I have Christian friends. There we
have a host of carers. Society looks after the afflicted through
its network of carers.
Scriven asks: ‘Do thy friends
despise, forsake thee?’
What a terrible situation.
Letting us down. Turning their backs on us. But I can assure you
that Jesus never lets us down.
3. Finally, He is a friend
within us, besides us, around us, guiding us and defending us by
the Throne of His Father. That is the meaning of what Scriven
wrote:
‘Take it to the Lord in
prayer.’
God calls us to present our
sorrows and failings to the Lord Jesus in the hour of
affliction. We need to live in faith and hope, knowing that
Jesus, our friend, is with us. We are pilgrims of the Absolute
and citizens of the Eternal Kingdom, and disciples of the
everlasting Jesus. Our friend asks us to look at every human
being, without asking if he speaks Welsh, English or French, or
to what race he be-longs to, or what religion he has given his
allegiance to.
The follower of Jesus can and
has no choice but to say to himself quietly, “Now there is my
brother or my sister,” and he can ― and indeed must ― add: “my
blood brother or sister, since the same blood of Christ was shed
for both of us, as indeed for all people on earth or in heaven.”
this is why Easter is a precious time for every believer. This
spirit of openness, this fresh responsibility to God Himself, is
lived and always realised in our utterances before the Throne of
Grace when we address in sincerity "Our Father, who art in
heaven." As Dom Hélder Camara said: "Without prayer, there is no
current, no Christian respiration.
Jesus Christ is with us.
Completely accessible. Always ready to hear our cry. We can come
to Him whenever we want, every minute of the day and night,
every week and every month. He walks the corridors of our
Hospitals, He comes to our loved ones who are far away from us.
Scriven is absolutely right:
‘What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer.’
Remember that word
"everything." We have instant access. There is no need for an
appointment and we can tell our Friend every concern and tension
that is within us. "Everything to God in prayer" Nantlais
Williams translated it beautifully when he said ‘mynd â’r cyfan/Yn
ein gweddi ato ef.’
Nothing is too small or too
big for us to hand over to our Saviour. Never despond, friends.
‘O what peace we often
forfeit,
O what needless pain we
bear.’
because we do not approach God
in His Son in prayer.
Pray with thanksgiving for
your Friend Jesus. Pray in joy for the continual presence of
Jesus. Pray without ceasing for His caring love which suffered
on the Cross of Calvary so that we may be conquerors in Him.
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