Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Faith, While Trees Are Still in Blossom

Faith, While Trees Are Still in Blossom
This hymn by Anders Frostenson was written in 1960 and translated by Fred Kaan in 1972. The scripture reference is Hebrews 11:1-2, but it also fit the Old Testament reading for June 26, which was Genesis 22:1-14

Anders Frostenson was born in Killeberg in Småland in 1906. He studied languages, literature, and theology in the University of Lund, taking a degree in English, Slavic languages, and philosophy in 1928 and in Theology in 1932. He then served as a priest in several cities in Sweden, including Stockholm. In 1941 he married Ulla Lidman, a missionary and parliamentary representative. They had three children. He retired in 1971. In 1955 he was appointed Royal Minister to the castle at Drottningholm. In 1981 he earned a doctorate in theology at Lund. Frostenson has written and translated into Swedish over six hundred hymns, but most of them have not been translated into English. I have not been able to discover if Pastor Frostenson is still alive.


Faith, while trees are still in blossom,
plans the picking of the fruit;
Faith can feel the thrill of harvest

when the buds begin to sprout.

Long before the dawn is breaking,
faith anticipates the sun.
Faith is eager for the daylight,
for the work that must be done.

Long before the rains were coming,
Noah went and built an ark.
Abraham, the lonely migrant,
saw the light beyond the dark.

Faith, uplifted, tamed the water
of the undivided sea,
And the people of the Hebrews
found the path that made them free.

Faith believes that God is faithful:
God will be what God will be!
Faith accepts the call, responding,
“I am willing, Lord, send me.”

The Words Are the Hymn, The Music Is the Hymn Tune

I have been singing in church choirs since I was 12. That's more than fifty years. I love hymns and also hymn tunes, but mostly the hymns. I have a fairly large of collection of hymn books. Most of the antique ones have no printed music. The congregation was just expected to know the tune. If you move from parish to parish and denomination to denomination you'll find that the hymn tune you expect to go with certain hymns is strange to other people. My daughter, who is a choir director, was always annoyed when the priest at the church where she worked always expected "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" to be sung to the tune "Forest Green", a tune she associates more with the hymn "How Beautiful the March of Days".

I'm going to attempt to post the text of the hymns for each week's readings in the Revised Lectionary. When I have time I may include a little history of the hymn, for every hymn, like all poetry, has a poet and a story behind it.

What Gift Can We Bring?

This fairly new hymn was written by Jane Marshall in 1980 for the 25th anniversary of her congregation, Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.

What gift can we bring, what present or token?
What words can convey it, the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
What song can we offer on honor and praise?


Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life by Frank Mason North
This hymn is well suited to the Gospel reading for June 26 - Matthew 10:40-42

1. Where cross the crowded ways of life,
where sound the cries of race and clan,
above the noise of selfish strife,
we hear your voice, O Son of man.

2. In haunts of wretchedness and need,
on shadowed thresholds dark with fears,
from paths where hide the lures of greed,
we catch the vision of your tears.

3. From tender childhood's helplessness,
from woman's grief, man's burdened toil,
from famished souls, from sorrow's stress,
your heart has never known recoil.

4. The cup of water given for you
still holds the freshness of your grace;
yet long these multitudes to view
the sweet compassion of your face.

5. O Master, from the mountainside
make haste to heal these hearts of pain;
among these restless throngs abide;
O tread the city's streets again.

6. Till all the world shall learn your love
and follow where your feet have trod,
till, glorious from your heaven above,
shall come the city of our God!

Here's a history of this hymn written by C. Michael Hawn of the Perkins School of Theology.

Frank Mason North (1850-1935) composed one of the first social gospel hymns devoted to the special needs of the increasing urban poor population... With New York City as his backdrop, North wrote "Where cross the crowded ways of life" at the suggestion of Caleb T. Winchester, for the committee that prepared the 1905 Methodist hymnal... When North was asked to compose a hymn on a missionary theme, he protested his ability to write hymns but promised to try his hand. Shortly before this appeal to prepare a hymn, he had preached a sermon on Matthew 22:9 with a translation of the passage as "Go ye therefore into the parting of the highways." This idea captured his imagination as he thought of the traffic of the great urban centers of the United States and beyond.