Great Hymns Series: I

December 30th, 2009 by Ian

There’s been a resurgence of interest in hymns recently. Red Mountain Music, Indelible Grace and many others have been resurrecting old or forgotten hymn texts, sometimes resetting or re-harmonizing them, and recording them.

One reason I think these historic hymns have such a deep resonance with us is because they connect us to the historic Church in a personal way. There’s something incredible in the way a 300 year-old text can clearly and beautifully articulate a Christian experience that is identical to our own. It’s a reminder that we are not so different today. That our need for the one who will save us from our sin-nature is just as much a reality now as it has ever been.

So I propose a series over the next months on significant, beautiful hymns of the historic Church. I don’t plan for there to be any great organization to the hymns that get posted. Some will be unfamiliar, some very familiar, some recently made popular. The goal is to celebrate the history of great hymn writing.

You can be a part of this, too. Email me your favorites.

And what makes a hymn significant or beautiful? One that speaks deeply to you.

I’m going to kick it off with one of my favorites. It’s by Samuel Medley, written in the late 1700’s, #386 in Gadsby’s Hymns. At his death, he was reported to say these words: “I am now a shattered bark, just about to gain the blissful harbour, and oh how sweet will be the port after the storm.”

Here it is:

Weary of earth, myself, and sin,
Dear Jesus, set me free,
And to thy glory take me in,
For there I long to be.

Burdened, dejected and oppressed,
Ah! whither shall I flee
But to Thy arms, for peace and rest?
For there I long to be.

Empty, polluted, dark, and vain,
Is all this world to me;
May I the better world obtain;
For there I long to be.

Lord, let a tempest-tossed soul
That peaceful harbour see,
Where waves and billows never roll;
For there I long to be.

Let a poor laborer here below,
When from his toil set free,
To rest and peace eternal go;
For there I long to be.

I discovered the hymn through

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great recording (a modern re-setting of the text.)

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