Thursday, 19 September 2013

In My Heart There Rings A Melody

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved

Look for me in the nurseries of Heaven.
- Francis Thompson, 1859-1907.

   My father-in-law used to be very fond of gospel music, loved the singing in church and always used to remind us that, in Eternity, we must look him up among the choirs, orchestras, bands and singers of Heaven. 
   A favourite cousin of mine, Piet Botha, who was suffering from diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease and whose feet both had to be amputated due to gangrene, eventually was left a helpless cripple,  only to pass away during August 2012.  My father-and-law and I then decided to drive all the way to Odendaalsrus in the Orange Free State (South Africa) to attend the funeral.
   On the way to that funeral I suddenly felt the urge to discuss with my passenger the strange fortunes of life.  I mentioned to him that every human being probably had, in an average lifetime, a certain number of funerals to attend, but that a certain point in time would one day inevitably arrive when, finally, one’s own funeral would dawn like a sudden and unwelcome guest.  I also stressed Charles Spurgeon’s classic remark that every Christian was practically invincible and immune against death until his/her work on Earth was finished.  
   It is said that when the famous composer Richard Wagner, during some nineteenth century war in Europe when he was admonished to take more care and present a smaller, more inconspicuous target to the sniping enemy, he replied: “Don’t worry … I’m a genius!”  
   “It would appear to me”, I said, “that each one of us had only so many funerals to attend and then finally … our own.” 
   Although this certainly may not have represented philosophy of the most profound and highest order (for one could still always have tried to avoid fate by staying away from funerals, which would not have worked, of course) my father-in-law, the gentleman that he was, nevertheless replied that it certainly was an interesting observation, but that it sure was a good thing that we didn’t know which funeral to attend was to be our last. Little did we know that that particular funeral was his last … he passed away the next January (2013) and is sorely missed.
        Thanks to the Prince of Life and conqueror of death, Jesus of Nazareth, we rejoice in the knowledge that death is but a transition to something and someplace much better than what we have here on Earth.  Spurgeon has said: “Death is not the end of living.  It is the end of dying.”

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In My Heart There Rings A Melody

(Elton M. Roth, 1891-1951)

I have a song that Jesus gave me
It was sent from Heav’n above;
There never was a sweeter melody,
‘Tis a melody of love.

I love the Christ who died on Calvary,
For He washed my sins away;
He put within my heart a melody,
And I know its there to stay.

‘Twill my be my endless theme in glory,
With the angels I will sing;
‘Twill be a song with glorious harmony,
When the courts of heaven ring.

CHORUS
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody with heaven’s harmony;
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody of love.


Piet Stassen

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John V. (1968) Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘In My Heart There Rings A Melody’. Singspiration Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Friday, 13 September 2013

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved

Magnificently unprepared
For the long littleness of life (of Rupert Brooke)
-       Frances Cornford, b.1886.

  Will I ever forget the memorable funeral where a bereaved member of the next-of-kin recalled a vivid dream of an encounter with an earlier deceased soon after his death?  The deceased was standing, chaperoned by Heavenly beings, in ‘Heaven’, and from a distance had called to his friend (still on ‘Earth’): “Go tell them … it is all true! It's all true!”
   Will I ever forget the funeral where a son, himself dying from cancer in hospital and too ill to attend his father’s funeral, had seen his dear deceased father in a vision standing on the banks of that Heavenly Jordan and exclaiming: ”It is exquisite!” It is exquisite!” That dying son himself passed away about two weeks later.
   Will I ever forget the magnificence of my own dream of Heaven, with a panorama so enchanting that it not only took my breath away, but caused me to stagger, with a loud exclamation of astonishment and surprise, violently backward in my tracks? I can still vividly recall the splendid scenery, the superb view and the pure mountain air, so reminiscent of picture-postcard Austria, or even our own rural Mpumulanga (the old Eastern Transvaal), resplendent in rain and mist and with the golden rays of the sun breaking through the heavily overcast clouds to cast its glow on the distant valleys below.   
   . I never actually saw anyone in the dream, but the ecstatic voices of the multitudes engaged in 'work' or rather, 'activities', in those many beautifully manicured orchards, grain fields and vineyards told this one great story: There is no depression or sadness in Heaven … it is a place of rapturous and jubilant joy. The most remarkable geographic feature, over and above the beauty of the place, was that I could discern no horizon … the landscape just seemed to go on and on ad infinitum.
   Now, I am not so psychologically illiterate not to know that this dream may well have been the fruit of my probably very fertile brain; after all, the creative mind of man can conjure up much magic during the night and sometimes produce some of the most terrifying, exciting, fearsome, glorious, diabolical and phantasmagorical of adventures and plots. 
   I am enclined to say with C.S. Lewis, however, that if this Universe had had no meaning, we would not have known that it had no meaning, and the very fact that this Universe sometimes transmits such wonderful, magnificent 'meaning' to our troubled minds (in the shape of beautiful and enchanting dreams) may be exactly because the Universe has meaning.  These beautiful dreams, although often chalked up by the rational technocrat and secular psychologist (and even ourselves) as probably pure 'wishful thinking', may just as well be a prelude to the great Heavenly beauties to come, or, as the Apostle Paul has written, a shadow of future glories to expect. 
   The fact is:  We know that the Universe has meaning because it has meaning ... if it had had no meaning we would not have known that it had no meaning.           

YouTube

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks

(Samuel Stennett, 1727-1795/American melody, Adapted by Rigdon M. McTosh, 1836-1899)

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

All o’er those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns
And scatters night away.

No chilling winds nor pois’nous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death
Are felt and fear no more.

When shall I reach that happy place
And be forever blest?
When shall I see my Father’s face
And in His bosom rest?

CHORUS
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land
O who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land.

Piet Stassen

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.     Peterson, John V. (1968) Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘On Jordan’s Stormy Banks’. Singspiration Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Sunday, 8 September 2013

All Hail The Power

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved

   People who feel themselves to be exiles in this world are mightily inclined to believe themselves citizens of another.
-       George Santayana, 1863-1953.

   My father died of cancer on the 6th of January 2013 at the age of 89 and was buried on the 11th.  With his body ravished by merciless cancer, he died in the comfort of my sister’s home and in the company of his wife and children.   During the last hours of his life, he didn’t require the services of expert medical personnel, or any intravenous feeding and supplementary oxygen.  In fact, he adamantly refused to be hospitalised at all. 
   My brother C., who had had professional paramedic training, attended faithfully to his personal needs, while the rest of the family ran the necessary errant’s and now and then prepared food and/or savouries for some of the sporadic visitors, sympathisers and well-wishers.  The only pharmaceutical support that was of any practical use was the odd sleeping pill now and then and some morphine stickers applied to his body to alleviate the pain.   I was completely at rest about his demise because he had accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour on the 1st October 2010.  I know that because he had phoned me on that eventful Saturday-morning to tell me so, and by some sheer coincidence, Andre Rieu’s Amazing Grace was playing on the TV at the very moment that he phoned.
   Nevertheless, his last joke, in the sunset of his long and industrious life, was the following question that he put to us as a riddle: “How far did the dog wander into the woods?” We were at a complete loss … ‘how far did the dog wander into the woods’? Then the cocky solution to the riddle: “Only halfway … thereafter he was wandering out of the woods!”
   That simple little riddle taught me a lesson about the mystery of life, for I then suddenly realised that, chronologically speaking, all people below the age of 40 were probably still wandering into the woods, while all people above the age of 40 were probably already wandering out of the woods … maybe that could also explain the great rift between the two major generations (‘young’ and ‘old’). 
   Be that as it may, I am of the sincere opinion that those who have not yet made their peace with God and have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour (regardless of age) are probably still wandering into the woods of ignorance and unbelief.  Those who had made their peace and had accepted Christ (regardless of age) are probably already wandering out of the woods (of ignorance and unbelief).  Amazingly, most atheists still cannot even see the woods for the trees anyway.         


YouTube

All Hail The Power


(Edward Purronet, 1726-1792; Alt by John Rippon, 1751-1836/Oliver Holden, 1765-1844)

All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him, Lord of all!

Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race,
Ye ransomed from the fall;
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all;
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all!

Let ev’ry kindred, ev’ry tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of All;
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of All!

O that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall!
We’’ll join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all;
 We’’ll join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all!

Piet Stassen
Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.     Peterson, John V. (1968) Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘All Hail The Power’. Singspiration Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Wednesday, 4 September 2013

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved

Rich men without convictions are more dangerous in modern society than poor women without chastity.
-       George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950.

   So many times have I heard people, and especially preachers, say that God loved us ‘because of the cross of Calvary’.  We may have been sanctified by the blood and sacrifice (of Jesus Christ) of the cross, but to say that God loved us ‘because of the cross’ is putting the (theological) cart before the horse.  God has loved us long before the cross (i.e. long before the crucifixion).  The love of God (for mankind) eventually culminated in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth for the sins of the world at Calvary ... not the other way around.  The Bible says:

   For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ASV).

    
YouTube

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

Isaac Watts, 1674-1748/From a Gregorian Chant, Arr. by Lowell Mason, 1792-1872)

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did ever such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.


1.  Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.  Peterson, John V. (1968) Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.’ Singspiration Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Softly And Tenderly

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved

Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
-       Bishop Thomas Ken, 1637-1711.


   Stephen Winsten has said that we die before we have learned to live.  Because man matures late in life, by the time we had learned from our mistakes and mastered our ‘portfolios’, it is too late.  Most of us thus probably spend our latter days in melancholic revisits to the past and reminiscences over 'what could have been'.  Whereas our errors (our sins and the many moral, social and financial indiscretions) leave us exhausted, grey and whithered, the dear but painful nostalgia from our fond memories (i.e. of childhood, establishing a home and raising a family) is much more lethal than that … it eventually and inevitably  ‘kills us dead’.
   The good news is … JESUS CHRIST! Softly and tenderly He’s still calling us … HOME.  HOME where the great Heavenly reunion of believers, friends and loved ones will fix all the melancholy and nostalgia ever produced on this beautiful but sad planet Earth, and where the love and grace of a loving Heavenly Father will redeem everybody’s tears and trouble forever.  Dear reader, do not allow the proud, self-sufficient atheist, atheist-evolutionist or skeptic to rob you of the eternal joys of the Saviour’s precious friendship; there is great reward in humility and faith. 

YouTube

Softly And Tenderly

(Will Lamartine Thompson, 1847-1909)

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me.
See on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies,
Mercies for you and for me!

Time now is fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me.
Shadows are gathering, death-beds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.

O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me;
Tho we have sinned He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.

CHORUS
Come home, come home;
Ye who are weary come home.
Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling;
Calling, o sinner, come home.


Piet Stassen

Bibliography

1.  Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.
2.  Stanphill, Ira & Benson, John T. (1956) Heartwarming Songs No.1. ‘Softly And Tenderly’.  John T. Benson Publishing Co. Nashville, Tennessee.

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

Hear My Song Lord

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All Rights Reserved

  If I were to begin life again, I would devote it to music. It is the only cheap and unpunished rapture upon earth.
-       Sydney Smith, 1771-1845.

   How marvellous that Jesus also loved to sing; for instance, at the last supper He sang with His disciples:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.  (Matthew 26:26-30 MKJV, www.e-sword.net).

   Obviously if Jesus Christ is the ‘Master’, in Heaven He is also master-musician, master-librettist, master-composer, master-singer, master-conductor, master-instrumentalist and master-musicologist.  In fact, it is my dream to, in Eternity, sit at the feet of the Master of all masters, the Maestro of all maestro’s and the Virtuoso of all virtuoso’s, and learn how the piano (with perhaps the violin or cello thrown in as a bonus) really ought to be played.  Thank God that poetry, music, singing (and praise and worship) is part of our biological profile and spiritual DNA!

YouTube

Hear My Song. Lord

(Words: Gloria Gaither, b. /Music: William J. Gaither, b. /© Copyright 1989 Gaither Music Company, ASCAP, All Rights Reserved) 

CHORUS
Hear my song, Lord, You fill me with music
Hear my words, Lord, You fill me with praise
Take this moment, I just can’t waste it
This one is Yours, Lord, I give You this day.

When I am hungry, You feed me living bread,
When I am thirsty, water of life
I will not fear, You’re always with me
Ev’ry need I have, You satisfy

(REPEAT CHORUS) Hear Your children, we are lifting Your praise to You
Let singing like incense now rise to Your throne
Come dwell in the place hollowed out for Your Spirit
Come make of our praises Your temple, Your home (REPEAT CHORUS).   



Piet Stassen

Bibliography

1.  Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.  Last.fm.com. 'Bill & Gloria Gaither'. Accessed At <http://www.last.fm/music/Bill+&+Gloria+Gaither> [online] 2013.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

What A Wonderful World

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All Rights Reserved

There never was a good war or a bad peace.
-       Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790.
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   This is not a gospel hymn, but an inspirational song of considerable charm ... for many a believer and even non-believer.  I believe that God is the Author of all beauty, good gifts and noble ideas, including poetry set so prettily to music as in this delightful song; in fact, I would even venture to say that songs like The Sound Of Music, Climb Every Mountain  etc. probably all fall in the same category. May this song contribute to building up people’s faith in the goodness of God as the Heavenly Father of all those who care to sincerely honour Him, not only as their Creator but also as their Father.

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What A Wonderful World

(Bob Thiele, 1922-1996/George David Weiss, 1921-2010)

I see trees of green, red roses too,
See them bloom, for me, for you;
And I think to myself:
What a wonderful world!

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white,
The bright blessed day, dark sacred night;
And I think to myself:
What a wonderful world!

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces, of people going by;
I see friends shaking hands, saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying, “I love you!”

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow,
They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know;
And I think to myself:
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself:
What a wonderful world!



Piet Stassen

Bibliography

1.  Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.  FindAGrave. ‘Bob Thiele Senior ‘. Accessed At <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19981> [online] 2013
4.  MetroLyrics. ‘What A Wonderful World’. Accessed At <http://www.metrolyrics.com/what-a-wonderful-world-lyrics-louis-armstrong.html> [online] 2013.