Brian Doerksen, a Canadian singer-songwriter, is probably best known for Purify my heart or Come, now is the time to worship. First confession: I struggle with some of the theology in the latter song.
Second confession, whenever there is a video link to a song or hymn, I usually give it thirty seconds or so and decide it is not for me.
Please can I beg you to be more tolerant than me? This rendition of one of the songs we will be singing at our National Assembly today is well worth the watch and the listen and the possible tissue. Note the date this was filmed: summer 2020. In other words, during the initial wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The words alone have power but the visual impact spoke to me: the empty chair and the glances given to it, the man who stands to claim the promise of the song, the older man who wipes away his tears.
Deuteronomy 33:27a (NIV) reads: The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. This verse has comforted me through many trials and tribulations – to know that I cannot fall far before I will be safe in the arms of eternity. All the worries of this world can be put into an eternal perspective: my final dwelling place will be with my loving Heavenly Father.
Brian Doerksen expands our concerns: an impending storm (actual weather or a relationship or a bereavement); when we feel our hearts are about to break; a fiery trial; pain that does not go away, when we feel no hope. That list covers, for me, the worst that life seems to throw at us. But take courage, we are never alone: underneath all things the everlasting arms. These few words are also expanded: they are arms of grace, they are LOVE.
I don’t know where in today’s Assembly programme this song will be sung but in the scope of eternity, whenever you listen to it, you are joining in with the worship of the Fiftieth CF Assembly.
This song is very personal, particularly the way the video presents it, but we can expand it to fit the circumstances of our own churches and even of the Federation itself. No body composed of real live people can ever run smoothly – not even under the guidance of the Holy Spirit! But despite the bumps in our journey God is there – leading, guiding, alongside perhaps but definitely underneath.
I wonder if your favourite Bible verse has been turned into a song and if so, whether you like the rendition or not? And if your personal go-to verse has not yet been immortalised in song – what are you waiting for? New words to an old tune might be the way forward if you are not very musical.
Father God, whose love surrounds us, we thank you for your everlasting arms – a wonderful image of a spiritual reality. We thank you for musicians and authors and all who use the creative powers you have bestowed on them. Amen.
Elaine Kinchin
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