The world has surely been blessed through people who have answered God's call for their lives. The Old and New Testaments record God's glorious works throughout history, and God is not finished yet. He continues to work through His people today. We may be surprised by the people that God calls, but we cannot argue with the pure and timeless message that we receive when the Holy Spirit inspires God's messengers to share a special word.
This week's featured hymn was written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). Religion and controversy were a part of Watts' life from the time he was a boy. His family participated in Christian worship with "Dissenters," who believed that the Church of England had not gone far enough in its break from Roman Catholicism. So deep and vocal was their conviction that Watts' own father was imprisoned twice for his religious views.
It seems that Isaac Watts himself might have been a bit of a handful in his youth. The story is told that young Isaac began giggling one day during family prayers. When his father asked what was going on, he explained that he had heard a sound, peeked to see what it was, and saw a mouse climbing a rope. Isaac converted the scene into a rhyming couplet:
A little mouse, for want of stairs,
ran up a pole to say his prayers.
His father was unamused and set to punishing his son. Even as Isaac was being swatted, his plea for mercy was formed again in rhyme:
Father, father, mercy take,
and I will no more verses make.
In time, this precocious child would become the author of an entire Psalter and at least 600 hymns. From age 20 to 22 he wrote the majority of his hymns for Hymns and Spiritual Songs that were eventually published in 1707-1709. Many of these hymns are still sung today, three hundred years later. Watts wrote fourteen verses to this week's hymn. Here are five that appear in The United Methodist Hymnal:
| 1. Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run; his kingdom spread from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more. |
2. To Jesus endless prayer be made, and endless praises crown his head; his name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice. |
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| 3. People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song; and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name. |
4. Blessings abound where'er he reigns; all prisoners leap and loose their chains; the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest. |
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Happy Easter! Christ is risen. He reigns everywhere and forever. He reigns in somber worship, and He reigns in the giggles of a small boy. May He reign forever in our hearts, too.
God bless you--
Lection at HymnSite.com
God bless you!
| Passages suggested are from The Revised Common Lectionary: Consultation on Common Texts (Abingdon Press, 1992) copyright © by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Reprinted with permission of CCT. |