DAY 160: “Take My Hand”

Day 160

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Twenty-three Friday 21 August 2020

“Take My Hand”

“Thomas Dorsey (not the famous band leader) was born in 1899 … converted at the National Baptist Convention in 1921, and began writing gospel songs ... . In August 1932, while leading music in St. Louis, he was handed a telegram bearing the words, ‘Your wife just died.’ … a friend drove him through the night, and he arrived at home to learn that his baby boy had also just died. ‘I began to feel that God had done me an injustice,’ Thomas later said. ‘I didn’t want to serve Him anymore or write anymore gospel songs.’ But the next Saturday, while alone in a friend’s music room, he had a ‘strange feeling’ inside – a sudden calm and a quiet stillness. ‘As my fingers began to manipulate over the keys, words began to fall into place on the melody like drops of water falling from the crevice of a rock: Precious Lord, Take my Hand.’” - Robert Morgan in Then Sings my Soul, © 2003 Thomas Nelson Publishers

Yesterday we talked about hymns and singing/not singing during this pandemic. I love the music of the church – the Holy Spirit uses it all to touch the deepest places within me, from the traditional music of the Church of England to the great traditional hymns of the church to camp meeting songs of faith to the exuberant music of Pentecostal churches. I have a hymnal and song book collection that exceeds 100 volumes and have had to exercise restraint so that my memorial service, all written out except for the date, is ‘limited’ to ‘only’ six hymns.

Why do hymns move us so? I think it is more than anything else due to the reality that most have been borne out of the faith and experiences of everyday Christians. So it was for Thomas Dorsey, a song that came out of the depths of personal loss. From the depths of his life to the depths of our lives in this pandemic: Jesus holds our hand and will get us home safely.

Reflective question: What hymn moves you most? Look its story up on the internet.

Reflective Scripture: Ephesians 5:19 – “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”

Reflective hymn:

“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” – Thomas Dorsey (1899-1993)

Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand,

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;

Through the storm, through the night, lead me on, to the light,

Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me home.

When my way grows drear, Precious Lord, linger near;

When my life is almost gone,

Hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand, lest I fall;

Precious Lord, take my hand, led me home.