I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘Come unto me and rest.
Lay down O weary one,
Lay down your head upon my breast.’
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn, and sad.
I found in him a resting place,
And he has made me glad.
Definitely a hymn intended to comfort, these lyrics are Scottish in origin. Horatius Bonar was born in Edinburgh in 1808 and was educated there at the High School and the university. At the age of twenty-nine he was ordained and invited to Kelso parish, which is where he wrote this hymn, one of over 600 hymns he produced. Though this is probably his best known, he wrote hymns for every season of the church year and every eventuality, from mission stations to burial at sea. He was very fond of children, and keen to bring to life for them particularly the metrical psalms sung in the established church of those days. At the Disruption of 1743 he moved to the Free Church, remaining in Kelso, and three years later this hymn was first published in his Hymns Original and Selected. He also wrote a great number of poems and tracts, and translated poems from Greek and Latin, all said to be distinguished by good taste and deep faith. His achievements were recognised with a Doctorate of Divinity from King’s College, University of Aberdeen in 1853, and in the 1860s he returned to Edinburgh to minister there. He died in Edinburgh in 1889 and a further volume of his hymns was published by his son, also a Free Church minister, in 1904.
The tune to which we usually sing this hymn is Kingsfold, thought to have English mediaeval origins, but it was not published as a hymn tune until Ralph Vaughan Williams paired it with I heard the voice of Jesus say in 1906. An earlier tune, published in 1868, was Vox Dilecti by John Bacchus Dykes, an English clergyman and musical prodigy. Both tunes use a minor key for the first half of the verses and a major key for the second half, forming a pattern of invitation and response which develops a positive feeling through the hymn. Not a bad hymn for our times!
Spring 2021
Book Review: Tom Wright, God and the Pandemic
A fairly short read, written in the first British lockdown. Wright examines the various dilemmas facing Christians in the time of pandemic, comparing it with previous times of crisis. Not all his conclusions are firm – why would they be? – and I particularly liked his discussion of whether or not places of worship should be closed, which is a thorny topic with many strong arguments on both sides. The parallels with the disciples’ experience just after the Crucifixion – fear, locked rooms and doubt – was a very interesting one, well explored, and his decision that the correct, basic Christian response to a crisis should be lament, prayer and action was a comforting one (taking into account Martin Luther’s caution that one ought not to rush in if it’s going to make matters worse, for example by spreading disease further). A good and thoughtful book.
Risen (2016) Film Review
Risen (2016) is a remarkable film directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Joseph Fiennes as Clavius, a Roman tribune, asked by his friend Pontius Pilate to investigate the disappearance of the body of the crucified Nazarene, Yeshua. Clavius saw him die, and in fact was the one who ordered he be speared rather than have his legs broken.
Pilate (played by Peter Firth) is an embittered old bureaucrat, nagged by Caiaphas the chief rabbi, bothered at how he was pressurised into having Yeshua crucified, and most of all determined to have Jerusalem looking good for the upcoming visit of the Emperor Tiberius. Clavius, too, is battle-hardened and cynical, and is keen that his new protégé, Lucius (played by Tom Felton, Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films), should be as tough as he is. But their investigation is constantly confusing: two soldiers, supposed to be guarding the tomb, have been bribed by the rabbis to say that they saw zealots stealing the body, but then confess to a much more remarkable story of the stone bursting from the entrance, the sun blazing out of the tomb. Are they mad? Mary Magdalene, well known to the soldiers, tells strange stories of love and forgiveness, and she and anyone else they question are completely unafraid of any threatened punishments. At last Clavius sees Yeshua with his followers and recognises him as the man he saw dead on the cross. He is stunned, and follows the disciples as they head back to Galilee for a final meeting with Yeshua.
This is a realistic-looking film, full of gore and flies and nasty corpses but not completely horrific. There’s a good deal of humour with Pilate, but plenty to think about, too, as the cynical tribune comes up against something, and someone, he cannot begin to explain, and watches the disciples’ reactions to the risen Yeshua. Something well worth watching, even if it’s just for the little detail of Barabbas and his unflinching faith, or Pilate washing his hands again.