Abide with me

Scriptures: Luke 24:29, Matthew 9:10-13, Malachi 4:1-2, 1^st Corinthians 15:55, John 14:1-4

Introduction:

Good morning everyone

From midnight last Wednesday we have all been in our self-isolation bubbles. But even before that we have been washing our hands more than usual. When you wash your hands you inevitably make lots of tiny bubbles with the water and soap.

Soap bubbles are wonderful really – although fragile and fleeting they are also beautiful, each one containing its own little rainbow. 

A single bubble naturally forms the shape of a sphere (as opposed to a square or a triangle) because that’s the smallest stable structure it can take.

While the life of a bubble is short the joy they inspire lasts a lot longer. Children never get tired of blowing bubbles.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series. In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

In some ways singing songs of worship is a bit like blowing bubbles. While the singing doesn’t last very long, the beauty and joy of it linger after the music has popped and we find ourselves coming back again and again to sing the same songs, like a child blowing bubbles over and over.

Origins:

The song we are looking at this morning is called Abide with me.

Abide with me is actually a prayer for Jesus to be close to us personally and yet it is one of those songs that people, who don’t usually go to church, keep coming back to

Those of you who are football fans will know that the crowd sing a couple of verses of Abide with me before the start of the FA Cup final. They have done this every year since 1927 as a matter of tradition. It was a favourite of King George the fifth who was present at the FA Cup final that year.

Abide with me was also sung by British soldiers in the trenches during World War 1 and it is often sung at ANZAC services in NZ & Australia.

On Sept 21, 2001 it was played at Ground Zero by a Salvation Army band during the commemoration of the September 11 attacks.

It also features on the soundtracks of several movies, like The Full Monty, 28 Days Later and A Bridge Too Far.

Abide with me was written by Henry Lyte. Henry was born in Scotland in 1793, educated in Ireland and then served as an Anglican priest for a number of years in England.

For much of his life Henry Lyte did not enjoy good health but he didn’t let that stop him serving the Lord. On more than one occasion he was heard to say rather jokingly, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’. These are the words of a man who knows his days are numbered and wants to make the most of them. They are not good advice for most of us though. The journey of faith is a marathon, not a sprint and we need to pace ourselves.

Henry Lyte died at the relatively young age of 54, from TB

It is uncertain when Henry Lyte wrote Abide with me. Some say it was around 1820, after visiting a friend on his death bed. Others say Henry wrote the song in 1847, just weeks before his own death. Whatever the case, Erik Routley was surely right when he said Abide with me is a hymn which, “looks death itself in the face”. It is a song which expresses our human desire for companionship when we are in extreme circumstances, which may be one reason why it is so popular outside of church walls.    

While Henry Lyte did write music to accompany his lyrics, the tune we sing it to these days was written by William Monk following the death of his daughter, Florence. William had been standing, hand in hand with his wife, at the window of their cottage, ‘silently watching the glory of the setting sun until the golden hue faded’, when suddenly the words of the hymn Abide with me came to his mind. He wasted no time in composing the music he called Eventide

Death and resurrection:

The opening verse of the hymn reads…

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

The word abide, in this context, means to ‘stay with’, to ‘reside’ or to ‘hang out’ together – for example, we abide with those in our bubble.

Abide can also mean to tolerate or put up with or obey, but that’s not the meaning here. In this song abide is about spending time together, enjoying each other’s presence, connecting with one another on the inside.

Eventide means the end of the day when the sun sets and night falls. It is a metaphor for the end of this life, when the sun sets on our mortal body and we are facing death. It could be our own mortality we are facing or the death of a loved one    

That phrase, the darkness deepens, is a poetic way of talking about the sadness, the loneliness and the powerlessness we feel in the face of death. When you are grieving, the things that once comforted you and helped you no longer hold any enjoyment. You might go off your food, for example, or you might find it hard to sleep. In that situation Jesus is the help of the helpless. Jesus comes to the aid of those who are powerless to help themselves.

Now some of you may be thinking, why is Will preaching on a song that reminds us about death and mortality – especially when the world is threatened by an epidemic?

Well, it’s not my job to distract people from reality. We have Netflix for that.

Part of my job involves helping people to face reality and the reality is, everyone dies eventually. But that is only a small part of our reality. The bigger part, the good news, is that Jesus has conquered death and so death does not have the last word. You see, facing our own mortality opens the door to thinking about resurrection.

Henry Lyte, who lived in the constant shadow of death, was very conscious of resurrection.  

The inspiration for verse 1 of Henry’s song comes from Luke 24:29. In Luke 24 two people are facing the deepening darkness of death. Just a couple of days before they had witnessed the murder of someone they loved dearly – they saw Jesus crucified. The bottom has fallen out of their world and the sun is setting on hope. As Cleopas and the other disciple are walking away from Jerusalem toward Emmaus, Jesus himself comes alongside them. They don’t recognise him at first. At that point their minds are closed to the possibility of resurrection. They can’t comprehend that Jesus has been raised to new life.

Jesus asks them what they are talking about and they are shocked that he hasn’t heard all that has happened over the weekend. It would be like someone not knowing we are at level 4 alert for Corona virus. After listening to them Jesus says…

²⁶ “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us [abide with us], for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

What we notice here, in this eye witness account from Luke’s gospel, is that it is the risen Jesus who abides with his bewildered and grieving disciples. And somehow his presence is enough. Although he disappears from their sight, soon after their eyes were opened, he continues to abide in their hearts and minds. Because of his resurrection, they don’t feel alone or sad anymore. To the contrary, they feel connected and joyful – they run back to Jerusalem to tell the others the good news. 

The next verse of Henry Lyte’s song starts with the words…

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;

These lines are talking about how short life is.  

I remember sitting with my grandfather as he was dying. He said about his life, ‘It all went by so quickly’. He was 72. I was 24 and, at that age, you feel like you’ve got all the time in the world. But really, in the light of eternity, this life is like a soap bubble. It is fragile and fleeting but also quite beautiful in its own short way   

The second half of verse 2 finds a note of hope  

Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

In other words: Yes, life is short and constantly changing (how quickly things have changed in the last couple of weeks) but God does not change. God is stable and secure, faithful and reliable. The Lord is our rock, a firm foundation.

As we read in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Or as Yahweh says through the prophet Malachi, “I the Lord do not change. So you… are not destroyed.” (3:6)     

Or as we read in the Psalms, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end.

Fear not:

There are actually eight verses to the original version of Abide with me, but we normally only sing four. We don’t have time to examine every verse in detail but I would like to touch on one of the less well known verses, where we say to Jesus…

Come not in terror, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;

This line of the song recalls Malachi chapter 4 where we read about the day of the Lord’s return – the day of judgment…

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

The day of God’s judgement is frightening. Even though Malachi is using poetic language, the image of being burned up in a furnace is terrifying, especially when you consider that none of us are perfect. All of us have participated in some evil in our life.

But it’s not all bad news. Those who revere God’s name receive healing and are set free to frolic like well-fed calves. Clearly, we want to be on the side of those who revere God’s name. But what does that mean, to revere God’s name? Well, the next line in the song gives us a few clues…

Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Jesus is the picture of God’s compassion – he feels our pain and weeps with us for our woes. He has a heart that listens to and understands the cry of our heart. What’s more, Jesus is a friend of sinners, which comes as a great relief in light of Malachi’s furnace metaphor.

In singing the words, Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me, we are identifying ourselves as sinners, humbly calling on the compassion and mercy of Jesus, our friend.

In Matthew 9 the Pharisees saw Jesus abiding with disreputable people, people they considered to be evil doers, so they said to Jesus’ disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ To which Jesus replied…

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

You see, God doesn’t want to destroy people – he loves people and wants to save us – that’s why Jesus came, so that we might have abundant life. Those who revere God’s name are not perfect but they are not arrogant either – they are humble. True humility is about being honest with ourselves. Those who ‘revere the name of the Lord’ are under no illusion – they rely on Jesus’ mercy, not their own power.

The risk with living in a bubble is that people may become fearful and anxious. Consequently, there has been a lot of talk in the media about taking care of our mental health while we are in self-isolation. The pen-ultimate verse of Henry Lyte’s song addresses this very thing…

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

This verse implies that having Jesus abide with us does not mean nothing bad will ever happen to us. Jesus’ presence is not a bullet proof vest or Personal Protective Equipment. We may still suffer illness but the ills have no weight – they are lighter somehow when Jesus abides with us. Likewise, we may still suffer injustice & grief but our tears hold no bitterness – if anything the presence of Christ brings release. How is this possible? It is possible because when Jesus abides with us we know we are loved by God

I am mindful of several verses from the Bible which hold together the paradox of suffering with joy (and without fear). In particular…

Psalm 126:5, Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

And the beatitudes where Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4)

Also Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:3-5), We rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

And that’s the key right there isn’t it. When we have faith in Christ we are not afraid of illness and calamity because we know God loves us. Therefore, we know our suffering is not a punishment from God. We may get sick, we may even die, but we are not destined for the furnace. As the poet Robert Browning said, ‘The best is yet to be’.  

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? This is a quote from 1^st Corinthians 15:55, where Paul is talking about the resurrection of Christ. When Paul wrote this he was making reference to the Old Testament prophet Hosea (13:14) where God says to the nation of Israel…

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where O death are your plagues? Where, O grave is your destruction?    

Henry Lyte could say, with a chuckle, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’, because (despite having TB) he believed God loved him and would raise him to new life. Henry was not afraid of dying. His last words were, “Peace! Joy!” He was looking forward to heaven

We don’t need to be afraid of this plague we are in either. We do need to be careful, but we don’t need to be anxious, for our God is greater than illness and death – we have resurrection to look forward to.

Conclusion:

Abide with me starts with the sun going down and the darkness of night deepening. In the final verse the darkness of night has past and we have the picture of light breaking at the dawn of a new day… 

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

The last verse looks beyond this life to the next. For those who trust in Christ, death is not the final reality. Yes, we all die but Jesus has transformed death from an ending to an open door. When the brief bubble of this life pops those who are in Christ are released from their self-isolation into a wonderfully spacious intimacy with God. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

In John 14, the night before he died, Jesus said to his disciples…

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

That’s a verse about abiding with Jesus forever in the house of God  

The song Abide with me is a prayer for Jesus to stay close with us through life and death and resurrection. It is a prayer God is happy to answer.

Let’s sing now, in our bubbles, Abide with me. Make this your heartfelt prayer.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song, ‘Abide with me’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

How are things going for you in your bubble? What rainbow moments have you had this past week?

Why do we need to face the reality of our own mortality? What is the bigger part of reality (the good news)?

What difference did it make to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus to learn that Jesus was alive? What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make for you, personally?

Why do we not need to be afraid? What basis do we have for facing suffering with joy?

What does it mean to revere God’s name?

How might you abide with Jesus while in self-isolation? Take some time this week to be with Jesus.