Matthew 6 – Tawa Baptist

Scriptures: Revelation 7:14-17; Proverbs 3:5-8; Ephesians 6:12-17;

Philippians 3:10-11; Matthew 6:1-4 & 19-24, among others.

Be Thou my Vision:

Good things take time, whether that’s aging cheese or wine, cooking and resting meat, waiting a few years for a tree to fruit or developing friendship and trust

Good things take time

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 history of our faith.

Today’s song is Be Thou my Vision 

Thou is an old English word which simply means you
So, Be Thou my Vision means ‘God, You be my vision’

‘Be Thou my Vision’ is a song that took a long time

It started as a poem, that lay dormant for many centuries, before the words were married to a tune and people started singing it in worship.
It is rich in history

At the church AGM last August, we presented Jason with a gavel for his many years’ service as chair of the Deacons board

The gavel was made by Bryan Hawkins, who turned the wood himself
The handle was made from a church pew, the head from a Tawa tree from Peterhouse Street and the stand was made from Rimu taken from the Tararua Ranges in 1992.
In some ways Be Thou my Vision is a bit like Jason’s gavel – it is a song recycled from some historically significant materials
Before we look at the lyrics though, let’s consider the history of the song and how it came into being.

The tune for Be Thou my Vision is simply called ‘Slane’, after a village in Ireland called Slane.

The ‘Slane’ tune wasn’t originally church music – it was non-liturgical, meaning it wasn’t a Christian worship song. It was a tune people might sing in the pub or around an open fire at home.
There is a longstanding practice, in Irish worship music, of using traditional folk tunes to sing liturgical texts.
It would be akin taking a classic pop song (like Unchained Melody or Candle in the Wind or Let it be) and putting Christian words to it
Using mainstream music in worship was genius really – it meant everyone was familiar with the tune regardless of their background
It created a bridge, making it easier for non-Christians and new Christians to feel at home singing in church

Having said that, there is still a Christian connection with the Slane tune

On the wall here is a picture of the ruins of Slane Abbey
It was on Slane Hill in County Meath around 433 AD/CE that St. Patrick lit candles on Easter Eve, defying a decree by High King Logaire
The king had said that no one could light a flame before he signaled the beginning of the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill.
Like the prophet Daniel, Saint Patrick risked his life in going against the king’s orders
King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick’s courage and devotion that, despite his defiance, Patrick was permitted to continue his work as Ireland’s first Christian missionary.

The words for Be Thou my Vision are based on an old Irish poem

The experts are not agreed on who wrote the poem
Some attribute the poem to St Dallan who lived during the 6^th century AD
Others say it was written later than that, around the 8^th Century or even the 10^th Century, by someone else who attached St Dallan’s name to it
Maybe they did this as a tribute to St Dallan or maybe they hoped to give the poem notoriety by associating it with a famous poet.
Whoever wrote it there seems to be a connection with St Dallan
So who was he?

Born in 530 AD, Saint Dallan’s given name was Eochaidh. He was given the nick name ‘Dallan’, meaning ‘little blind one’, because he lost his sight, apparently as a result of intensive study – such was his devotion to God

The words, ‘Be Thou my Vision’ take on a whole new meaning when one is blind and can’t see.
Dallan had to rely on God – he knew first-hand what it meant to walk by faith and not by sight. We need the spiritual vision that faith provides.

Saint Dallan’s poem, which is actually a prayer, was written in an old form of the Irish language, which meant it wasn’t accessible to many people in the modern English speaking world

It may have been lost to us except for the work of Mary Byrne who translated the Old Irish text into English in 1905
The English version was then versified by Eleanor Hull in 1912
But Eleanor’s version of the words of “Be Thou My Vision” wasn’t combined with the tune of Slane and sung in churches until 1919.
It could not have come at a more needed time

1919 was a difficult year in human history

People had suffered so much pointless loss as a consequence of the First World War (1914-1918).
Then, following hard on the heels of the Great War, came the flu epidemic which killed even more people than the war
The general population was blinded with grief and loss
In that historical context it was difficult to see God’s hand for good
As a consequence, there arose a movement known as ‘protest atheism’
Protest atheism is different from the lazy practical atheism of today
Protest atheism was the sort of atheism a Christian can have sympathy for
With protest atheism a person wants to believe that God is good and kind, just and merciful but their experience just can’t sustain that belief
How can God be loving when there is so much suffering in the world?
If one can’t see that God is good then one refuses to trust him, in protest
Like Owen Marshall said, ‘The world is divided between those who face the world with a religion, and those who wish to but have only irony in its place.’ [1]

During my twenties I went through a rough time. My experience caused me to question many of the things I had been taught to believe about God.

Part of that process of disorientation led me to toy with protest atheism. But I found it didn’t work.
Life loses all meaning when we try to take God out of the picture.
In the end I had to admit, some things are unknowable
Some things I just can’t see or understand
Some things I am blind to and I just have to trust that God will be my vision – that He can see and make sense of what I can’t.

While it is true to say that this life is not always fair, we need to keep in mind that this life is not all there is. There is more to the picture than meets the eye

We need God to be our vision when we are blinded by our pain
We need to remember that Jesus will return one day to make all things new – to bring an end to war and sickness, death and suffering

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John records a vision he received from God. In chapter 7 we read of John’s vision for those who suffer and remain loyal to Christ…

“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation…

‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Be Thou my vision, has been sung in churches for the last 100 years. It still speaks to our generation today.

It is an acknowledgment of our blindness, for we are all blind in our own way. None of us sees the whole picture.
Each us needs to see God’s hand for good in the world and in our own lives personally
All of us need God to give us a picture of the future which inspires hope
And when we can’t see a good future – when we lose our hope – we need God to be our vision

The vision of hope and goodness that God gives is Jesus

O Lord of my heart; is a reference to Jesus.
I am reminded of Saul of Tarsus (the zealous Pharisee) who sincerely believed the followers of Jesus were wrong and needed to be stopped
Saul hunted Christians down and persecuted them, fully convinced he was doing the right thing by God. But Saul was spiritually blind
So God gave Saul a vision of the risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus
And Saul was physically blinded by the light of Christ (blinded by the light), but at the same time he had the eyes of his heart opened to see that Jesus is Lord and he had actually been persecuting the Messiah
Saul repented, his sight was restored, he was renamed Paul and went on to promote the gospel of Christ
The vision we need, the vision this hymn is asking for, is a vision of Jesus

The vision statement of this church is ‘Christ in community’

We want to see Christ at work in our own faith community and the wider community outside the church
We need the vision (the eyes) to see where Jesus is active and work in harmony with him and his purpose.

Ed Sheeran has a song called ‘Photograph’. In it we find these lines…

You can fit me inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen
Next to your heartbeat where I should be, keep it deep within your soul
I doubt that Ed was thinking of Jesus when he wrote that song but those lines come close to expressing the meaning of the opening verse of ‘Be Thou my Vision’

Some of you may have a locket that you wear around your neck, with a photograph of someone you love in it

The locket with the photo is always close to your heart
Others of you may keep a photo of your loved ones in your wallet or on your phone so whenever you go to pay for something you see your family
Each of us needs a vision (a picture) of Jesus to sustain us
Jesus shows us what God is like and he shows us how to be human

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art is a difficult line to understand

I think it basically means, ‘Jesus, I want you to be number one in my life’
‘Jesus, I want to give you my best and not divide my loyalty.’

Thou my best thought, by day or by night, both waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

God’s presence is often associated with light in the Bible
Light is silent. Light reveals the truth. Light is a symbol of goodness
Light is security, it dispels fear. This line is a prayer for inner light – for the truth and goodness of Christ to illuminate our mind

In Psalm 139 David celebrates the light of God’s presence with him always…

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
God’s presence is with us always, whether we are conscious of it or not

Verse 2: Be Thou my Wisdom, be Thou my true word; is an acknowledgment that wisdom and truth come from God, not from ourselves.

In Proverbs 3, verses 5-8 we read…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. ⁸This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Vision is connected to wisdom. Wisdom and truth help us to see the way to go.

Verse 2 of the song continues: I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son;

These lines are talking about a close family relationship with God
The phrase, I Thy true son, may jar with us these days, but it is not meant to exclude women. The point is: a true child of God obeys God the Father
In Matthew 21 Jesus tells a parable of two sons.
The father asks the first son to go and work in the vineyard.
The first son says he will but then he doesn’t
So the father asks the second son to go and work in the vineyard.
The second son refuses, but then he goes and does what his father asks
The true child of God is the one who obeys God.
We need wisdom to obey God.

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one is talking about eternal life

Eternal life isn’t just living forever. Eternal life describes a certain quality of relationship with God – a relationship of closeness and intimacy, where God dwells in us by His Spirit and we dwell in Christ.

Verse 3: Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight; Thou my whole armour, Thou my true might; this is clearly a reference to the armour of God described in Ephesians 6

The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We might not identify with the battle imagery we find in many of the older hymns but that’s only because most of us don’t know what it is to be in a war (for which we can thank God)
Ireland, at the time these verses were first written, was plagued with fighting.
And, as I mentioned earlier, the realities of war were still fresh in the minds of many in 1919 when this hymn was first being sung in churches

Verse 3 is essentially asking God to be our security

Be Thou my soul’s shelter, be Thou my high tower, these words are straight out of the psalms. God is a sanctuary and fortress for us.
God is our security.

O raise Thou me heavenward, great power of my power, is talking about resurrection. The power of God’s love is greater than the power of death

The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us who believe. In Philippians 3, verse 10, Paul writes…
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

In 598 Saint Dallan was visiting his friend Saint Conall at Inishskeel when pirates raided the island monastery.

Dallan turned the other cheek. He did not resist when attacked and was beheaded by the pirates.
A peaceful man come to a violent end, much like Christ
Dallan shared in the sufferings of Christ, becoming like him in death and so he shares in Christ’s resurrection – he is raised heavenward.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, the first in my heart,
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

This verse finds its inspiration from Matthew 6 where Jesus says…

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

In Matthew 6 Jesus makes a connection between our vision (our eyes) and what we value or treasure

Money (or mammon – the god of wealth) can blind us to what is really important. If we give our lives to making money, we lose our way.
But when our eyes are fixed on a vision of Jesus (who is the light of the world) we can see the path we are to follow.

As much as possible we try to have a mixture of old and new songs in our Sunday liturgy

Some people think this is a strategy to try and keep everyone happy but that’s not my purpose.
One of the main reasons we include a variety of songs (old and new) is so that we get a good variety in our theological diet
How many new worship songs do you know that talk about money?
Not many, if any. And yet Jesus had quite a bit to say about money, particularly the way it competes for our loyalty with God
What’s more, financial giving is part of our worship
If we didn’t sing old hymns like Be Thou my Vision, then we might never think how money affects our relationship with God, except when the preacher does an occasional sermon on it
This is not to say new songs don’t have their place. They do.
The new songs tend to fill in the theological gaps of the older hymns and vice versa

Verse 4 of the hymn also has that line about not heeding man’s praise.

This relates to what Jesus says at the beginning of Matthew 6 …

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ²“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

As Oswald Chambers prayed: ‘Lord, save me from the praise and blame of others’.

In the same way that money can blind us to the things of God, so too the opinion of others can obscure our vision
The idea with worship is that God is the audience.
Whatever form our worship may take, whether that’s singing or giving to the poor or doing justice, our motivation needs to be self-giving love and devotion to God, not self-centered love or devotion to our ego

In 1972 Carly Simon wrote a song called ‘You’re so vain’ – it was allegedly about Warren Beatty. The chorus goes…

You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you. You’re so vain, I bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?
When we sing the song Be Thou my Vision, we are praying, ‘Lord it’s not about me. It’s about you. Don’t let my life or my worship be vain.
Let my orientation, my perspective, my focus be you and not myself.’

The final verse of Be Thou my Vision, as we sing it, reads…

High King of Heaven, Thou heaven’s bright sun,
O grant me its joys, after victory is won.
Great heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O ruler of all.

A more literal translation, of the old Irish poem, reads like this…

O King of the seven heavens grant me this —
Thy love to be in my heart and in my soul.

With the King of all, with him after victory won by piety,
May I be in the kingdom of heaven O brightness of the son.

Beloved Father, hear, hear my lamentations.
Timely is the cry of woe of this miserable wretch.

O heart of my heart, whatever befall me,
O ruler of all, be Thou my vision.

This more literal version shows us the meaning between the lines

What really matters is not wealth or the opinion of others but whether we have the love of God in our heart and whether we are included in the kingdom of heaven
The author of this poem has suffered much and, like the psalmists of old, wants God the Father to hear his lamentations
A lamentation is a passionate expression of grief – it is a song of sorrow
For many years I thought of this as an inspirational song, almost a victory march. But it’s not.
It is actually the outpouring of the broken hearted – more like a country song. Timely is the cry of woe of this miserable wretch.

Life is difficult. God does not promise us a life free of suffering

What God does promise, when we place our trust in Jesus, is his presence, whatever may befall us in this life,
And heaven in the life to come.
What we need, to get us through, is a vision of Christ

Let’s stand and sing: Be Thou my Vision

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Be Thou my Vision’. What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?)
What significance (meaning) would Be Thou my Vision have held for people in 1919? In what ways does it speak to our generation in 2019? Which of the verses (or lines) are most relevant to you?
How does God answer our prayer for a vision? (Who does he give us?)
How does money (and the opinion of others) blind us to the things of God? What is the remedy?
Why does our liturgy (play list) need to have a variety of older & newer worship songs?
What (secular) pop song would you like to give Christian worship lyrics to? Why not have a go writing your own lyrics?

[1] From Owen Marshall’s poem, ‘The Divided World’.