There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
it speaks of how “the love of God is broader than the measure of our mind,” and it laments how we make God’s love too narrow by false limits of our own conception. There is a half verse that didn’t make it into the hymnal that is worth considering in light of today’s topic:
If our love were but more simple, we should rest upon God’s word;
And our lives would be illuminated by the presence of our Lord.
One commentator has described the text as: “If ‘Love Wins’ were a hymn.”
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than up in heaven.
There is no place where earth’s failings have such kindly judgment given.
For the love of God is broader than the measures of the mind.
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s Word,
and our lives reflect thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious measure sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise to thee an altar; hither by thy help I’ve come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it from thy courts above.
Womb of Life and Source of Being – text by Ruth C. Duck
Ruth C. Duck is a notable hymn writer with a controversial but effective style regarding gendered language. According to hymn scholar Simon Hill, “When it comes to handling sexist or exclusive language, Duck does not believe that the issue should be solved by eliminating all gender and placing a ban on gendered images. Instead, Duck advocates for the presence of both masculine and feminine imagery and language, creating a space for both traditional wording as well as new wording. She proves that the two perspectives can exist side by side. After all, the Scriptures are filled with metaphors that cover an array of images. Duck sees this as a call for Christians to thoughtfully develop and sing of new metaphors that fully and appropriately convey an encounter with the Divine, a call that Duck takes to heart in much of her hymn writing.
“Womb of Life, and Source of Being” takes on the matter of metaphor, exclusive language, and the Trinitarian formula. The traditional formula is often a subject of debate and theological question in terms of sexist language. Duck believes that because of the exclusive, male-centered language, the traditional formula – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – does not fully celebrate the liberation of new life offered through Jesus, the Christ. The traditional formula also runs the risk of implying a gender-exclusive community, rather than allowing the Trinity to be a model of a loving and all-embracing community. In “Womb of Life, and Source of Being,” Duck makes an effort to broaden the images of the persons in the Trinity and to establish it as a model for a vibrant community.”
Womb of life, and source of being, home of ev’ry restless heart,
in your arms the worlds awakened; you have loves us from the start.
We, your children, gather ’round you, at the table you prepare.
Sharing stories tears and laughter, we are nurtured by your care.
Word in flesh, our brother Jesus, born to bring us second birth,
you have come to stand beside us, knowing weakness, knowing earth.
Priest who shares our human struggles, Life of Life, and Death of Death,
risen Christ, come stand among us, send the Spirit by your breath.
Brooding Spirit, move among us; be our partner, be our friend.
When our mem’ry fails, remind us whose we are, what we intend.
Labor with us, aid the birthing of the new world made new,
ever singing, ever praising, one with all, and one with you.
In Christ There is no East or West
This is a radical hymn, in ways that weren’t necessarily evident upon its writing, which happily prevented it from being cast aside and lost. It takes its opening idea from Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” and is a strong refutation of the triumphalism and hegemonic imperialism of of the era. While it does retain some vestiges of missionary exclusivism, we can reclaim that notion as “in Christ’s teachings, there is no east or west.”
In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north,
but one community of love throughout the whole wide earth.
In Christ shall true hearts ev’rywhere their high communion find;
His service is the golden cord, close binding humankind.
Join hands, disciples of the faith, whate’er your race may be;
all children of the living God are surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west, in him meet south and north:
All loving hearts are one in him throughout the whole wide earth.