Hymn of the Week: March 4,2024
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Glory to God: 465
Text Joseph Scriven 1855
Music Charles Converse 1868
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit;
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.
Hymn Texts: A Devotional
Today’s devotion comes to us from a book I have used over the past few years. “Unrevealed Until Its Season” by James C. Howell, published by Upper Room Books.
Please make sure to read the special message after the YouTube video below.
Friendship
Miriam Cohen’s book “Will I Have a Friend?” envisions an anxious child’s first day in school. It’s a good grown-up question too: “Will I have a friend?” Does it help to sing “What a friend we have in Jesus”? Despite the corny, repetitive rhymes (bear, prayer, bear, anywhere, share, prayer, there) that led the hymn expert Albert Edward Bailey to say, “It is not good poetry... It is what we might call doggerel,” the hymn is much beloved, evoking a sense of warmth and familiarity. But the image of Jesus as a friend is even more profound than we might imagine.
What is a friend?
At the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants… but I have called you friends” (John 15:15, RSV). Up to this moment, Jesus has given them good cause to think of him as Lord, God, Word incarnate, Light of the World, Savior. But then this utterly magnificent, inspiring, divine one invites them to see him as a friend. What could he mean?
For us, a “friend” might be someone we have fun with, someone who likes what we like, someone like us, someone easy to be around. But such friendships can be thin. We hold back from going very deep, not wanting to risk disagreement. So we stick to chatter about food or sports. Or we find our way into little enclaves of people who agree with us, echo chambers for our biases that feed our narcissism. Isn’t true that spending time only with people like us will make us ignorant and arrogant?
Ancient philosophers like Socrates defined a “friend” as someone who helps you to become good and wise. Aristotle wrote that the opposite of a friend is a flatterer. Christian thinkers from St. Augustine to Søren Kierkegaard thought of friends as those who help you to love God, and whom you help to love God. Paul Wadell reminds us that “Friendship is the crucible of a moral life.” You become the people you befriend. It’s formative. If Jesus is your friend, you become like him, prayerful, generous, and ready to lose everything to do the will of your Father. You will begin touching untouchables and seeing through fake religiosity. The secret to young Methodism’s vitality was that John Wesley insisted that people get organized into small groups to share in the quest for holiness. We need friends who care about and dare to cultivate wisdom and holiness, who hold one another accountable for progress toward Jesus our shared friend. Jesus explained why he would be calling his disciples friends: “For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 RSV). Friends share God’s knowledge. They are learners, pushing one another on to a more expansive understanding of the heart of God.
Aelred of Rievaulx, a twelfth-century Cistercian monk, said to his friend Ivo, “Here we are, you and I, and I hope a third, Christ, is in our midst.” What would it be like if Christ were in your friendships? Whom are we called to befriend if Jesus, befriender of a scandalously diverse grab bag of people, is our friend? G.K. Chesterton wryly declared that St. Francis “seems to have liked everybody, but especially those whom others disliked him for liking.” He sounds like a friend of Jesus.
When Jesus is our friend, we celebrate differences with friends. You disagree? Instead of drifting away, friends of Jesus labor toward reconciliation, knowing that Jesus didn’t run off when things were difficult, wrong or less than faithful. Martin Luther King’s insight, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend,” makes me wonder how many friends I’ve missed out on.
What are the habits of friendship? Friends eat together. We dine with Jesus at the Lord’s Supper. And at all our meals with friends, We are to be vulnerable. Brene Brown reminds us that friendship never happens without courageous vulnerability, candor, and sharing. “What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer,” and what a privilege to carry everything to a friend down here over dinner. Jesus “knows our every weakness” (see Hebrews 4:15), inspiring us toward friendships here that know weakness and love.
Friendship is encouragement. “We should never be discouraged.” The tenderest way Jesus our friend alleviates our discouragement is when a friend encourages us. And friendship is sacrifice. Jesus, the best friend ever, said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13) – and then he went out into the night to be arrested, tried, and crucified – for us, his friends. What is Lent, if not being drawn into a deeper friendship with Jesus?
A Special Note:
I began the Hymn of the Week as a way to share the history of the hymns we sing and a beautiful moment of devotion. I had no idea how much I would grow to love sharing with all of you, through you! Many people over the years have shared their appreciation and told of the ways their relationship with these hymns has evolved. This weekly communication with the congregation is something I truly look forward to because of what your feedback has taught me.
As I reflect on the history of the Hymn of the Week I feel that there is opportunity for growth. I will be transitioning to sending the HOTW via a link in the eMessenger beginning this Friday, March 9th. To celebrate this, I will have a new hymn to share, so you are able to enjoy 2 hymns this week! This will hopefully give more members of the congregation the opportunity to find a meditative time to enjoy once the work week has ended.
Thank you all for your kindness and candor. I am so excited to continue to share moments of music and devotion with you and encourage you to share with others.
-Philip
