Great (Hymn) One Liners 2. God's Hands

 In this series of blogs I'm looking at some of the great lines in hymns and songs in the Christian faith.  Of course these do not carry the weight of great texts from the Bible, but many summarise vast ideas in poetic genius. The series can be selected by using the 'hymnline' tag.

Two things that are easily but wrongly assumed are that:

1. Old hymns have depth and new ones don't

2. People who write many hymns and songs write lines that cannot have lasting significance.

This blog series will debunk Point 1. On Point 2, nearly all hymn/song writers have written vast amounts of material, much of which has long been discarded (in some cases by the writer themselves).

With this in mind my second one-liner in this series comes from my own lifetime - and Spring Harvest, and Graham Kendrick.:

Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered.

No matter that the stars were not flung, this line profoundly describes the bewildering sacrificial love of God in Jesus Christ.  

My surrender to him can never match his surrender for me.

Great (Hymn) One Liners: 1. God's limitlessness

In this series of blogs I'm looking at some of the great lines in hymns and songs in the Christian faith.  Of course these do not carry the weight of great texts from the Bible, but many summarise vast ideas in poetic genius. The series can be selected by using the 'hymnline' tag.

John Mason is a relatively mystical figure from the troubled 17th century in England.  He was hugely admired both for his preaching and his godly spirituality and his poetry and hymnody has made its mark.

Francis Jackson, one of the greatest church musicians in 20th century England, and who lived to over a hundred years old, selected Mason's hymn 'How shall I sing that Majesty which angels do admire?' for his funeral service in York Minster last year.

There are few hymns which explore in such depth the sheer glory of God - and even in that hymn no line which so captures the infinity of God as this:

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Thou art a sea without a shore, a sun without a sphere.

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Though Francis Jackson was a phenomenal musician, he recognised in the choosing of this hymn the unlimited greatness of the God who cannot be limited to any borders, let alone the walls of York Minster.