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Friday 17 March 2023

Great (Hymn) One Liners 5. The Way In

On St Patrick's Day it seems only right to have a one liner from a hymn written in Ireland.  

This line summarises something which passes a great many people by - including almost the entire UK education system.

He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in

From the children's hymn, There is a green hill far away this line expounds so many things in so few words.  You can't just choose to go to heaven (and nor could your dead relatives).  There is a way of getting to heaven - there is only one way though.  The Way is a person, one person.  There was no other good enough.

Cecil Frances Alexander, wife of the sometime Archbishop of Ireland (earlier Bishop of Londonderry), may have been writing catechetical hymns for children, but she also gave us all something important to remember as we approach Easter.


(for more in this series click on the hymnline tag below)

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