I would like to add to A-Team’s blog about Christian patience by sharing the story behind the hymn “Be Still, My Soul”. The Lord often speaks to me through music, especially hymns.  During the past 9 months the Lord has been working in my heart, teaching me to be still and wait on his timing.

“Be Still, My Soul” quietly whispers the desire of God for us to completely surrender to Him and wait upon his timing. It was originally written in Germany during the latter half of the 17th century during a time that many Lutherans as this time were practicing Pietism, a doctrine that involved deep devotion, ethical purity, and charitable activity.

Katharina von Schlegel wrote the lyrics. A century later, Jane Borthwick, a Scottish-born composer, translated the hymn into English. And finally, Jean Sibelius, Finland’s finest composer put the words to music. It amazes me that God crossed time and language barriers in order to deliver the message of Christian patience.

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul–
The Lord is on thy side!
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In ev’ry change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul–
Thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul! thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul! the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul! when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

The Lord used this hymn in a powerful way. It was the favorite of the Olympic athlete Eric Liddell. He became famous in 1924 for not competing on the Sabbath. After  retiring from athletics, he became a missionary in China. He was captured in World War II and held in a hard labor prison compound. Yet, that did not silence his faith. He taught this song to fellow prisoners. His death was mourned world wide when he died in the prison camp of a brain tumor just 5 months before he was to be released. His last words were “It’s complete surrender.”

With this being my first “Sermon Notes” post I want to explain how these posts will work. Generally speaking, I take notes on all sermons that I hear and I will share those notes with you here every Monday, God willing. The post will not be from the sermon that took place on the previous day, but the Sunday directly preceding that Sunday, or to state it differently, eight days after the sermon was given. When available, I will include the audio version of the sermon that I am posting about. In addition to simply relaying my notes, I plan to comment and muse over the content of the sermon as well.

Today’s post is from August 24, 2008. Ironically, there was no sermon on this Sunday. Rather, the mission team from our church that went to Playa Grande, Honduras this summer shared their experiences with the congregation. The mission trip was lead by out youth pastor, Alex Hooper. He took with him a handful of youths and some other adults. Before I relay some of the experiences that they shared, I would like to share about how God is working through our church in Honduras, and more specifically in Playa Grande.

Some years ago, about 5 (I should know this since I’m on the Missions Committee – if someone reading this knows this detail, please provide) a man named Phernando “Pher” Acosta was sent by our church to be a church planter beginning in Playa Grande, Honduras. Playa is described by those who go there as truly being the “ends of the earth” that are described in Acts 1:8. Our church is the only Christian influence in that town.

The spiritual attacks in the town come in the forms of abandonment, alcoholism, and worship of death. The task of building a church in this town is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

One of the girls that shared was Vivien. She shared about meeting one of the boys in Playa named Pio. She also shared about the incredible worship that took place during the church services. On the last day of the trip there was a “game day” that was very fun, or “awesome” as she described many of the events surrounding the trip. It was bittersweet because they had to leave the next day. Vivien said that leaving Playa was the hardest part of the trip.

There were some other people that shared about their experiences as well. Please feel free to listen to the audio file if you are interested in hearing them. I hope to also have some of the video montages that the team put together for the congregation.