Gathering

November 30, 2019

My faith was born and nurtured in an independent fundamental Baptist church. Admitting such these days comes across to some as damning as confessing to being guilty of racism or domestic violence, but the fundamentalism I grew up with was theological, but not separatist. Westside Baptist church gave me roots that have kept this old tree upright through many a storm. One of the sources of that rootedness was the hymn book. 

I feel sorry for young people growing up in churches today. For many of them, all they know are the contemporary songs and choruses that are the fruit of the Jesus Movement of the 60’s and 70’s. While some very good music and lyrics has come from the contemporary Christian music movement, music that has reached boomers and millennials in ways the old hymns could not, much of it has proven to be pretty anemic, to the ultimate detriment of those for whom it is their only diet.

I remember my friend Beverly Renner excitedly showing me a Christian LP she had picked up. “J.T. Adams and the Men of Texas” had a single track that hinted at the musical revolution to come: “Rock-a-My Soul.” The rest of the album was pretty ordinary, but that song which today wouldn’t even earn a second glance, opened a door to a new kind of Christian music at the same time the Beatles were storming the States with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” Before this album, the only “contemporary” Christian music came from Southern Gospel groups like the Statesmen or the Stamps.

But I still had the hymnal and the Sunday night song service, with music that the entire congregation sang enthusiastically. When it came time for the sermon, you could hear the pages rustling as people looked up in their King James Bibles the Scriptures our pastor was using as he preached. Scrolling through a Bible app on a phone just isn’t the same. 

On any given Thanksgiving Sunday, three hymns inevitably made their way into the bulletin. “Now Thank We All Our God” I wrote about a couple days ago. The second was, “We Gather Together,” originally of Dutch origin, although I didn’t know it at the time. It was written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius to celebrate the recent Dutch victory over Spanish armies at the battle of Turnhout, although the victory was won more by English and Scottish allies than by the Dutch troops which hardly even got into the battle. The hymn was originally popular because under the Spanish occupation, Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship. It was first published in a collection of patriotic and folk songs in 1626, and was translated into English in 1894. How it became associated with the Thanksgiving holiday, I cannot tell, but it has been a staple in my life since my teenage years. 

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known.

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning;

Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;

Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

In times of uncertainty, it is the prayers for God’s blessing coupled with the certainty of his ability to protect and guide his people that sustains us. We Americans too often take for granted our freedom to gather for worship, neglecting it for the silliest of reasons. This old hymn is a reminder to treasure this blessing at all times, and I am grateful that along with the modern Christian music that reaches the heart, I have this old hymn that has reached into my soul for nearly sixty years.