There once was a father

There once was a father who lived with his sons,

And hear how the story is told;

One son who took off with his share of the fortune,

One who did stay in the fold.

The one son who fled was in over his head;

His fortune and favor were gone.

So he lived in despair, feeding pigs for a living;

He lived hungry, cold, and alone.

 

He came to his senses and made up his mind 

That he would return to his home.

He would not claim sonship, but seek only labor,

No longer living to roam.

But soon came his father in haste and in love, and

Yearning to welcome him in;

Fatted calf, finest robe, a new ring and new sandals,

And soon the great feast would begin.

 

The son who had stayed heard the noise, saw the joy,

And he was in anger and sore

That father rejoiced for this derelict son

Who had been so reckless before.

The father replied, "yes, you stayed by my side,

And all that I have is for you,

But this son who was lost, who was dead, now is found safe,

And this we must celebrate too!"

 

There once was a father who lived with his sons

But did his sons now live with him?

One son who sought only to be hired labor,

One who was angry and grim.

Now this is the story, but what does it mean,

And what are we followers to do?

So pay heed to the Father who loves with abandon,

And wonder, which lost son are you?

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2025, after Luke 15:11-32 (Lent 4C).

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA, American folk melody.

 

A folk song to tell a familiar story and questions to end it without an ending.

 

 

Prepare the way, O people, revised

Prepare the way, O people! Your Christ is drawing near!

Cry out to this great city, so all can see and hear!

A borrowed colt he's riding, God's holy reign betiding.

Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest!

 

Spread out your coats, O people! Make clear your Teacher's way!

Make smooth the road before him on this great joyous day!

Sing out and shout with gladness! This is no time for sadness!

Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest!

 

Blessed is the one, O people, the one who comes to save;

The one who comes in God's name, who saves us from the grave!

Here on this colt proceeding, even now for us he's pleading;

Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2024, after Mark 11:1-11.

MUSIC: Tune BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN, Then Swenska Psalmboken, 1697; arr. American Lutheran Hymnal, 1930.

 

 

This might be a bad habit, but I have a tendency to find a hymn suited to a particular season or occasion and create a hymn in parallel to it but tied to a different season or occasion. Here the original, a good lively Advent hymn, provides the model for a Palm Sunday text, another occasion when "preparing the way" was the call of the day. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like sometimes it might be a good thing to make connections across the different seasons of the liturgical year. This was written last year for the reading from Mark's gospel; changing two words made it suitable for this year's Luke reading. 

When Jesus, full of Spirit

When Jesus, full of Spirit, came into the lonely wilderness,

He faced a tempter bound to foil his earthly work and true witness.

Not pains of hunger, fame nor power would sway our Christ from standing fast.

Our Jesus, filled with Spirit, showed how we should follow to the last.

 

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not strain for power or for fear,

For God alone is all our power and God will lead us to draw near.

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not put our God unto the test;

We turn to God not for display, we turn for sustenance and rest.

 

When filled with Spirit, Christians need not seek out stones to turn to bread.

So many suffer hungry want, but our work is to share instead;

To lay aside our selfish pride and live so no one else has need,

To end the hoarding plunder wrought by raw, unyielding, selfish greed.

 

See how each testing faced by Christ points deep into our daily life:

When we give in to tempter's wiles, we fill our world with pain and strife.

But filled with Spirit we will live upon the words of God alone

Till all our hearts dwell in God's love with all temptation finally gone.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2025, after Luke 4:1-13.

MUSIC: Tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody.

 

 

Somehow I had written two different texts on Matthew's temptation account, but never either the Mark or Luke stories. In this case the emphasis will fall on how those temptations Jesus faced play out in our own lives and what guidance we might draw from the experience. 

There Is No Christ

How does an age come so afoul

Of all that Jesus said and did,

Now bound to empire's cruel abuse

With hate and rage no longer hid?

Such acts of evil, done with joy,

Pure meanness acted out with bliss;

Do not blaspheme the Lord's name so!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

How does this church, in Christ made one,

By Spirit led to God's own work,

Turn crazed and stray so far from truth - 

So drunk with power and gone berserk?

How does this church defend itself 

When they Christ's life and words dismiss?

This is not "faithful" anything!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

How will the churches left behind,

Belittled, scorned, yet holding fast

To how Christ lived and what Christ taught,

Endure and keep faith to the last?

Let not despair derail us now,

No hopelessness drive us amiss;

This is not how the Spirit leads!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

In Christ shall we withstand and stand,

Condemn the false, raise up the true,

Bind up the wounds and shelter those

On whom the hateful spit and spew.

Stand in Christ's love and Spirit's power,

In God's true grace to bear witness;

This is our work! This is our call!

Christ is revealed in such as this.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025.

MUSIC: Tune ST. PATRICK, Irish melody,  arr. Charles Villiers Stanford, 1902.

Another hymn of sorts responding to the time in which we live and the failure of the church or some large portion of it to do the right thing.

Stand down, O "men of God"

Stand down, O “men of God,”

To war is not your call;

Brothers in Christ, this is your work:

To love and to serve all. 

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

No more of lesser things.

Live as our Jesus showed us how

So his true witness sings.

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Your work is not to hate;

This does not glorify our God

Whose love for all is great.

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Don’t lord it over all;

Women and men are both alike 

Ordained in Jesus’s call. 

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Alone is not your call;

To serve together is your work,

Brothers and sisters all.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025,

MUSIC: Tune ST. THOMAS, Aaron Williams, 1763.

 

Not a hymn for a worship service, at least not one I can immediately imagine. More like a teaching hymn? Self-instruction? Chastisement? I don't know, but I couldn't stop myself from writing it. 

If Christ has not been raised

If Christ has not been raised, 

Your faith has been in vain; 

You still are in your sins with no more hope to gain.

Refrain:

But Christ is raised up from the dead!

The firstfruits of those who have died.

 

If Christ has not been raised,

Our word has been in vain;

Our proclamation brings no more than grief and pain.

Refrain

 

If Christ has not been raised,

False witness is our shame;

That God has raised up Christ has been our word and claim.

Refrain

 

If only for this life

Our hope in Christ is placed,

We of all people should be pitied and disgraced.

Refrain

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025, after 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.

MUSIC: Tune LOVE UNKNOWN, John Ireland, 1918. Copyright 1924 Trustees of the John Ireland Charitable Trust. 

 

 

Iti is my firm belief that 1 Corinthians 15:19 would be the most heart-wrenching, soul-breaking verse in scripture ... if it were not for 1 Corinthians 15:20. (Tune not reproduced due to copyright.)

Our Christ is not a weapon

Our Christ is not a weapon

For spewing hate and fear.

His name is not for smashing 

Those whom the Lord holds dear.

Christ's enemies may hasten

To injure whom they please,

But those who follow truly

Will love "the least of these."

 

Internments or invasions,

Lies meant to harm or kill,

Or massive deportations

With hatred raging still; 

Those who commit such violence

May reap great power and fame,

But in truth cannot ever

Do these in Jesus's name.

 

The work of Christ can only

Be done in holy love,

Relentless and unyielding

Like that of God above.

Our Christ is not a weapon

For spewing hate and fear;

Let such lies be forever

Denounced for all to hear.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025.

MUSIC: Suggested tune VALET WILL ICH DER GEBEN, Melchior Teschner, 1614; harm. William Henry Monk, 1861.

Something had to be said.