The God Who Sees

When Hagar fled from Sarah's wrath into the wilderness,

God moved an angel to come down and ask of her distress.

"I'm running from my owner's wife, whom I can never please."

She knew not yet that she had come before the God who sees.

 

The angel told her to return, that in God's great design

The son she bore would be the first of his prolific line.

She wondered how this Lord could give pronouncements such as these;

And in her wonder named this Lord to be the God who sees.

 

A woman drawing from a well was called out for a drink;

Samaritan woman, Jewish man - she knew not what to think.

She questioned him, and his replies left her so ill at ease;

She knew not yet that she had come before the God who sees.

 

She knew he was a prophet, yet he clearly was much more;

He told her everything she'd done in all her life before.

She wondered how this man could give pronouncements such as these;

And in her wonder knew this man to be the God who sees.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2026, after Genesis 16 and John 4.

MUSIC: Tune RESIGNATION, USA folk melody, Lewis's Beauties of Harmony, 1828.

 

 

In a session on neglected figures in hymnody (as in hymns about, not writers), the subject of biblical women inevitably came up. Of those women somehow Hagar, the servant girl of Sarah's who got rather badly treated, formed a couple of stanzas of a hymn and wouldn't let me put it aside. Then out of nowhere the woman at the well in John 4 (who wasn't even mentioned in the session) showed up saying "hey, what about me?" Since both had the experience of being uniquely seen by God, it worked well enough to make a hymn. It might not be finished, but I need to let it settle for a while. 

 

 

 

Now Christ's peace be with you

Refrain:

Now Christ's peace be with you,

And again Christ's peace be with you;

As the Father sent Jesus,

Even now, know that he sends you,

Now Christ's peace be with you.

 

Let the Holy Spirit come

Into all your soul and being.

If their sins you're forgiving,

They can know their sins forgiven.

 

Refrain

 

Is it only when you see

That your heart becomes believing?

Who believes, though not seeing,

Truest blessings are receiving.

 

Refrain

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after John 20:19-31.

MUSIC: Tune WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, Irish melody (arrangements vary).

The "doubting Thomas" account in John 20 has never cooperated well with efforts at making a hymn. In this case taking some of Jesus's words to the disciples and then to Thomas offered a route to what might serve as a hymn of instruction, in a way.

 

 

 

Rise Up

Rise up, old bones, return to life,
Take sinew, flesh, and breath;
Give witness to the power of God,
A power that overcomes death,
A power that overcomes death.

Rise up, dear friend, return to life,
No longer in the grave;
Give witness to the love of God
That drives a Savior to save,
That drives a Savior to save.

Rise up, old church, return to life,
No longer drowned in fear;
Give witness to the word of God
The world refuses to hear, etc.

Rise up, my heart, return to life,
No longer bound in sin;
Give witness to the grace of God
And let a new life begin, etc.

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2014; MUSIC Tune DOVE OF PEACE, American folk melody 

 

Suitable for Lent 5A, both the dry bones and Lazarus represented. 

 

  

A woman who came to the well

A woman who came to the well for some water

found someone she did not know;

a man sitting there all alone with no pail, and

wondered why he sat there so.

As she drew out water and then turned to go,

he said to her "Give me a drink."

The Samaritan woman was thrown for a loss

and she no longer knew what to think.

 

"How do you, a Jewish man, speak to me here,

much less ask me now for a drink?"

"If you knew who I was,!" you surely would ask me

for living water, I think."

"Sir, give me this water, I ask you, so I

would never need come here again!"

But he told her, "Go, call your husband" as if

he did not know her history with men.

 

She knew that he must be a prophet, at least,

yet questioned him more, nonetheless.

He answered her more and with prophetic vision,

and still she continued to press:

"I know the Messiah will come to us all,

and proclaim all things that will be."

And he said, "Do you see I am here talking to you?

Yes, I am the one; I am he."

 

She ran to her village to tell all the people

"There is a man you must see!

He told me of everything that I have done!

Could he the Anointed One be?"

They came and they heard and believed every word,

and asked him to stay two more days.

And so, this one Samaritan town knew the wonder

of Jesus and his saving ways.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after John 4:1-45.

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA (MAJOR), American folk melody, alt.

 

 

A hymn on the "woman at the well" story, tightened up just a little bit (the disciples get left out). Those who pay attention to the tunes chosen for these texts will note that this American folk tune, found in Glory to God at #77, is here flipped to major instead of the minor tune as it appears in the hymnal. Will probably need some polishing in the future, but it does fit to Lent 3A, so here it is just in case.

 

 

  

 

When Mary went out to the tomb

When Mary went out to the tomb alone in darkness, burdened sore,

She saw the tomb was standing open, guarding stone in place no more.

She ran to tell what she had seen and two disciples made their way;

They saw the grave clothes lying there and wondered, but they did not stay.

 

But Magdalene remained in place, now even more consumed with grief,

Then in the tomb she saw two angels - wondrous sight beyond belief!

She turned and saw the gardener, or so she thought this man must be;

So sore confused and still in shock that Jesus there she could not see.

 

When still she could not see her Jesus, he then stopped and said her name;

Both strong and clear, it stirred her sight so she would never be the same.

He had to tell her not to cling, but gave her this as her reward;

To bear the news to his disciples, saying "I have seen the Lord!"

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2025, after John 20:1-18.

MUSIC: Tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody.

 

 

Various necessities have slowed hymn-writing, but after a few weeks of intermittent work an Easter hymn is finally here. Somehow I have written two hymns on Mark's minimalist Easter account but none on any other gospel reports, so the text from John's gospel - the scripture the RCL always recommends - was chosen, with Mary Magdalene's role as first witness brought forward. 

When Israel's people fell away

When Israel's people fell away, complaining and aggrieved,

They begged for Moses then to pray their suffering be relieved.

Like all the serpents on the ground whose poisonous bite did kill,

He made a serpent out of bronze according to God's will.

 

Then Moses placed that snake of bronze upon a pole on high,

So those who suffered serpent-bite could see it and not die.

As Moses lifted up that snake out in the wilderness,

So was the Son of Man raised up, the Son of Righteousness.

 

God loved this fallen world so much his only Son he gave,

So those who followed would not die, but they the Lord would save.

God did not send his Son to earth to punish or condemn,

But so the world in all its fullness might be saved through him.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2024, after Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-17.

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

So in considering the passage from John I wasn't optimistic about finding a way to a hymn text, but somehow the idea of dipping into the Numbers reading seemed to provide a "running start" to developing the fuller hymn. I never expected to find a way to set verse 16, but there it is.