The disciples saw the Temple

The disciples saw the Temple, beautiful, with massive stone.

But their Master spoke of ruin; broken, shattered, razed and gone.

So they questioned Jesus sorely, wondering when such times might be;

And he gave them this in answer, teaching them that they might see:

 

"You see wars and insurrections; these will come, this is for sure;

See these earthquakes, plagues and famines, such disasters to endure.

You will all see persecution, prisons, trial by would-be kings;

I will give you words of answer when you undergo these things."

 

We may read these things and wonder how such times sound like our own;

Scorned by families, friends, and neighbors, feeling lost and all alone.

Still our call is to endurance, pressing on the upward way, 

So that we may still be standing, true and faithful on that day. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, November 2025, after Luke 21:5-19.

MUSIC: Tune BEACH SPRING, The Sacred Harp, 1884

 

 

Preliminary reading on a forthcoming lectionary reading led to this hymn. It wasn't my intention to observe parallels to our current time, but some such things may have slipped out. And yes, a snippet of the old gospel hymn "Higher Ground" did sneak into the final stanza. 

 

 

When teaching for the Sabbath

When teaching for the Sabbath in synagogue one day,

Our Lord did see a woman who could not make her way.

Bent over and unable to stand up straight or tall, 

For eighteen years she lived so, with no hope seen at all.

 

When Jesus saw her waiting, he called her out and said,

"See, woman, you are free now," with hands placed on her head.

Immediately she straightened and cried out earnest praise,

Rejoicing in renewed health to last her all her days.

 

The synagogue's own leader was vexed and wroth and sore

That healing work had happened on Sabbath, not before.

Our Lord called out his error and challenged his false ways,

And all the people mocked him, but Jesus heard their praise.

 

Is healing ever wrong or somehow out of place?

Are there some circumstances to turn away God's grace?

When Jesus, on the Sabbath, did help her stand up tall,

He showed that healing comes forth in any time and all.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2025, after Luke 13:10-17.

MUSIC: Preferred tune MERLE'S TUNE, Hal H. Hopson, 1983 Copyright 1983 Hope Publishing Company. 

Alternate tunes: 

AURELIA, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864.

VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN, Melchior Teschner, 1614; harm. William Henry Monk, 1861.

MUNICH, Neuvermehrtes Meiningisches Gesangbuch, 1693; adapt. Felix Mendelssohn, 1847. 

 

The hymn-writing impulse might be back; having some clarity about my future apparently helps, as this is one of two hymns I wrote in one day after being unable to write much all summer. Since the preferred tune is under copyright I don't print it here; the given tune, VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN, is one most congregations sing on Palm Sunday. 

There were two disciples

There were two disciples who took to the road when Jesus their teacher was gone.

Their master had been crucified like a thief and now seemed the time to move on.

But as they were walking, despairing and low, another man came alongside;

When he questioned the two, they told all that happened and how their great teacher had died.

 

Much to their surprise, the man started to teach and opened the travelers' eyes

With words of the prophets that spoke of the one, their Teacher both holy and wise.

They came to Emmaus to stay for the night, invited this man to join in;

But when he broke the bread, something opened their eyes - see, their Teacher was living again!

 

As they were astounded to see Jesus there, he then disappeared from their sight. 

They gathered themselves to go back to the city, hastening with all of their might, 

And there they did hear how their Jesus drew near to Simon and others that day.

Resurrection had come! Now their call was so clear: time to follow their Lord on the way.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2025, after Luke 24:13-35.

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA, American folk melody.

 

 

Apparently being on a plane with no wifi can be a moment when hymn inspiration can happen. This text sits oddly in the Easter cycle, but it's a good scripture text, and I figure it was eventually going to force its way into hymn-text form somehow. 

 

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.