Another Thought for the Day of the hymns which are special to me and I hope will be of interest to you all. It is ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’.
This hymn has been special for a number of reasons. The first being that I just love the sentiments and the tune which seems to be just right for the words. The tune “Repton” was first published as a hymn tune in 1924 in “Repton School: Hymns for use in Chapel”, and it is the most popular tune for this hymn.
The second reason is that we sang it on the boat on the Sea of Galilee when we visited the Holy Land some years ago. Richard Vickerstaff and his wife, Sylvia, (who sadly are no longer with us) asked my husband to pitch the note for us and to sing this hymn. Sylvia told me how she liked to look to the hills from the boat and picture Jesus watching the farmers sowing grain and walking down to the Sea. This is reflected in verse 3:
O sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love.
On another day we looked out of our hotel balcony to the Sea and saw a small fishing boat, all of a sudden, a storm started, and it was as described in Luke 6:16-21 and we could imagine how the disciples felt. It reminded me of the last verse:
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
So many memories from one hymn and how they can transport you back to another place and time. I wonder how many memories you have from songs and hymns?