In 1991 the United Reformed Church published a new hymn book; Rejoice and Sing was welcomed by many and criticised by many too for all the hymns that had been ‘left out’. I soon found that there was new hymnody there, or new to me anyway, that broadened my mind. Early on I came across Fred Kaan’s translation of a superb Swedish hymn by Anders Frostenson about the expanse of God’s love. To my mind this modernised Frederick Faber’s now dated ‘there’s a wideness in God’s mercy’. With hindsight this latter still takes some beating but that is another story.
The first verse and refrain say:
The love of God is broad like beach and meadow
wide as the wind, and an eternal home.
God leaves us free to seek him or reject him,
he gives us room to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Your love, O God, is broad like beach and meadow
wide as the wind, and an eternal home.
The sense of breadth and space push the boundaries of human limits of perception while coupling space to be with God with nothing being beyond God. Then add in the unseen power of wind and timelessness and the fuses in thought’s delicate circuitry are at blowing point.
Here too lies the answer to the question ‘why is it optional to acknowledge God’ when, to the minds of those who have found him, he is the answer to so many unanswered questions and dilemmas.
The answer is the same as the miracle of the expansive love; it is about freedom, ultimate freedom to believe or not which is one of the many great gifts of God to his created, which he gives because of his massive love. We can answer life’s big questions and respond, or not, to him according to the conclusions of our own minds.
The causeway between Burgh Island and the Devon Coast is covered in water at each high tide but never impassable for more than a few hours at a time and when it opens it is just an expanse of beach. Always present but sometimes hidden from some minds, God’s love is never invisible the clock round.
A Prayer
Lord and loving creator, we praise you for the freedom to believe you have gifted to us; grant us the grace to let our minds work out how to believe and in your mercy, forgive our narrowness and feed our souls with your huge wisdom. Help us in our seeking and comfort us in our rejection, even when we are not aware of your comfort, for Jesus sake. Amen.