OPEN AIR SONGS

 

I have been working at memorizing / re-memorizing some favorite hymns. Among my interests are open air, songs, which, like many of the psalms, open the curtains and let in the sunshine of creation in our worship. “I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” is one of those hymns with its rising mountains, flowing seas, and lofty skies. Indeed, “Lord, how Your wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye, if I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.” 

Then, of course, there is “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” as “hearts unfold” before God like flowers rising to sunlight. In this hymn we ask God to melt “clouds of sin and sadness” and to “drive the dark of doubt away,” so as to “fill us with the light of day.” I have often felt a thrill in the North Carolina mountains, as memory whispered:

“Field and forest, vale and mountain,

Flowery meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird and flowing fountain

Bid me to rejoice in (God).”

Amid all this, the writer exclaims the greatness of God’s grace in terms of a wellspring of living joy and then takes us to the beach to ponder God's “ocean depth of happy rest. And, mind you, all of this is not just for a solitary stroll. With a call to love one another the writer bids us to use this particular walk to take a deep breath of grace in terms of God as our Father and Jesus as our Brother.  
 

Sometime in when you have the opportunity, leaf through a hymnal in search of stanzas which surround us with the fresh air of God’s creation. Then, learn to pray the songs of our Creator.