{"id":22699,"date":"2019-06-26T08:42:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T12:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=22699"},"modified":"2019-06-26T08:47:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T12:47:45","slug":"worship-wednesday-be-thou-my-vision-noel-richards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=22699","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – Be Thou My Vision – Noel Richards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a>[Adapted from the Archives<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,<\/span>
\nwhose hope is in the Lord<\/span> his God, <\/span>the Maker of heaven and earth,<\/span>
\nthe sea and everything in them.<\/span>
\nHe remains faithful forever,<\/span>
\nexecuting justice for the exploited <\/span>and giving food to the hungry.<\/span>
\nThe Lord<\/span> frees prisoners.<\/span>
\nThe Lord<\/span> opens the eyes of the blind.<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Lord<\/span> raises up those who are oppressed.<\/span>
\nThe Lord<\/span> loves the righteous.<\/span>
\nThe Lord<\/span> protects resident aliens<\/span>
\nand helps the fatherless and the widow,<\/span>
\nbut he frustrates the ways of the wicked. – Psalm 146:5-9<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

What an experience to have our vision restored! In the 8th century, an Irish poet, Dall\u00e1n Forgaill<\/a>, penned the words of what would become the hymn Be Thou My Vision<\/em>. He was blind. The legend goes that his vision was miraculously restored later in his life.<\/p>\n

Whatever our visual capabilities, oh to have the vision that only God can give! To see the world as He sees it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”\u00a0 <\/em>– 1 Samuel 16:7b<\/a><\/p>\n

Hear this, <\/span>you foolish and senseless people.<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have eyes, but they don\u2019t see.<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have ears, but they don\u2019t hear. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/span><\/em>hese people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have turned aside and have gone away. <\/span><\/em>– Jeremiah 5:21, 23<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The strongest memories I have of this song Be Thou My Vision<\/em> are connected with worship across North Africa. When our children were growing up, we \u201cattended church\u201d \u2013 expat families, from various Christian denominations, who gathered once or twice a week to worship in English.\u00a0 We sang great hymns, old and contemporary, with guitar accompaniment, and worship leaders with more British accents than American. I remember our little family, strung out along a pew of these little churches. Our stair-step children, with shoulders squared, singing from hymnals in the early years and then with lyrics projected on the stuccoed front walls.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Eurobishop<\/a><\/p>\n

We sang Be Thou My Vision<\/em>, this old Irish hymn, across three countries in Heliopolis Community Church<\/a> (Cairo), St. George\u2019s<\/a> (Tunis), and St. John\u2019s<\/a> (Casablanca). Before our children all launched back into life in the US, we \u201cattended\u201d traditional church less and became a part of house churches. There we still sang Be Thou My Vision, <\/em>still with guitar<\/a>\u2026less with a British accent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Today we no longer \u201cattend church\u201d in various African countries. Nor are we a part of a house church. Today we are deep in the life of a larger church, bringing our own stuff to the stuff of many others. All of us collectively love God, albeit imperfectly, of course, and want to express His perfect love in our communities.<\/p>\n

This Sunday during worship at Movement Church <\/a>we sang Be Thou My Vision, <\/em>and I was reminded of its great truths and of other years, in other places, where His truth was being made known. In places where we prayed to see people as He sees them…and to love them as He loves.<\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me to the rendition performed by Welsh singer Noel Richards<\/a>. A bit slower than I’m used to but it allows us to soak up the words in worship. Also, all five verses are included which is important.<\/p>\n

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
\nNaught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
\nThou my best Thought, by day or by night,
\nWaking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.<\/p>\n

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
\nI ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
\nThou my great Father, I Thy true son;
\nThou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.<\/p>\n

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
\nBe Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
\nThou my soul\u2019s Shelter, Thou my high Tow\u2019r:
\nRaise Thou me heav\u2019nward, O Pow\u2019r of my pow\u2019r.<\/p>\n

Riches I heed not, nor man\u2019s empty praise,
\nThou mine Inheritance, now and always:
\nThou and Thou only, first in my heart,
\nHigh King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.<\/p>\n

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
\nMay I reach Heaven\u2019s joys, O bright Heav\u2019n\u2019s Sun!
\nHeart of my own heart, whatever befall,
\nStill be my Vision, O Ruler of all.*<\/p>\n

*Lyrics to “Be Thou My Vision”<\/em> – an old Irish hymn (in the Celtic Christian tradition) – translated into the English above by Eleanor Hull in 1912<\/a><\/p>\n

10 Steps to Developing God’s Vision For Your Life<\/em> – J. P. Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

Be Thou My Vision<\/em> \u2013 Wikipedia \u2013 English Methodist Lyrics, 1964<\/a><\/p>\n

Hymn Story to Be Thou My Vision<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

You are My Vision<\/em> \u2013 Rend Collective \u2013 Official Live \u2013 acapella\u00a0part at 2:23 will seriously give you cold chills\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Be Thou My Vision<\/em> – Nathan Pacheco<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: UTubers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Adapted from the Archives] Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners. The … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – Be Thou My Vision – Noel Richards<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[799,2126,183,794,50,5221,903,33,18,2611,888,432,3752,761,1456,32,47,203,946],"tags":[477,7337,7332,7338,2762,331,5795,7335,2021,7336,7331,473,7333,7334,2086,49,360],"class_list":["post-22699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-2","category-community","category-culture-religion","category-faithfulness","category-god","category-god-the-father","category-grace","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-love-your-neighbor","category-memories","category-music","category-purpose-in-life","category-redeeming-restoring","category-steadfast-love","category-walk-with-god","category-wednesday-worship","category-word-of-god","category-worship","tag-be-thou-my-vision","tag-celtic-christianity","tag-dallan-forgaill","tag-eleanor-hull","tag-heliopolis-community-church","tag-hymn","tag-ireland","tag-j-p-jones","tag-movement-church","tag-nathan-pacheco","tag-noel-richards","tag-rend-collective","tag-st-georges-church","tag-st-johns-church","tag-vision","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-5U7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22699"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22712,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22699\/revisions\/22712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}