Beautiful Words

Beautiful language.

I’m an appreciator of beautiful language. I don’t know where this came from since I overdosed on Hardy Boys as a youth, not Shakespeare. Every so often, while going through the motions of the week-to-week mundanities, I’ll catch someone saying something beautiful. The words strike my ears like I’ve been snapped. All the words prior to the beautiful language fade away as a phrase tumbles over and over in my mind–on replay.

Our new pastor delivered his first sermon two Sundays ago. It was remarkable how comfortable this fresh-from-the-seminary fellow seemed in front of our congregation for the first time. Anyone visiting would never have guessed he was ‘fresh out of the gate.’ His composure was compelling. His sermon was well-crafted and I don’t recall him ever looking at his notes.

I’d like to say I listened well enough to give a general outline of his sermon two weeks later, but since I sometimes can’t remember what I said one minute prior, I would surely fail at that assignment. However, I will never forget one sentence in the middle of his sermon because it fell into the category of what I call ‘beautiful language.’ Tucked inside the middle of a paragraph, he said sincerely:

“The Lord’s love for me can be seen in a hundred quiet moments.”

I can’t remember anything else from the sermon after that, but I’ve reflected on that sentence multiple times over the past two weeks. It’s not because of the comforting truth stated or because the words sound like they fit together or because poignancy was achieved with such brevity or because nearly every word in the sentence has meaning. It was because that sentence has ALL of those elements listed–at once.

Beautiful language like this doesn’t happen very often. In our culture that is deluged with instant modes of communicating, the art of stringing together words that convey import and sound lovely together seems to be a lost one. Words, posts, tweets, substacks, essays, and opinions abound. But rarely does any of it make me stop and want to press ‘replay.’

Enter the reason why lifting the beautiful language of hymn verses out for all to see on greeting cards that get sent across America seemed like a good idea. The authors of hymns excel at delivering beautiful language to ears and hearts.

When I made my first run through the entire hymnal, categorizing each hymn verse into ‘Birthday, Wedding, etc., I made one category called “Beautiful Words.” The hymn verses in this category earned their way in for their exceptionally beautiful language. Sometimes, I already had them memorized. Many other times, I wish I had them memorized.

This is the first post since beginning an online presence that doesn’t include a picture of a greeting card. That was purposeful, as well as a preview of what’s next on my ‘drawing board–‘ a series of greeting cards without colors or photos–

–just beautiful words.

“Jesus, Sun of Life, my Splendor,

Jesus, Thou my friend most tender,

Jesus, Joy of my desiring,

Fount of life, my soul inspiring–

At Thy feet I cry, my Maker:

Let me be a fit partaker

Of this blessed food from heaven

For our good, Thy glory given.”

(ELH 328:7)

“O Love, Thou bottomless abyss,

My sins are swallowed up in Thee!

Covered is my unrighteousness,

Nor spot of guilt remains on me,

While Jesus’ blood through earth and skies

Mercy, free, boundless mercy! cries.

(ELH 499:3)

“My merry heart is springing,

And knows not how to pine:

‘Tis full of joy and singing,

And radiancy divine.

The Sun whose smiles so cheer me

Is Jesus Christ alone;

To have Him always near me

Is heav’n itself begun.”

(ELH 517:15)

Wishing you keen sight to ‘see the Lord’s love for you in a hundred quiet moments.’ (Credit: Pastor Daniel Wessel)

Happy humming,

Liz