Today\u2019s offertory is an arrangement of \u201cRepton,\u201d one of Parry\u2019s most beloved tunes. He wrote the tune in 1888 for an oratorio. And in 1924 George Gilbert Stocks, director of music at Repton School, set it to \u201cDear Lord and Father of mankind,\u201d hence the tune\u2019s name, \u201cRepton.\u201d Parry had no clue that his melody would be paired with this hymn by John G. Whittier, an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This anthem is an arrangement by H.A. Chambers, a composer and publisher. The best verse is \u201cBreathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm; let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm.\u201d It\u2019s remarkable how this beloved treasure of a tune, a hymn, and an anthem rose up in different people who never intended to be \u201ccollaborators.\u201d We\u2019re all collaborating, but we just don\u2019t realize it. The collective is at work, but there are those among us who think otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we let our senses be dumb, our flesh retire, and we yield to the still, small voice of calm, things just seem to fit together. We realize everything is indeed out of our hands. Most of us, however, are too busy \u201cmaking\u201d things happen. In a famous Bee Gees song, \u201cStaying Alive,\u201d the lyrics say, \u201cI\u2019m a lady\u2019s man, no time to talk.\u201d We\u2019re busy trying to make it. We\u2019re trying hard to keep our separate identities alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of staying alive is more related to death than anything. In this sense, we are trying to keep the flesh alive \u2013 our exteriority and our cause. How futile! You indeed have time to talk. The crux of life is softness, anonymity, willingness, and surprise. If you\u2019re too busy being \u201cElon Musk,\u201d you have no time to talk. I heard he must travel with 20 bodyguards. What a shame. He can\u2019t just anonymously meander into the local coffee shop for a chitchat. Keeping up that kind of rigid persona is very much like staying alive, forgetting that you are indeed dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In letting go, cooling down, and \u201cretiring,\u201d we relieve ourselves of the nonsense of keeping up appearances. By remaining open, we begin living by our heart\u2019s desire, which breathes through the heats of our superficial desire. Parry wrote a melody that was never intended to be a hymn, yet it lives in infamy that way. It was conjured up and \u201cstays alive\u201d in ways we cannot explain. It seems propped up by itself. It made an appearance and never had to keep one up. No one had to work hard to keep it up or make it \u201cstay alive.\u201d It was created and has life on its own, abundantly. The same is true of us, if only we would drop the pretense of our controlling waywardness.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breathing through the heats of desire is what cools you down to learn of your heart\u2019s desire \u2013 unconditional love and service to your higher calling. If you are open, supple, and yielding, you are really <\/em>living. Your heart\u2019s desires are always giving and forgiving and they breathe through the heats of your fleshly desire. Staying alive is different from being <\/em>alive. You never know how things will be conjured up. Best to stay out of the way than to stay alive. What a great reminder in this mysteriously moving anthem that seems to have been constructed in a surprisingly circuitous way. Soli Deo Gloria! <\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s offertory is an arrangement of \u201cRepton,\u201d one of Parry\u2019s most beloved tunes. He wrote the tune in 1888 for an oratorio. And in 1924 George Gilbert Stocks, director of music at Repton School, set it to \u201cDear Lord and Father of mankind,\u201d hence the tune\u2019s name, \u201cRepton.\u201d Parry had no clue that his melody […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soli-deo-gloria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n