Good morning,
This week’s devotions will be about comfort and encouragement during these dark days of Covid-19. Many seniors are dying and leaving loved ones alone for the first time in years.
“Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you.” (James 4:8)
The hymn “Near to the Heart of God” was written by Cleland B. McAfee in 1903. This hymn was born out of tragic circumstances. Cleland McAfee (1866-1944) suffered the loss of two infant nieces to diphtheria in 1903.
There is a place of quiet rest,
near to the heart of God;
a place where sin cannot molest,
near to the heart of God.
There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God;
a place where we our Savior meet,
near to the heart of God.
There is a place of full release,
near to the heart of God;
a place where all is joy and peace,
near to the heart of God.
REFRAIN
O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
sent from the heart of God,
hold us who wait before thee
near to the heart of God.
McAfee was preacher and choir director of the campus Presbyterian Church at Park College, Parkville, Mo. His daughter described the account in her book, Near to the Heart of God. Hymnologist William J. Reynolds quotes the account:
“The family and town were stricken with grief. My father often told us how he sat long and late thinking of what could be said in word and song on the coming Sunday…. So he wrote the little song. The choir learned it at the regular Saturday night rehearsal, and afterward they went to Howard McAfee’s home and sang it as they stood under the sky outside the darkened, quarantined house. It was sung again on Sunday morning at the communion service…. The hymn was first included in The Choir Leader, October, 1903.”
UM Hymnal editor, the Rev. Carlton R. Young, suggests that the “stanzas affirm that near to God’s heart is a meeting place with the Savior, a place of ‘quiet rest,’ ‘comfort,’ ‘full release,’ and ‘joy and peace.’ The refrain petitions Jesus to sustain us near to God’s heart.”
“The unpretentious language is descriptive in the stanzas—painting a vivid picture of either the afterlife (heaven?) or a place where we can meet God face-to-face in prayer. The refrain finds its highest musical pitch on the word “Jesus”—invoking the “Redeemer” to “hold us . . . near to the heart of God.”
This is where each of us should endeavor to dwell. If we are dwelling in His presence daily, He will be able to guide, sustain, and comfort you along life’s rocky road.
Please encourage others with this thought.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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