Hymns of the Church – Sunset and Evening Star – 20 February 2024, Anno Domini (In the Year of our Lord)

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ET the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. 

(Colossians. 3:16)

 

            This is a beautiful and a slightly melancholy hymn composed by the great British writer, Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1889. I first knew it as a poem which we read in the 5^th grade of elementary school (Crossing the Bar), but just found its musical score as a hymn. Needless to say, this hymn is in the public domain. The tune is the work of Samuel Beazley of the same title. Tennyson is a man for whom I share a high respect with all the men and women of the English-speaking world. His writings were mostly tender, thoughtful and possessed of great beauty in verse.

 

Sunset and Evening Star

 

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar

When I put out to sea;

 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

 

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark;

 

For, though from out our bourne of time and place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.

 

            Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar When I put out to sea; This hymn comes close to being the requiem for its writer. Tennyson suffered from depression following the death of his son, Lionel, enroute from India with jungle fever. His wirings suffered for a time, but he rallied to write Crossing the Bar in 1889. Of all the blows of mortality, the cruelest was the death from jungle fever of his younger son, Lionel, who had fallen ill in India and was returning by ship to England. Lionel died in the Red Sea, and his body was put into the waves Beneath a hard Arabian moon/And alien stars. Tennyson died three years later in 1892. Yet, these lines express a heart of love for his fellows and family. Loved very nearly as much as Queen Victoria at his death, he desired no excessive mourning at his passage into etertnity. The end-call of death is clear and certain, and one must obey, but one should not go into that long night screaming and clutching to the gift of life. It is best, always to put out to sea in calm winds. At the moment of death, the billows subside, and a gentle peace follows in its wake. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit return unto God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)

 

            But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. For some death comes up as a specter, but to others as a soothing balm of the soul. We grow old and afflicted with the common ailments of age, and this makes death far less frightful if we know of our destiny beyond the curtain of time. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)Life is a cycle. We were made from scratch by the hand of God, and He will, at last, reclaim the spirit with which He has imbued us.

 

Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark; How often have I fallen into a sound sleep after the buglers sounding of taps in the military. That is what death truly is – it is taps for the body, and renewed life for the soul. We need the rest from a life of struggle and care, and God gives us songs in the long night of the soul if we have followed Him. Tennyson views our existence as a ship on the seas of life. The evening bell sounds, and it is time for sleep. If we truly believe the promise of our Lord’s many mansions, we will not look back as we weigh anchor for the Eternal Sea.

 

For, though from out our bourne of time and place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar. Just as Fanny Crosby has repeatedly claimed in her many hymns, the elect shall see Christ face-to-face once we have breached that stormy passage across Jordan Banks. We are pilgrims in this land of sorrows, but then, in that far distant shore, we shall be citizens of Heaven. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (Revelation 22:2-4)