Category: video

“Come in! Come in!” Phoebe said as she opened the door. “I have some tea in the parlor…BUT before we have our tea I want to share something with you.”

Fanny made her way into the house, taking Phoebe’s arm for guidance.

“Here, let me take your jacket,” Phoebe offered.

“Thank you. The chill of the wind was a bit overwhelming. I’m grateful to have the warmth of your home for a respite.” Fanny handed her coat to Phoebe as she wiped her feet before stepping into out of the entry hall. “I smell the mint in the air. And what is that? Lemon?”

Phoebe laughed. “Of course, my dear, I remember how much you like the zest of lemon in your tea.” She was always amazed at the insight her friends’ senses gave her in spite of her blindness.

“I can always count on you, Phoebe, to spare no effort in the details.” They laughed together as they made their way into the main house. “Now what is so important that you wish to share that would delay us enjoying our tea? May I ask.”

“Well, you can sip your tea and listen if you want, but I want to share the piece of music I have been blessed to work on this week. It was as if the Lord was pouring it into my heart for me to share with you, Fanny!”

They made their way into the parlor, Phoebe leading Fanny to a chair near the piano. “Now, you sit here and I’ll retrieve your tea. Would you like sugar, today?”

“Of course. It will sweeten the experience.” Fanny said with a laugh.

Phoebe smiled, anticipating how her friend would react to the new piece of music she had composed. They had spent years writing and composing together and she just knew this was a song for Fanny to hear and pen some lyrics.

She handed Fanny her tea, which was received with urgency. Fanny loved her mint tea, with a hint of lemon zest. She sipped with pleasure.

“So good, my friend. Thank you. Now, let’s hear what the Lord has given.”

Phoebe bowed her head and whispered a prayer, then began playing. She played through the entire tune, adding a flourish here and there, her back to Fanny. She had not observed that Fanny had laid her head back after the first time, gazing as through the ceiling, her blind eyes open wide and her smile broadening with each measure.

Phoebe played the final D chord and turned to her friend. At this point, Fanny was sitting forward in her chair, waiting for her friend to complete her presentation.

“So, Fanny. You’ve heard the tune, now. What do you hear it saying?”

Without hesitation and with great elation, Fanny burst forth, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” She leaned back with a smile, repeating, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”

Before she had finished, Phoebe joined her…”Jesus is mine! Oh, Fanny! I knew this was a tune from the Lord, just for you!” She picked up her tea from the table and sipped. “Now, what more do you see.”

She turned and began to play again, pausing with each phrase and looking Fanny’s way. Her smile broadened as Fanny began again, singing the melody…

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood!

They continued for a quarter hour, playing, singing…Phoebe had begun inscribing the lyrics within the music she had composed.

This is my story, this is my song

Praising my Savior all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

…and the story of Fanny’s blind faith continues with us.

Frances “Fanny” Crosby and Phoebe Knapp composed many hymns together over the years, but Blessed Assurance is the hymn that most people remember and sing as one of their favorites.

Fanny was blinded as a baby as a result of a doctor prescribing a mustard poultice for her eyes to reduce swelling and treat infection. The damage to her optic nerves was not reversible. Later in life, Fanny was asked if she would ever change her blindness if she were able. She said this:

“If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind… for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.”

Information about Fanny Crosby, her life, and her writings are readily available. I have included a few links in the notes, below. Don’t forget to join us in singing along with our video presentation found here:

Notes:

Fanny Crosby from United Methodist Discipleship Resources

10 Things You Should Know About Fanny Crosby

Fanny Crosby: Blind But Not Disabled

Time For Worship: Fanny Crosby

Just a quick note: just below our story, there is a clickable that will open more details, including a video that includes an opportunity to sing our featured hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

As John looked out the window of his attic study, he saw the snow falling once again across the church grounds and wondered about the people who would gather the following day for the new year’s prayer service. He prayed for them to come with a renewed gratitude for the profound move that God was continuing to make in their lives, often in spite of their wandering affections.

He knew those wanderings all too well. He reflected again on the course his life had taken since that fateful day in 1748. The ship he was tasked to serve was being tossed by a storm like none he had ever seen. He remembered so clearly crying out, “Lord have mercy on us!” It was the 21st of March…and since that day he had committed himself to a day of remembrance, fasting and prayer.[1] He could never get over the mercy of God to preserve his life and the lives of those on the ship.

“What of this year?” he thought. “Here at the dawning of 1773, what might I say that will bring the hearts of those who come to bow before their gracious God.”

He had chosen for his text 1 Chronicles 17:16, 17

And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God, for thou hast also spoken of  thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

“Who am I?” John thought.

It was a thought that echoed through his mind often. As he looked into the face of his dear wife, Mary; as he looked across the faces gathered at Olney chapel; as he put pen to paper and wrote a lyric or recorded notes for a sermon…”Who am I?”

“This question should be always upon our minds.  Who am I?  What was I when the Lord began to manifest his purposes of love?” [2]

He put pen to paper and continued reflecting on the encouragement he would give. “When the Lord chose to act in love toward us, he found us miserable, rebellious, and undeserving.”

Once again, John reflected on his former life. His thoughts and speech were profane. His rebellious attitude had landed him among the slaves of the Sherbro of Sierra Leone, only to be delivered by sailors dispatched by his father to retrieve him. He had resigned himself to a life of servitude, determined to make Sierra Leone his home, except that his love for Polly (Mary) and the opportunity to return to her offered by the delivering sailors.[3]

His mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired.  Yea [a] few [of] us but resisted his calls, and when he knocked at the door of our hearts endeavoured to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace. [2]

He shuffled the papers aside for a moment. His eyes fell on the lyric he had written especially for this prayer service. As he read them, he imagined again what love God must have to save one like him – A rebel, drafted into the Royal Navy only to be discharged with dishonor for desertion…serving the slave trade, first as a ships mate, then eventually a captain of a slave ship…and that even after he had cried upon the Lord for mercy. He sighed deeply and read, aloud:

Amazing grace!  (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.          

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!             

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

As he spoke those last lyrics, his eyes once again watched the falling snow across the lawn. He thought of the future, when all this present world would pass away. The truth of grace rang within his mind and heart. “Nothing I hold will matter then,” he thought. “Only that forever will mean that I am God’s and he is mine.” He dipped his quill and scrawled a final verse.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine. [4]

“Who am I, indeed?”

CLICK BELOW TO OPEN OUR NOTES AND VIDEO FEATURE

Click for notes and video…

Some things I found interesting as I read and learned about John Newton and Amazing Grace [3]:

• It was an expected practice during Newton’s time for parish pastors to write hymns.
• Newton was criticized for the simplicity of his lyrics and their testimony quality, often using first-person narrative (I.e. saved a wretch like me)
• The majority of hymnals usually only include four or five verses…and the fourth verse is not original to Newton, but an addition from a Negro Spiritual, “Jerusalem My Happy Home”, that had between 50 and 70 verses. That verse was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which was published in 1852. It’s the one that begins, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years…”
• The tune most of us know is called “New Britain” and was not used until the 19th Century (1847), during the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening in North America.
• John Newton’s journal includes this note about the 1773 New Year’s Day prayer service: “I preached this Forenoon from 1 Chron. 17.16,17. Hope I was enabled to speak with some liberty, but found my own heart sadly unaffected.” Read the full journal entry.

Notes:

[1] The John Newton Project: Amazing Grace: Introduction

[2] The John Newton Project: Amazing Grace: The Sermon Notes

[3] Amazing Grace Wiki at Wikipedia

[4] John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779, Book 1, Hymn 41

Tonight, you might be planning to watch the much-anticipated debate between our two candidates for the Presidency of the United States of America. If so, you will surely see and hear a bunch of political noise and commentary around such. I predict the usual name-calling and falsehoods to be shared from each side, hoping to stoke our basest emotions.

Phil Vischer, of Veggie Tales fame, if you happened to have watched any of that, has released an animated short that speaks to how Christians might respond to “politics, as usual.” Phil, and others, are part of a team at what is called, “The Holy Post.” I highly recommend the many podcasts and videos they release. Anyway, Here ya go. Enjoy.