It sits now in a prominent place on my desk. Just in front of the tissue roll that helps remove the ‘strain and stress’ from my far-too-frequent spillages of tea across my desk. Just behind the tangled web of cords that remind me of the ‘strain and stress’ in my life caused by technology. Just next to a picture of my other daughter (Alyssa) – and little Micah – who are coming to visit me in 15 days … now, how’s that for a ‘strain and stress’ reliever?
Sometimes we are led to believe that ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’ are somehow related to each other, maybe even synonyms. In reality, ‘happiness’ is a pathetic word, with its experience marked normally by something shallow and temporary. The experience is more thermometer (controlled by the environment) than it is thermostat (controlling the environment).
Far better, I think, to divorce joy from happiness and remarry it to peace. Because ‘peace is joy resting; joy is peace dancing’. This is where oneness lies – maybe even synonymity. These lyrics speak about the beauty of God’s peace and how God drops it like dew onto our lives – quietly, refreshingly, gently, daily – resting upon us in a way that takes away the strain and stress that comes with living. And when the experience is rich and full, take another look – it might just be joy as well.
This verse gained some profile in the Dunkirk scene in the movie Atonement. I’ll show it here, but it was far more impressive in the flow of the film where it took me so much by surprise:
There are many choral/organ performances of this hymn (Dear Lord and Father of Mankind) but here is a quirky version sung in an odd setting … and yet with its own power (this verse is at 2.48).
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
Thank you. I've now had the hymn rolling around in my head all day, and just now have put the words on my computer desktop to keep it there 🙂
love love love.
Thanks to both of you. Once you get these words resonating around inside, they are difficult to shift!
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LUCY from USA.