JeremyGoodwyne

Hymn: In The Secret of His Presence

By jdgoodwyne on Jun 23, 2010 in Blog | 3 Comments

This may be in my top 5 list of favorite hymns. (Note: It is granted, that my top five lists tend to be populated by hundreds of items, but I don’t want that fact to detract from the force of my commendation of it to you, dear reader.) I have literally emptied buckets of tears as I listened to this song over and over. The text was penned by Ellen Lakshmi Goreh, a high-caste Indian convert to Christianity. The original music is terrible, I think, but the great source of all music RUF, Christopher Miner wrote new music which supports the text wonderfully.

I find the song to have a post-Psalm 51 feel. It considers not just correction, but the sweetness of correction. I identify strongly with the complex emotion represented; nothing simple like happiness or sadness, but something deeper. It’s that strange feeling when you have stumbled in the dark for weeks, months, or years, and someone has finally brought a perfect, marvelous light which burns your eyes in a way you cannot begin to describe, but for which you are so thankful, through tears and pain. The last verse contains an implication for those around me, an invitation to come and join, similar to the way in which Psalm 51 cries “forgive me, restore me, and I will bring sinners to find the joy I have found!”

In The Secret of His Presence
Text: Ellen Lakshmi Goreh

In the secret of His presence
How my soul delights to hide!
Oh, how precious are the lessons
Which I learn at Jesus’ side!
Earthly cares can never vex me,
Neither trials lay me low;
For when Satan comes to tempt me,
To the secret place I go.

When my soul is faint and thirsty,
‘Neath the shadow of His wing
There is cool and pleasant shelter,
And a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Savior rests beside me,
As we hold communion sweet;
If I tried, I could not utter
What He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know: I tell Him
All my doubts and griefs and fears;
Oh, how patiently He listens!
And my drooping soul He cheers;
Do you think He ne’er reproves me?
What a false friend He would be,
If He never, never told me
Of the sins which He must see.

Would you like to know that sweetness
Of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow;
This shall then be your reward;
And whene’er you leave the silence
Of that happy meeting-place,
By the Spirit bear the image
Of the Master in your face.

Chris Miner’s version can be purchased here.

A beautiful (and digital) version by Sandra McCracken is here and here.

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Quote: from “Atlas Shrugged” – Ayn Rand (#2)

By jdgoodwyne on Jun 17, 2010 in Blog | 0 Comments

Background: The recipient of an enormous inherited fortune, Francisco d’Anconia has recently purchased a number of copper mines in Mexico. Managers and workers have been hired to pull profit from the earth. The only problem is that it is in Mexico- the government of which has been seizing property with impunity, “nationalizing” everything in the name of the “will of the people.” The most prominent railroad company in the US has built a lengthy line down to these mines in the hopes of benefiting on the need for transportation of raw material. The company is run by a stooge, Jim Taggart, a man completely void of reason. Against his sister Dagny’s warnings, he moved forward with the costly deal. Ultimately, of course, Mexico seized the mines, only to discover that they were empty, no copper to be found. Jim is furious with d’Anconia, who seems quite pleased with himself. Jim confronts d’Anconia at a social event:

“I’m entitled to an explanation! You owe your stockholders an account of the whole disgraceful affair! Why did you pick a worthless mine? Why did you waste all those millions? What sort of rotten swindle was it?”

Francisco stood looking at him in polite astonishment. “Why, James,” he said, “I thought you would approve of it.”

“Approve?!”

“I thought you would consider the San Sebastián Mines as the practical realization of an ideal of the highest moral order. Remembering that you and I have disagreed so often in the past, I thought you would be gratified to see me acting in accordance with your principles.”

“What are you talking about?”

Fransisco shook his head regretfully. “I don’t know why you should call my behavior rotten. I thought you would recognize it as an honest effort to practice what the whole world is preaching. Doesn’t everyone believe that it is evil to be selfish? I was totally selfless in regard to the San Sebastián project. Isn’t it evil to pursue a personal interest? I had no personal interest in it whatever. Isn’t it evil to work for profit? I did not work for profit–I took a loss. Doesn’t everyone agree that the purpose and justification of an industrial enterprise are not production, but the livelihood of its employees? The San Sebastián Mines were the most eminently successful venture in industrial history: they produced no copper, but they provided a livelihood for thousands of men who could not have achieved in a lifetime, the equivalent of what they got for one day’s work, which they could not do. Isn’t it generally agreed that an owner is a parasite and an exploiter, that it is the employees who do all the work and make the product possible? I did not exploit anyone. I did not burden the San Sebastián Mines with my useless presence; I left them in the hands of the men who count. I did not pass judgment on the value of that property. I turned it over to a mining specialist. He was not a very good specialist, but he needed the job very badly. Isn’t it generally conceded that when you hire a man for a job, it is his need that counts, not his ability? Doesn’t everyone believe that in order to get the goods, all you have to do is need them? I have carried out every moral precept of our age. I expected gratitude and a citation of honor. I do not understand why I am being damned.”

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Quote: from “Atlas Shrugged” – Ayn Rand

By jdgoodwyne on Jun 16, 2010 in Blog | 1 Comment

From “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. I bought this tiny version because it was $10 at B&N, instead of this $25 version which is not in fact $25. To the quote:

“She stopped tonight, as usual, to buy a package of cigarettes. “How is the collection?” she asked him. “Any new specimens?”

He smiled sadly, shaking his head. “No, Miss Taggart. There aren’t any new brands made anywhere in the world. Even the old ones are going, one after another. There’s only five or six kinds left selling now. There used to be dozens. People aren’t making anything new anymore.”

“They will. That’s only temporary.”

He glanced at her and did not answer. Then he said, “I like cigarettes, Miss Taggart. I like to think of fire held in a man’s hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking, I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind–and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression.”

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Rest in Peace, Dana Key

By jdgoodwyne on Jun 7, 2010 in Blog | 0 Comments

From GoMemphis.com:

“Memphis Christian rock pioneer Dana Key, one-half of the best-selling duo DeGarmo & Key, founder of two important gospel music labels and in his later years, founder and pastor builder of The Love of Christ Church in Cordova, died Sunday night at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville.

Key, who had had a history of blood clots, was taken to the hospital at about 8 p.m. after complaining of pain in his legs and died around 9:45 p.m. said his daughter, Scottie Key.

He was 56 years old.

“(Key’s) very first concert was Jimi Hendrix, and he sat in the front row,” said Key’s friend Charles “Buddy” Abbott, a bandmate in the high school group Globe. “He used to breakout at our shows, and you’d think Hendrix was playing. He was playing behind his back and with his teeth and all that.”

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Some Reads

By jdgoodwyne on Jun 4, 2010 in Blog | 2 Comments

I just got a bunch of books in that I’m very excited to jump into. I had sent an email to Bruce Benedict, Worship and Community Life Director at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC, and creator of Cardiphonia, a blog about prayer, song, art and liturgy in the church, and I asked him to send me a few titles he recommends for worship insight. He sent me a list, I ordered them and hopefully I can write a few words about them as I read them. Here they are, as follows: