Ebenezer?

I grew up singing hymns. No, I'm not that old, I was just raised in traditional churches. I actually like singing hymns. They teach great theology, and besides being in keys that are a bit too high to sing, they are great music.

I have quite a few favorites--Great is Thy Faithfulness, On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, May the Mind of Christ My Savior, It Is Well with My Soul, and the list goes on...another favorite is Come Thou Fount.

The words were written in the 18th Century by the Methodist Pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson:

1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

2. Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

4. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

5. O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

The thing about hymns is that sometimes they contain words that we don't use any more like "prone" and "thou" and even "Ebenezer". Makes it hard to understand sometimes.

When I was a kid, my dad often used hymns and their stories in the sermons he gave. He used stories about the circumstances in which hymns were written--like It Is Well With My Soul--to illustrate a point he was giving. (You can read about the origin of this great hymn here.) Or, he spoke about phrases or verse from hymns that teach good theology or bible lessons.

I clearly remember learning about Come Thou Fount from him in a sermon--and that funny word "Ebenezer". And, no, there isn't a Scrooge involved in this story.

The word "Ebenezer" actually means "a stone of help" or "memorial stone". It refers to the stone set by Samuel because God had rescued the Israelites from the Philistines. As he named the stones Ebenezer Samuel said "Thus far has the Lord helped us". You can read the complete story in 1 Samuel 7.

I've never forgotten the word "Ebenezer" or the importance of raising one. To me, it's not as much about raising an actual physical altar, such as one of stone, like Samuel, as it is to raise up praise to our God who has "helped us thus far". To mark that at this point in my life, I could not have made it without the help of the Lord. Samuel's statement implies that we can expect this same help in the future. Talk about good theology.

Today is Joel & my fourth anniversary. Although we won't do much to celebrate today--we have plans for this summer--I do hope to "raise an Ebenezer" to our faithful God who has "helped us thus far"--and we have needed it. Raising an Ebenezer helps me remember to thank him for his help and to pray for that same help in the future. I'm sure we will have many "helping stone" markers to place along the way.

When was the last time you "raised an Ebenezer"? Today's a good day to raise one.

(And, no, "Ebenezer" is not on our short list of names for Baby J, in case you were worried.)