Hymn Challenge #14: Breathe on Me, Breath of God
Written by: Edwin Hatch
b. Sep. 4, 1835; d. Nov. 10, 1889
Edwin Hatch was born in Derby, England. He graduated from Pembroke College in Oxford. In 1859, he was ordained as a priest and traveled to Canada where he was professor of classics at Trinity College until 1862. He returned to Oxford in 1867.
Two weeks ago our church had an Acapella Sunday. I have never participated in a service like that, and I must tell you, it was amazing! Our music pastor was out of town, so our senior pastor thought it would be nice to have an Acapella Sunday. Our pastor noted that some churches today worship this way each week stating that there is no reference to instrumental music in early church worship in the New Testament. This hymn is one of the hymns that we sang during our service. Below you will see a link to my church singing this hymn two weeks ago. Now onto our study of this hymn. First let's look at the words since it is a short hymn yet very meaningful.
Verse 1
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way You love,
and do what You would do.
Verse 2
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with Yours,
to do and to endure.
Verse 3
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with You the perfect life
for all eternity.
When a person accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit. So, what is the role of the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? As our pastor said this past Sunday: "God created us, Jesus redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit convicts us." Then I found this on Pinterest last night:
Ezekiel 36:27 "And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
John 20:22 "And with that He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"
Do you just ever have that "feeling" inside that you should do something or you know something is right or wrong? Some people would say that is your conscience but as Christians, we know that is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Are you relying on the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit gives us the desire to be holy. Our holiness, our character, is the most important thing about us because we represent God. Let me say that again—we represent God. Wow! That knowledge should affect us in every part of our life. How are you representing the Lord at work, around town, and better yet at home? Our homes are the hardest place to remain holy yet be careful—your children and grandchildren are watching and learning.
I love what Verse 1 says "that I may love the way you love, and do what you would do," and Verse 2 "until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure." Are you truly loving the way He loves? How about towards the neighbor you have feuded with for years? Or towards that person with different political views? And are you truly seeking His will or are you doing things your own way? That might work for a time but in the end, following His will is always the better choice.
1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."
The Holy Spirit also guides us in all truth. We experience the truth and then it changes our lives. The truth leads us and over a gradual and continual journey with the Holy Spirit you experience sanctification of the believer. The Holy Spirit then glorifies Jesus through our daily life and actions. Sanctification of the believer is the pruning process. God in us transforms us into the image of Christ and the person He wants us to be. He works on us personally and it is continual process. Are you cooperating in that process or are you fighting it?
John 14:16-17 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth."
John 16:12-13a "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”
Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Will you ask the Holy Spirit to have greater control of your daily life and to be a more effective ambassador for Christ? Is the Holy Spirit just residing in you or is He fully filling each part of your daily life?
Below you will find the sheet music for today's hymn. And for a special treat, you can listen to my church sing this from Acapella Sunday by clicking here. Our pastor moved everyone around so that sopranos were in one spot, altos in another, and so forth. We then practiced a few minutes, and WOW! I was SO impressed. We must have a lot of members with choir experience because I can’t believe we accomplished this in just a few moments. Our pastor only filmed the last bit but we sang the entire hymn. You can also click here to listen to Steve Green sing this beautiful hymn!
*My love for Christ (hearts)
*I am a new creation in Christ (butterflies)
*I need to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit everywhere including at home (house)
I also used the Blue Fern Studios Doily Bunting and Nested Circles chipboard. I left the chipboard raw but then splattered on white gesso. I also put gesso on a piece of bubble wrap and "dotted" it on the page. The scripture I chose was John 14:16-17 noted above.
Blue Fern Studios chipboard: Doily Bunting, Nested Circles
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz gathered twigs
Sketch: Scrap and Music sketch #3
Embellishments: Manor House Creations Imagine berry pink flower; Jillibean Soup craft frame; Memory Box Typewriter alpha dies; Studio Calico wood veneers; Wild Orchid Crafts leaves; sewing machine
Remember to use Keyword HSCRC13 when posting your creations in any online galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here. Have a blessed week ahead!
5 comments:
ALL is so beautiful Patter!
I love the time and thought you put into your creations, Patter...it says a lot about you and the God you serve...your page is beautiful and very meaningful in the way you explained it...Thank you so much for this 2013 challenge.
Such a beautiful message...thank you for sharing this!
I can not thank you enough for the sermon this morning. We usually watch our church service on line because of my husbands disability we no longer make it to services. This morning we didn't get to watch and I have had this uneasy feeling all day. Well, I sat down to rest for a moment and thought I would look at my emails. Up popped your blog and I started reading. It made me feel so good inside because now I feel like the void is filled and what a wonderful lesson for the week. I think this was from the Holy Spirit because I was talking to a friend last week. She was raised Methodist and married in the Catholic Church. Somehow in conversation a church ( she called Holy Roller ) came up. She said they scare her. I asked, "are you talking about the Holy Spirit."? She said, "yes". I went on to try and explain what a comfort and guide the Holy Spirit can be to a person and there is no need for fear. I really haven't felt she really understood. This is one reason I am so excited about your message. I am forwarding it to her and praying it makes a difference in the way she understands it now. Patter,please believe your blog makes a difference even when someone doesn't write back to you. Thank you for today. God bless you.
Debbie
Amen, Patter! I feel passionately moved by eloquent hymnody, especially when God's people sing in harmony---so symbolic of the way our differences are part of what makes it work! Your layout was characteristically lovely and well-thought out, words I often use to describe your website to others.
Thank you for making and sharing this. --Jennifer in OH
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