Tune My Heart

The more I take the time to listen to the words of hymns, the more I am moved by the depth of their theology. It’s easy to sing along and not pay attention to the words. The tune is familiar and so it’s easy to slip into autopilot and wait for the song to be over. Then there are the songs that you have heard over and over and one day they take you by surprise.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing is one of those songs. I’ve heard it so many times. The tune is memorable and easy to keep humming the rest of the day. But the words, when you stop to think about them, cover all the bases of relationship with God.

Last week our choir sang this song at church. This version, arranged by Mack Wilberg, is either a soprano’s wildest dream or worst nightmare. The high C is so high, it’s optional. We can’t hold a candle to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but we sang our hearts out. Rehearsing it over and over gave me a chance to meditate on the lyrics and the symbolism behind them.  

Tune my heart to sing thy grace…
…teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above…

I love the idea of our heart being an instrument. There are times when the music soars and then there are times when it needs to be tuned. Have you heard a piano being played out of tune? It’s kind of painful. But when it’s in tune and the musician is adept at using it to its fullest potential, the beauty it can bring into the world is inspiring. The thought of allowing God to tune my heart and then surrendering to him so that he can bring forth beauty that only he truly knows how to play is both terrifying and inspiring. He alone, knows our fullest potential and what we are capable of but sometimes a surrendered and inspired life can be the most difficult pieces to play. When we allow him to work through us, following his direction, trusting he knows where to rest and where to speed up; the result is magnificent. 

Prone to wander Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.

Every so often our pianist and organist will sit together at the piano and play a four-handed piece. When they are completely in sync with each other, the rhythms and harmonies are so complex it can take your breath away. The spirit can move through our lives the way those hands move over the keys. Always there, always accompanying, never ceasing the theme and variations that are unique to each of us. Allowing us to wander away from the melody or drop out all together but always present and ready to continue the song.

Here’s  my heart Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

Has a more beautiful verse ever been written? Here, Lord, take my heart and make it yours. Put your seal on it that no one can break. Can’t you just imagine the reverence and tenderness that God has for our hearts? When we offer our heart freely and ask for him to take care of it, he wraps it in his grace and mercy then places an unbreakable seal around it. No matter how out of tune we become or how far we wander from our melody, he never let’s go. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPKpkrqBwNs

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.

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come,
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

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.
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