Hello OCBC family!

Next week is a special holiday, Thanksgiving Day.  This is the time of the year that we can stop for one moment and give thanks to God for all His blessings.  I love this time because hymnology is very rich about this theme. There are several hymns and songs that encourage us to give thanks.  My favorite one, among many, is the Doxology.  This is the prayer that we sing every night in our home before bed.

The author of this short but deep hymn was Thomas Ken.  Ken was born in 1637, but became an orphan when he was very young and his sister raised him.  When he was an adult, Ken held various church and academic positions.  It was during this time that he wrote three hymns for morning and evening devotions.  Each hymn ended with the lyrics of the hymn that we know now as the “Doxology.”

The melody that we use for the Doxology is called “The Old Hundredth” because this melody was popular to use to sing a paraphrase of the 100th Psalm.

During this time of thanksgiving, remember to “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow,
Praise him all Creatures here below,
Praise him above, ye Heavenly Host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

In His service,

​Israel

Hello OCBC family,

Let me share a passage, “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge” (Psalm 7:1 – ESV).  Today is Veteran's Day, and I want to pay homage to those who served our country by being part of the many branches of the armed service by sharing the history of a famous hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.”  This hymn is called the Navy Hymn.  Its author was William Whiting in 1860, a British master of Winchester College Choristers' School.  The occasion for this hymn to be written was when a student of the school where Whiting was a teacher, shared that he was traveling to the United States, and he had some fears about going on a ship in the middle of the ocean and possibly being caught in a storm.  Whiting give him comfort by sharing his own experience when several year before he was in the midst of a heavy storm and God (Whiting believed this) calmed the tempest.  His faith in God became a strong pillar; he knows that the Holy Trinity can control the elements, and this give consolation to the young man.  After this conversation, the lyrics came to Whiting, and a new hymn was born.  It has become a favorite of naval people in English-speaking countries, both civilian and military.

In America, its affiliation as the “Navy Hymn” is prompted in part by the practice dating from 1879 of concluding the Sunday services at the Naval Academy at Annapolis with the first stanza of this hymn.

William Whiting knew that the Triune God can control nature, and that is why each stanza is an invocation to each person of the Holy Trinity for help in the midst of troubles, especially those on the sea.

Enjoy the lyrics, and use them as a prayer to God who is the only Savior that we can trust.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and pow'r,
Your children shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
Protect them where-so-e'er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,

Psalm 23:3 says, “He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (ESV).  Fanny Crosby was a famous hymn writer, and brothers and sisters around the world love to sing her hymns, like “Blessed Assurance,” “To God Be the Glory,” and many more.  Perhaps you are familiar with her situation, and if not let me tell you that when she was six years old, she became blind because of a doctor’s error.  She used to say, “I have always believed that the good Lord, in His infinite mercy, by this means consecrated me to the work that I am still permitted to do.”  She had confidence in her Lord.

I want to share a particular hymn that I love a lot, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.”  She wrote this hymn after a particular situation in her life.  One day, Fanny Crosby was in need of five dollars, and she didn’t know where she would get it.  She thought that her only solution was to pray to God for His help, and she did.  A few minutes later a stranger came to her door and handed her five dollars, the exact amount that she needed and prayed about.

She was amazed at the Lord’s marvelous answer to her simple prayer.  She wrote in her diary, “I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God, in answer to my prayer, put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money.  My first thought was, ‘It is so wonderful the way the Lords leads me.’”

Here is her hymn, please use it as a prayer.

All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.

​In His service,
Israel