HYMNS FROM HOME: TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

PRAY
Lord, thank you for being our comfort when our souls are weary and troubled, for being the ultimate conqueror of death, and for never failing us.  May we turn our eyes upon you and fix our gaze there until in Glory we can see nothing but your beauty forever and ever.  Amen.

LYRIC
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Thro' death into life everlasting,
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion--
For more than conqu’rors we are!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

His Word shall not fail you--He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.


​SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 12: 1-3

BACKGROUND

Both the lyrics to Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, and the hymn-tune LEMMEL were written by Helen H Lemmel in the early part of the twentieth century.  Lemmel was a prolific hymnist who wrote an entire hymnal, and well over 500 hymns during her lifetime.  She was the daughter of a Methodist minister and emigrated to America from England with her family when she was 12 years old.  She moved around bit serving as a vocal coach, teacher and conductor of vocal groups as well as teaching at Moody Bible College in Chicago for some time.

This particular tune was written after she read a tract published by missionary Lilias Trotter called "Focussed: A Story + A Song" act Although the two women had never met, Lemmel was so moved by the last line of the tract which reads, "Turn full your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him, and the Divine "attrait" by which God's saints are made, even in this 20th century, will lay hold of you. For "He is worthy" to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win."  There are also claims that Lemmel wrote this tune after she lost her vision and her husband left her due to the development of this disability.  I have been unable to find specific details to substantiate these claims however - many people are of the opinion that it is true, and certainly it would make for a powerful story behind the text, however many others claim this is just an urban legend. 

This beautiful piano arrangement of the tune was written by tonight's special guest, Randy McClellan.  Randy is a brilliant singer/songwriter/instrumentalist who also serves as the director of music at Church of The Good Shepherd in Brentwood, TN.  He and his wife Pamela live in East Nashville with their two human kiddos and one four-legged fur-baby.

PERSONAL

I'll admit that at this point in the pandemic age, my soul is weary and troubled.  Not just by the process of living in survival mode for the past 54 days, but by the state of the world in general. It's hard to understand why we are living in an age where an entire race of people don't feel safe going out for a jog.  An era where  just last night in my beloved town of Nashville, TN someone scaled a fence and put an actual target on the house of a family because of the equality they continue to fight for.  If you feel like "no light in the darkness you see," take heart.  You are not alone.  But also, take truth...there is​ a light in the darkness...one bright enough that we can see the Savior.  Admittedly, these days I often feel like stamping my foot a la my toddler and saying, "but Jesus my eyes ARE fixed on You!  I'm straining in the darkness begging to see even a flicker of the brilliance of Your Glory.  Show yourself to me!"  But as the hymnist penned, His Word will not fail me.  And I know that soon, these things of earth will grow strangely dim, and His Glory and Grace will be all illuminated beyond comprehension so that His Face is all I see.  

I had the great fortune to attend church with Randy McClellan and his wife Pamela for several years at St. B's.  Whenever I saw either of their names on the musician list for a Sunday morning I knew it was going to be a good day.  But I will never forget the first time I really heard Randy play.  We were having some sort of special evening service and Randy did a vocal/piano solo...I'd never had the opportunity to hear him by himself in a "let loose" and boy did he ever let loose.  I about fell off the pew in amazement.  In a bittersweet turn of events, Randy was hired shortly thereafter to be the music minister at Church of The Good Shepherd and while we are all very proud of him and how he serves this sister congregation, he and his family are dearly missed as our church body will never be quite the same without their spirits and their talent.

See Randy "LIVE" in concert every week!
Like many musicians, Randy as made musical lemonade out of the lemons that 2020 has handed us all thus far.  Covering Gospel favorites, jazz classics, 90's country and everything in-between live from his official FaceBook page, Randy continues to bring joy and inspiration to the greater online community.  I would encourage you to tune in every Friday at noon (central) to hear his livestream concerts. ​