{"id":108740,"date":"2025-01-18T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T22:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=108740"},"modified":"2025-01-18T22:46:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T05:46:57","slug":"songs-of-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/01\/songs-of-the-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Songs of the Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
The Celestial Room of the Idaho Falls Temple.
Please note the heavenly reunions depicted in the mural on the wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the great things about my father-in-law\u2019s funeral on Friday was the gathering of the clan, not only from Utah but from both coasts, that it occasioned. \u00a0Some were unable to attend, but it was good to have so many together. \u00a0(A personal joy was seeing two little granddaughters meet for the very first time and instantly begin to play together as if they had known each other all of their short lives.) \u00a0I expect that our mortal gathering was matched by an even greater and more perfect assembly on the other side. \u00a0I was pleased, too, that friends also came to either the funeral or the prior night\u2019s viewing, or both. \u00a0It meant a lot to us. \u00a0Neighbors and former neighbors and Interpreter\u2019s executive vice president and his wife came, as did others. A friend from pre-mission days whose name I will not mention (lest he be targeted by \u2014 and incur collateral damage from \u2014 some of my most malicious, unhinged, and obsessive critics) drove from a considerable distance to be with us. \u00a0Latter-day Saints don\u2019t really have a formal \u201cbest man\u201d role in our temple weddings, but he was there with us on that fateful day in the temple.<\/p>\n

By the way, I well remember him giving a hug to my newly-minted bride there in the sealing room and watching her cling to him as she dissolved into tears. \u00a0She says that it was because she had suddenly realized the life-changing magnitude of the step that she had just taken. \u00a0I\u2019ve joked with her ever since then that it was because she had suddenly understood that she\u2019d chosen the wrong guy.<\/p>\n

I was able to have some input on the selection of the hymns for the funeral. \u00a0These immediately below were two that I favored. \u00a0I would like to have them sung at my own funeral service, if any such service is actually held and if anybody chooses to attend.<\/p>\n

We opened with \u201cBe still, my soul,\u201d<\/a> with lyrics by Katharina von Schlegel (b. 1697); translated by Jane Borthwick (1813\u20131897), and set to music by the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865\u20131957):<\/p>\n

\n
1.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;<\/div>\n
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.<\/div>\n
Leave to thy God to order and provide;<\/div>\n
In ev\u2019ry change he faithful will remain.<\/div>\n
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav\u2019nly Friend<\/div>\n
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake<\/div>\n
To guide the future as he has the past.<\/div>\n
\n
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;<\/div>\n
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.<\/div>\n
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know<\/div>\n
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Be still, my soul: The hour is hast\u2019ning on<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
When we shall be forever with the Lord,<\/div>\n
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,<\/div>\n
Sorrow forgot, love\u2019s purest joys restored.<\/div>\n
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,<\/div>\n
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

And we closed with \u201cEach life that touches ours for good,\u201d<\/a> the lyrics of which were written by the late Karen Lynn Davidson. \u00a0She taught for a number of years in the Department of English at BYU:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
1.<\/span>Each life that touches ours for good<\/div>\n
Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;<\/div>\n
Thou sendest blessings from above<\/div>\n
Thru words and deeds of those who love.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2.<\/span>What greater gift dost thou bestow,<\/div>\n
What greater goodness can we know<\/div>\n
Than Christlike friends, whose gentle ways<\/div>\n
Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3.<\/span>When such a friend from us departs,<\/div>\n
We hold forever in our hearts<\/div>\n
A sweet and hallowed memory,<\/div>\n
Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
4.<\/span>For worthy friends whose lives proclaim<\/div>\n
Devotion to the Savior\u2019s name,<\/div>\n
Who bless our days with peace and love,<\/div>\n
We praise thy goodness, Lord, above.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Another piece that I would love to have performed at my own funeral is \u201cGoin\u2019 Home,\u201d<\/a> with lyrics by William Arms Fisher (1861-1948) \u2014 a white American composer, by the way, \u00a0and a music historian and writer \u2014 that were set to music that been written earlier by the Czech composer Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k (1841-1904):<\/div>\n
\n
Going home, going home
\nI am going home
\nQuiet like, some still day
\nI am going home
\nIt\u2019s not far, just close by
\nThrough an open door
\nWork all done, care laid by
\nNever fear no more
\nMother\u2019s there expecting me
\nFather\u2019s waiting too
\nLots of faces gathered there
\nAll the friends I knew
\nI\u2019m just going home
\nNo more fear, no more pain
\nNo more stumbling by the way
\nNo more longing for the day
\nGoing to run no more
\nMorning star light the way
\nRestless dreams all gone
\nShadows gone, break of day
\nReal life has begun
\nThere\u2019s no break, there\u2019s no end
\nJust living on
\nWide awake, with a smile
\nGoing on and on, going on and on
\nGoing home, going home
\nI am going home
\nShadows gone, break of day
\nReal life has begun
\nI\u2019m just going home<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I\u2019m somewhat ambivalent about another possible funeral song. \u00a0I never liked it much in the past but, now that more and more of the people that I\u2019ve known and loved and that have influenced me are on the other side, \u00a0the lyrics have grown powerfully meaningful to me:<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
1. Oh, what songs of the heart We shall sing all the day, When again we assemble at home, When we meet ne\u2019er to part With the blest o\u2019er the way, There no more from our loved ones to roam! When we meet ne\u2019er to part, Oh, what songs of the heart We shall sing in our beautiful home.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2. Tho our rapture and bliss There\u2019s no song can express, We will shout, we will sing o\u2019er and o\u2019er, As we greet with a kiss, And with joy we caress All our loved ones that passed on before; As we greet with a kiss, In our rapture and bliss, All our loved ones that passed on before.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3. Oh, the visions we\u2019ll see In that home of the blest, There\u2019s no word, there\u2019s no thought can impart, But our rapture will be All the soul can attest, In the heavenly songs of the heart; But our rapture will be In the vision we\u2019ll see Best expressed in the songs of the heart.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
4. Oh, what songs we\u2019ll employ! Oh, what welcome we\u2019ll hear! While our transports of love are complete, As the heart swells with joy In embraces most dear When our heavenly parents we meet! As the heart swells with joy, Oh, what songs we\u2019ll employ, When our heavenly parents we meet!<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

I\u2019m perfectly aware, of course, of how the news of my demise will actually be received \u2014 at least in certain circles. \u00a0Happily, I rather like the tune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, here is a poem \u2014 \u201cAll is Well,\u201d by Henry Scott Holland \u2014 that my wife thought of including in her remarks at her father\u2019s funeral, but which she ultimately didn\u2019t. \u00a0We both like it, though. \u00a0So I share it with you:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Death is nothing at all,
\nI have only slipped into the next room
\nI am I and you are you
\nWhatever we were to each other, that we are still.
\nCall me by my old familiar name,
\nSpeak to me in the easy way which you always used
\nPut no difference in your tone,
\nWear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
\nLaugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
\nPlay, smile, think of me, pray for me.
\nLet my name be ever the household word that it always was,
\nLet it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
\nLife means all that it ever meant.
\nIt it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
\nWhy should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
\nI am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
\nJust around the corner.
\nAll is well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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