Can It Be?

"Music is love itself--it is the purest, most ethereal language of passion, showing in a thousand ways all possible changes of color and feeling; and though true in only a single instance, it yet can be understood by thousands of men--who all feel differently."

Carl Maria Von Weber, 1786-1826 

 

 Yes! It can. Amazing Love! And the lovely hymn "And Can It Be" tells us why. 

 

I don't remember when I first heard this hymn. It's not a song that is sang often during church services, but each year as I read through my hymnal I get to sing it again. 

 

Charles Wesley, the great Methodist leader, wrote over 6,000 hymns. That alone is amazing. "And Can It Be" is one of them, maybe the most important one, at least to me. Wesley wrote it immediately following his conversion to Christianity. 

He knew the Bible, but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. As a young man at 30 years of age he experienced salvation and wrote this beautiful hymn.

The words are amazing, and the music is just as amazing. If you've never heard this hymn there is a link at the bottom of this post.

 

This sunrise and following I've snapped on my early morning fawn spotting drives.

Read the words of the first verse:

"And can it be that I should gain

An in-t'rest in the Savior's blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain--

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

 

Refrain:

"Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

 

I can't get through the refrain without tears in my eyes. The words and music make a huge impression upon my heart.

 

I found these words describing the song at the Godtube website:

"Wesley starts the first stanza by expressing admiration over the love shown by Jesus dying for him and wonders how we who 'pursued' his death are now graced by it.

"In the second stanza, Wesley calls for appreciation of God's love and mercy in this sacrifice. In the third stanza, Wesley conveys the unending grace and mercy of Christ's love and humility in the incarnation, death, and finding of lost sinners. In the fourth stanza, Wesley harkens to the 'imprisonment' of his own sin and the freedom he found in Christ.

"Finally, he reviews the results of Christ's loving and merciful work: there is no condemnation for those made alive in Christ and clothed in his righteousness; rather, there is open access to the throne as we have the right to claim the divine crown."

I love the words in the 4th verse:

"No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own."

Songs can make quite an impression on our mind. I'm sure there's songs that you recall often and sing while walking, or driving, or vacuuming your home. Songs can make a huge impact in our lives.

This is one of the songs that has impacted me. This hymn is the gospel, as many of the hymns from the 17th and 18th centuries share. That's why it's so important to sing them and read them. 

 

Be thankful if you have a history with hymns. I've mentioned often of my "Melody of Hymns" when I wrote down the first verse of 30 hymns and sang them in the same order every day. They were soon memorized, and although 30 years have past, they are as fresh to me today as they were when I first sang them. 

If you've never heard this stirring hymn, click on the link below. Amazing love indeed! Yes, it can be!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29myH7xXI4M

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