Sunday, November 4, 2001
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal,
flowing
from the throne of God and of the Lamb
The hymn was written not in the backwaters, but in the polar opposite to the
backwaters, namely
Brooklyn, New York. The year was 1864 and an epidemic was taking the lives of many
of the
dear friends of Robert Lowry. Lowry questioned if he ever again would see them. He
raised a
common question, "Shall we meet again? We are parted at the river of death, shall we
meet at the
river of life?" Lowry then sat down to his organ "simply to give vent to the emotions of
the
heart" but what flowed out, were his wonderful words about communing with the Saints,
inspired
by Revelation, "Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gather
with the
saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God."
(Revelation 22:1
NRSV)
You may be familiar with a time-honored gospel hymn titled, "Shall We Gather At The
River."
Most of you at least have heard the old joke about the traveling evangelist who came to
one small
town and said he wished all the whisky in town could be taken and thrown in the river.
Whereupon the pastor stood up and said, "Our closing hymn will be, 'Shall We Gather
At The
River.'" You may have heard the bouncy tune to this traditional hymn and felt it had to
be some
backwater revival tune about goin' down to the riverside to baptize a bunch of folks!
You couldn't
be more mistaken!
Loving God, thank you for the hope we have in Jesus Christ of coming to your great
heavenly
throne. Amen.
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