Teach Me To Live…
An often-sung evening hymn is the post-Reformation English chorus that appears in our United Methodist Hymnal at # 682: “All praise to thee, my God, this night.” Of its many beautiful phrases that match the famous “Tallis Canon” tune (meant to be sung in a round, like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”) my favorite is:
Teach me to live, that I may dread the grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may rise glorious at the judgment day.
It’s been on my mind a lot as I’ve considered over the past few weeks the witness of folks who have gone before us into life everlasting. The end of January and beginning of February marks the three tragic losses of life borne by our space program; I especially keep watch during these times since I grew up in a NASA household. While we may not, as the church, officially observe or commemorate their deaths, I remember the dedication to exploration, human excellence, and peace that the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia cherished.
I’m reminded of the many aid workers who died in Haiti, especially United Methodism’s own Sam Dixon, Clint Rabb, and Jean Arnwine; ELCA seminary student Ben Larson; and many more who were working for the good of the people in Haiti before the earthquake struck. In their living and in their dying, these were doing the work of Jesus among people unknown and largely forgotten by the rest of the world.
The sanctoral cycle is the name given to the calendar of feasts and festivals celebrating Biblical events and exemplary lives of people who have gone before us. An excellent example from the Episcopal tradition can be seen online here.
I’ve been wishing that the United Methodist Church would keep such a cycle of saints mostly because we don’t hear enough stories from our own rich history that would enable us to live and die as that old hymn urges us to. If we listened to their lives more richly and deeply, perhaps we would ourselves find the strength to say, “Teach me to live, teach me to die, like these.”
Originally published as a column in Wesley UMC‘s Circuit Rider.
We need these examples desperately. I can name many in my life who have taught me so much about discipleship and that I continue to draw on. For this to happen we would need to re-claim a sacramental heritage that many seem to lack in UM.
I struggle with this partly because I have been deeply formed by this Wesleyan/Anglican/Christian way of looking at the world. May we reclaim it, live it, and share it!
I echo not only the blog but spiritstirrer’s statements.
Love that hymn and agree that that is the best verse. Also, as an episcopalian who tries very hard to observe the feasts and fasts inreally appreciate the opportunity to commemorate and reflect on those who have gone before. Even if the church doesn’t adopt a calendar, you may find it meaningful to follow another. Episcopal life online has some great resources for doing just that.
My parents’ Methodist church of the 1970s bored me. I think what attracted me first to Lutheranism, and ultimately to the Episcopal church, many years later, was the richness of a shared heritage of liturgy, and a greater sense of sacred mystery. I do believe in the communion of saints. It’s so nice when I am worn out or anxious or depressed, to ask fellow Christians for prayer–and be able to do so in the middle of the night without worrying about waking someone up–the saints are always there to help us bolster our faith, to pray for us, to give us examples of how to live. And I love how their lives are so varied–that God used them in so many ways.
There is so much misunderstanding of petitioning saints to pray for us versus worshiping them–I think that all branches of Christianity would do well to have saints–and then educate people on their proper role in our lives.
I really enjoyed your article. I miss the remembrance of saints after growing up at a school where each classroom had a patron saint. As ancient people studied and learned from Greek mythology, we learned a lot from studying the lives of those saints and presenting their legacy to our chapel once a year. I appreciate the idea that we are all saints, but if we are, then I want to hear more stories about our great cloud of witnesses in just as rich details and with meaningful applications to our lives today. I LOVE “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” because of the beautiful way the historical saints and saints among us today are so closely knit. Anyways, I enjoyed it being brought up in a Methodist setting.
First, I find it interesting Sanctoral is not in the dictionary. More interestingly, Sanctoral is in theological dictionaries. Interesting as that is, let us remember the saints as inspiration to make “new saints.” We must not become a people who only rest on what the Apostles did, or Jesus did, or the Sanctoral Cycle — and thereby think there is nothing more to do. The reason we revere and remember is that we might be “like them.” We must be the NEXT communion of Saints. The NEXT apostles. The continuation of what Jesus set in motion. We not only remember — we DO IT.