Years ago in a little Baptist Church in West Virginia there was a woman who played piano and had a glorious voice. Without her piano playing and strong melodious voice the little congregation would have struggled dismally to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” But with her leading that congregation sang with heart, soul and voice, giving praise to God as impressive as any great choir. Her favorite hymn seemed to be Henry Barraclough’s 1915 hymn, “Ivory Palaces,” which she sang regularly as a solo.
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| The Towers of York Minster Cathedral, England |
“My Lord has garments so wondrous fine, And myrrh their texture fills; Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine, With joy my being thrills:” And then Margaret sang with all that was in her this refrain:
Out of the ivory palaces
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.
I haven’t thought about this hymn for years until a few days ago when someone told me that I lived in an “Ivory Tower (Palace)!” The inference was that my ideas and feelings about people and society come from leading an impractical existence removed from the pressures and troubles of everyday life. If he only knew what life as a pastor, counselor, and chaplain involved! I feel I’ve seen and experienced life and death, tragedy and sorrow, suicide and agony, hardship and pain, and the dark secrets of the human soul in ways many people never see or experience. However, he was speaking of my views and attitudes about people and society. I view people (all people) as being equal, women as well as men; all religions as a search for truth and reality, all countries and nations as having value and something to offer us. I reject the ideas floating around that all Muslims are enemies, that people of color are second-class, that walls should be built to keep people out, that dropping a bomb in the Middle East will solve the problems there, etc.
I can almost hear Margaret singing this morning:
Out of the ivory palaces
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.
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