Monday, July 23, 2018

"Mayday! Mayday!"


            The famous hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” also called “The Navy Hymn,” has been a favorite of mariners and heads of state since it was put to music in 1861.  Breakpoint reports:


It’s one of the most famous hymns in Christendom: “Eternal Father Strong to Save.” It’s often called “the Navy hymn” because it’s sung at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.  But how many of us know the story behind this moving hymn?

The hymn’s author was an Anglican churchman named William Whiting, who was born in England in 1825. As a child, Whiting dodged in and out of the waves as they crashed along England’s shoreline. But years later, on a journey by sea, Whiting learned the true and terrifying power of those waves. A powerful storm blew in, so violent that the crew lost control of the vessel. During these desperate hours, as the waves roared over the decks, Whiting’s faith in God helped him to stay calm. When the storm subsided, the ship, badly damaged, limped back to port.

The experience had a galvanizing effect on Whiting. As one hymn historian put it, “Whiting was changed by this experience. He respected the power of the ocean nearly as much as he respected the God who made it and controls it.”

The memory of this voyage allowed Whiting to provide comfort to one of the boys he taught at a training school in Winchester.

One day, a young man confided that he was about to embark on a journey to America—a voyage fraught with danger at that time. The boy was filled with dread at the thought of the ordeal to come. A sympathetic Whiting described his own frightening experience, and he and the other boys prayed for the terrified student. And then Whiting told him, “Before you depart, I will give you something to anchor your faith.”

Whiting, an experienced poet, put pen to paper, writing a poem reminding the boys of God’s power even over the mighty oceans.[i] 


Whiting’s first verse begins:

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.


This verse refers to Job 38:11, where God shows that the Creator alone  knows the mysteries of the deep, because it was God who established the limits of the sea, saying, “This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!” [ii]

The Navy Hymn continues:

O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.


In these lines, Whiting refers to Matthew 14:22-36, where Jesus’ disciples were struggling against a violent storm, tossed back and forth in their boat.  In the darkness, they saw the form of Jesus coming to them, walking on the water.  When Jesus got into the boat, the wind ceased. 

The hymn goes on:

O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.


Here, the hymn writer causes us to remember the watery chaos of pre-creation, where Genesis 1:2 says, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  That brooding Spirit of God took wild confusion and breathed peace upon it, so that the world might receive life.

Finally, the hymn concludes:

O Trinity of love and pow'r,
Your children shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
Protect them where-so-e'er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

           
            Whiting wrote four original verses, but others added on to the hymn, so that today the song has at least eighteen verses,[iii]  asking God’s assistance for those in peril on the sea.  The hymn is reminiscent of Psalm 107:23-30, which speaks of the dangers of sea travel, and the faithfulness of God who calms the storm.


Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.


What do people do when they’re about to get shipwrecked?  They cry out for help.  They send out a distress signal.  A few years ago I wrote in my blog: The traditional SOS has been misunderstood to mean “Send Out Succour,” “Save Our Ship,” and “Save Our Souls.”  Actually, was officially ratified as the universal distress signal in 1908, and was chosen simply because it was easy to send the morse signal that consisted of only three dots, three dashes, and three dots, and it could not be misunderstood.[iv]  The distress call “mayday” is actually an English version of the French m'aidez (help me) or m'aider (to render help to me).[v]  Each of these distress signals anticipates help that may come from nearby ships or other rescuers.[vi]
What do you do when you’re about to get wrecked?  When the storms of life threaten?  Like the disciples in the boat, you send up a distress signal to God.  Like the sailors in the psalm, you find yourself at wit’s end, so you cry out to God.  Like Paul in the storm, just before the shipwreck, you can say, “Take heart…for I believe God (Acts 27:25).”  When you find yourself in life’s storms, you can be confident that God’s got you.  You can relax, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).”



[i] Metaxas, Eric.  “The Story Behind the Navy Hymn.”  Breakpoint.  Nov 11, 2015.  http://www.breakpoint.org/2015/11/story-behind-navy-hymn/.  June 21, 2018.
[ii] Scripture quotations taken from the NKJV.
[iv] “What is the Meaning of SOS?”  Krzenski, Jim.  http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/060199tip6.htm.  April 19, 2011. 
[vi] The above paragraph taken from my blog post, “My Help Comes from the Lord,” May 2, 2014.  http://revgregsmith.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-help-comes-from-lord.html.  June 21, 2018.

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