Osler's Razor

I couldn't think of a clunker, but I did think of a hymn whose lyrics are so graceful and astonishingly blunt that they seize my heart when I sing them:

How clear is our vocation, Lord, when once we heed your call
To live according to your word and daily learn, refreshed, restored
That you are Lord of all and will not let us fall.

But if, forgetful, we should find your yoke is hard to bear
If worldly pressures fray the mind and love itself cannot unwind
Its tangled skein of care, our inward life repair.

We marvel how your saints became in hindrances more sure
Whose joyful virtues put to shame the casual way we wear your name
And by our faults obscure your power to cleanse and cure.

In what you give us, Lord, to do, together or alone
In old routines or ventures new, may we not cease to look to you
The cross you hung upon, all you endeavored, done.
 

http://blog.deimel.org/2010/04/new-verses-for-bad-hymn.htm

 

I agree about praise music. Lacks depth and sophistication in my snotty estimate. And too evangelical and too demonstrative for my reserved NE roots. Old curmudgeon. Love most traditional hymns sung in the Episcopal Church … and I roll with them like the creed … love the ancient traditions and I do not hinge my faith on every word.