This past Sunday we sang this congregational song to the Salvation Army tune of Brantwood.
I was so moved by the words that the old tune didn’t distract me as it could have.
(I placed in bold the phrases that spoke to me the most- I could have put all of it in bold!).
The Basin and the Towel
The basin and the towel
And God upon his knees
What graciousness is here,
What holy mysteries!
How needs of mine assail me when
I watch the Master and his men.
Such love he bore his own,
All selfless to the end,
To take the servant’s part,
On dusty knee to bend,
And girded with humility
He kneels to minister to me.
His lowliness is might,
His meekness majesty,
His holy hands can touch
A traitor lovingly!
Let pride be broken when it sees
That kingly love upon its knees.
The basin brims with grace
As Jesus comes again.
He holds the towel to me
To serve men in his name
To share in Christly ministries
I can but fall upon my knees.
Words: Edward Read
(I placed in bold the phrases that spoke to me the most- I could have put all of it in bold!).
The Basin and the Towel
The basin and the towel
And God upon his knees
What graciousness is here,
What holy mysteries!
How needs of mine assail me when
I watch the Master and his men.
Such love he bore his own,
All selfless to the end,
To take the servant’s part,
On dusty knee to bend,
And girded with humility
He kneels to minister to me.
His lowliness is might,
His meekness majesty,
His holy hands can touch
A traitor lovingly!
Let pride be broken when it sees
That kingly love upon its knees.
The basin brims with grace
As Jesus comes again.
He holds the towel to me
To serve men in his name
To share in Christly ministries
I can but fall upon my knees.
Words: Edward Read
5 comments:
hey, thanks for pointing this out. just wrote a new melody to this. what powerful words.
i can't find it in the songbook... what number is it?
As it turns out......I looked for it and re-checked our program from Sunday and it was on a sheet and powerpoint. I couldn't find it either. The tune number was SATB #220. When I called our music Department (because they were with us on Sunday) I was told it isn't a song from the songbook. The words were written to go with the tune in the tune book (which...made me think it sounded red bookish!) sorry for the mistake.
I do hope that doesn't make things complicated!...I would be very interested in hearing the new melody.
Powerful Song …. Words that take me back to the old Michael Card song ….The Basin and the Towel….
“Their Saviour Servant must show them how
Through the will of the water ,
And the tenderness of the towel .
And the Call is to community,
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility to take the vow ,
That day after day we must take up the basin and the towel”
For years I had on my desk the quote of Albert Schweitzer :
“Only he who learns how to serve will in this life find happiness”
Thanks for posting the song and the comments….
Post a Comment