The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Sunday, 26 July 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion" "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" verse 5

The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Sunday, 26 July 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion" "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" verse 5
"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" verse 5
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothऐd then in blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day."Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Robert Robinson (1735-1790)

1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

  Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

  Call for songs of loudest praise.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

  Wand’ring from the face of God;

He, to save my soul from danger,

  Interposed His precious blood.

2. O to grace how great a debtor

  Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,

  Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.

Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure,

  Meet for me Thy grace to prove,

While I sing the countless treasure

  Of my God’s unchanging love.

3. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

  Prone to leave the God I love:

Take my heart, oh, take and seal it

  With Thy Spirit from above.

Rescued thus from sin and danger,

  Purchased by the Savior’s blood,

May I walk on earth a stranger,

  As a son and heir of God.

Robert Robinson was twenty-two years old when he wrote this hymn. At twenty-two many are finishing school, beginning a job and/or contemplating marriage. Not Robinson. He was thinking of death. Robinson's verse 5 doesn't make it into many hymnals. Could it have something to do with his asking God to speed up the day of our death?
A colleague in ministry, diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, recently told me, "My whole ministry I have tried to teach people how to live well; only now have I realized that my job was to teach people how to die well."
How do we die well? Does it have something to do with not fearing the grave? Does it have something to do with trusting God when our time draws near? Does it have something to do with forgoing heroic measures in the face of death? Does it have something to do with singing to God, "Send thine angels now to carry me to realms of endless day?"
God of eternity, we long to be with you where pain, suffering, and death are no longer. Until we are brought into that realm, grant us faith to hold to your promises and peace as we live in that hope. Amen.
Brian Malison
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Visalia, Cali.
Master of Divinity , 1987
____________________________