Cleland McAfee, a Presbyterian pastor, was living in Chicago when he received word in 1903 that his two nieces had died from diphtheria within twenty-four hours of each other. McAfee found solace only in the Book of Psalms in the Christian Bible. As he meditated on verses from the Psalms, he wrote the words and tune to the hymn "Near to the Heart of God" - often sung in the worship of the church of my childhood and youth.
At the funeral, McAfee sang the hymn for the first time. Another report says a Park College choir sang the hymn outside the quarantined house.
There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God, A place where sin cannot molest, Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of comfort sweet, Near to the heart of God, A place where we our Savior meet, Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of full release, Near to the heart of God, A place where all is joy and peace, Near to the heart of God.
Chorus O Jesus, blest Redeemer, Sent from the heart of God, Hold us who wait before Thee, Near to the heart of God.
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For the spiritually-hearted, all flows from and to the Nearness. The Well-Spring is the Replenishing of life, for thought and action. The Intimacy is alive.
Grace quiets us to Grace beyond thought and, so, beyond religion for before religion. Our seeking relaxes as the Nearness itself ceases our seeking. A profound, loving acceptance arises. There is no thought of needing to do or not to do.
Here, as I have written often, we find Love is Its own fulfillment. We see ourselves fulfilled, content, and receptive. Receptive to what?
We cannot answer the "What?" We frame, as did McAfee, matters of spirit in the words and images we have been conditioned to. For many of us, a particular faith community gives us a vocabulary to relate with the Intangible. These pointers can lead us to an experience - even revelation - of Intimacy that needs no answer and does not have one for the "What?"
Then, what next? When we come upon the space where no answer arises, we rest there. The rest does not mean the opposite of unrest. This rest has no opposite. Unrest arises until the seeds of unrest are transformed within. Rest can hold unrest, allowing it to appear and disappear. So, you are restful. Words or images of worship may arise, or they may not. Being-with is enough.
Being-with is worship. We are drawn into the Nearness' orb. Being drawn there, we become the Nearness. Intimacy is our nature, our home. Our prayer is to be all Nearness, so others will feel the Nearness and be drawn to it.
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*İBrian K. Wilcox, 2023
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
