So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
—2 Corinthians 4:16–5:1
+++
SONG: “The Sweet Forever” (When They Ring Those Golden Bells) | Words and music by Daniel (“Dion”) de Marbelle (1887) | Arranged and performed by the Sensational Nightingales, on It’s Gonna Rain Again (1972, re-released 1998)
There’s a land beyond the river
That we call the sweet forever,
And we only reach that shore by faith’s decree;
One by one we’ll gain the portal,
There to dwell with the immortal,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.I wonder, can you hear those bells a-ringing?
I wonder, can you hear those angels singing?
Talkin’ ’bout glory, glory, hallelujah, Jubilee!
In that far-off sweet forever,
Just beyond that shining river,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.We shall know no sin or sorrow
In that haven of tomorrow,
When our barque shall sail beyond the silver sea;
We shall only know the blessing
Of our Father’s sweet caressing,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.When our days shall know their number,
When in death we sweetly slumber,
When the Savior commands the spirit to be free,
Nevermore with anguish laden,
We shall reach that lovely Eden,
When they ring those golden bells for you and me.
This post belongs to the weekly series Artful Devotion. If you can’t view the music player in your email or RSS reader, try opening the post in your browser.
To view all the Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings for Proper 5, cycle B, click here.
Art & Theology 