Marilyn's Musings
April 28, 2026
Good morning on the last week of April – finally a sunny day. It seems after having a day or so of rain it is a long time to go without seeing the sun. But today, it is here! The weather we have been having reminds me of the song from the story of “Annie” titled “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow”. I find myself singing that on a rainy day. Looking outside today I can see a “green color” in my gardens where there wasn’t any last week. You know what that is, right? Weeds!!!! They love the rain and seem to just grow and grow and then when the sun comes out those little guys are in my garden looking at me and saying “are you going to pull me out again?!” I know if I don’t get all the roots out, they will be back smiling at me next week. It is a never-ending battle but they always win because they are more determined than I am. I find as each year passes, I just know the results of my battle and end up giving in sometime during the season. Here’s a thought from another song “Only the Strong Survive” (not a hymn) but it reminds me of the “Battle of the Weeds”.
I will somehow try to tie that in to the scripture reading from Sunday. First of all, I enjoyed doing this reading. This story of Paul and Silas and their faith is an amazing story. After being severely beaten and locked in stocks in a cold, dark room in a prison, their faith shown so bright. When Pastor Debbie described the prison conditions, I would think it would be hard to continue to have faith. Why did God put me here? That would be my question. But, then, at that time, if I had the faith they did maybe I wouldn’t question it. Who knows? They are sitting singing hymns of praise in this dark, dank, cold place. Then the earthquake came shaking everyone and everything. The doors were opened and they could have left but they didn’t. They stayed praising God and telling the jailer about Him. The jailer and his household were baptized and learned about God and His love. There was a battle there going on. The jailer had to do his job and then realized that he wanted to be with Paul and Silas. Paul and Silas had to “battle thru” their experience being beaten and put in prison. They all had their battles but came through them with the love of God.
When I saw we were singing “Onward Christian Soldiers”, I was very happy. It bought back memories when we used to sing it in church when I was younger and my mother was next me singing. We all sat and watch the movie “Stanley and Livingston” and I can still picture scenes from that movie, especially the one where Livingston taught the natives to sing this song. Of, course, I had to look up the history of it and there was a lot said about it. I am sharing some of it here with you today, but if you want to know more it is worth looking it up.
"Onward, Christian Soldiers" is a 19th-century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. Sullivan named the tune "St Gertrude", after the wife of his friend Ernest Clay Ker Seymer, at whose country home he composed the tune. The Salvation Army adopted the hymn as its favored processional. The piece became Sullivan's most popular hymn. The hymn's theme is taken from references in the New Testament to the Christian being a soldier for Christ, for example II Timothy 2:3 (KJV): "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
In the 1912 Progressive National Convention, which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president in the 1912 United States presidential election, the song was adopted by the delegates as their anthem, and Roosevelt said that his Progressive Party was going to "battle for the Lord".
When Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met in August 1941 on the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to agree to the Atlantic Charter, a church service was held for which Prime Minister Churchill chose the hymns. He chose "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and afterwards made a radio broadcast explaining this choice:
We sang "Onward, Christian Soldiers" indeed, and I felt that this was no vain presumption, but that we had the right to feel that we were serving a cause for the sake of which a trumpet has sounded from on high. When I looked upon that densely packed congregation of fighting men of the same language, of the same faith, of the same fundamental laws, of the same ideals ... it swept across me that here was the only hope, but also the sure hope, of saving the world from measureless degradation.”
I am not happy saying this but I think there will be continued conflicts and wars because of differences in the way people choose to worship and live. I liked where Churchill referred to a cause for the sake of a trumpet has sounded from on high.The last verse of the hymn says “through the countless ages, men and angels sing” We are part of the countless ages. Think about that.
As we all fight our battles, whether it be the “Battle of Weeds, or a serious health battle, or our soldiers out in the world, we are fighting with God with Us. It is that simple.
Let’s sing “Lead On, O King Eternal”.
In our hymnals, underneath the title of the hymn in small print is a bible verse. For this hymn it is from
1 Timothy 6:12 and says “Fight the good fight of the faith”.
https://youtu.be/rsb6quBWxlw?si=JCTT6M9i2yLWZxcW
Preview YouTube video Lead On O King EternalPreview YouTube video Lead On O King Eternal
