Sermons
Be Thou My Vision
BE THOU MY VISION
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / July 15, 2018
We will be having an very abbreviated sermon this morning.
After our worship this morning all are urged to remain seated for a very important congregational meeting.
We enjoyed a wonderful Songs Of Light last Sunday evening.
Our dear friend and brother in Christ, Rod Sheldon, was once again superb in leading us in worship.
Rod is a master at blending songs and Scriptures with timely comments.
I still have songs on my mind.
One song that we did not sing last Sunday remains one of my very favorites.
Maybe we can get Rod to include it in next year's Songs of Light.
It is not in our current hymnal.
I know the task of compiling a hymnal is a overwhelming undertaking replete with making difficult decisions,
but I can't quite comprehend how this great song was overlooked or overruled to be a part of a 1,000-song hymnal.
Patrick was born in A.D. 373 along the banks of the River Clyde in a region now known as Scotland.
His father was a deacon in the Catholic Church and his grandfather was a priest.
When Patrick was about 16, raiders descended on his little town and torched his home.
Patrick was spotted hiding in the bushes and was seized and taken aboard a pirate ship to Ireland
where he was sold as slave. It was in Ireland, while enslaved, that Patrick's faith in Christ became to grow.
He wrote, The Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief in order that I might
remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God.
Patrick eventually escaped and returned home where his overjoyed family begged him to never leave again.
But one night he had a dream (as to whether it was God-given none of us can say with certainty).
In his dream, he saw an Irishman pleading with him to come back and help proclaim Christ to Ireland.
Such is reminiscent of the Macedonian call recorded in Acts 16:9-10.
At the age of about 30, Patrick returned to Ireland and begin teaching others about Jesus.
It was a world populated by and polluted with the pagan teachings of The Druids.
In the face of great opposition, Patrick planted some 200 churches and witnessed to tens of thousands of converts.
In the subsequent centuries that followed Patrick's work, from the seeds of Scripture that he had planted,
there sprung forth Irish believers who came to known for their many fine hymns, prayers and poetry.
In the eighth century, an unknown poet wrote a prayer asking God to be
his Vision, his Wisdom, and his Best Thought by day or night.
In 1905, Mary Elizabeth Byrne, a scholar in Dublin, translated this ancient Irish poem into English.
Another female scholar, Eleanor Hull of Manchester, England, took Byrne's translation and crafted
it into verses with rhyme and meter. It is a song that has become deeply beloved by millions.
It's title is, “Be Thou My Vision”.
This is my simple sermon for this morning.
Here are the full words to this grand old prayer in song.
May they be our prayer this day, as we utter them in the presence of our heavenly Father.
After we speak the words of this prayer, we will ask that you all join us as we stand together and sing.
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son; Thou in me dwelling, and I with The one.
Be Thou my buckler, my sword for the fight; Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight,
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower, Raise Thou me heav'nward, O power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise; Thou my inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, when vict'ry is won May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall, Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
This is our prayer. In the name of Christ Jesus our Lord we pray.
