Come Ye Sinners

                         Come, Ye Sinners ~ Fernando Ortega and Amy Grant

1) Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and power;
He is able, He is able, 
He is willing doubt no more.

2) Now, ye needy, come and welcome;
God's free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh:
Without money, without money,
Come to Jesus Christ and buy.

3) Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him:
This He gives you, this He give you;
Tis the Spirit's glimmering beam.

4) Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and mangled by the Fall;
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous, not the righteous;
Sinner Jesus came to call.

This hymn is by Joseph Hart (1712-1768). Looking this up, I found around three or four different versions. That's why what you're listening to is different from what I typed out. I thought about going with the same, then decided against it. I don't know when the refrain was added, it may have been apart of the original work. I just do not know. I'm ok with different versions. Some folks update hymn lyrics as well as the music to reflect their situation, their time. It isn't wrong, although I imagine some people would take offense. These are hymns though, not Scripture. They reflect how the writer feels and prays to God, and we often pray about similar things in different ways. Sometimes we use words others wrote to give life to our own words. It's like a springboard. Hymns are meant to help worship, not be worshiped.

And speaking of worship, Joseph Hart was not a fan. He heard John Wesley preach, went home, and wrote "The Unreasonableness of Religion." Eh, we've all been there. Hart was a language teacher who was afraid of eternal damnation. He went to church for peace and found judgment. It wasn't until he, at forty-five years of age, attended a Moravian church that words of hope changed his heart. It changed so much that he himself became a minister, which is why we have wonderful hymns such as this one.

As you can imagine, there are many schools of thought on preaching. Some do so by telling a story to give a deeper perspective on a narrative in the Bible. Others will preach on a certain topic, flitting around passages deemed appropriate. Yet others still are much more expository, sticking directly to a passage and try to unfold God's will with relevance to the Church. I prefer the latter, but there are times when other approaches are better suited to sanctify one's congregation. We know this because the Apostles used different styles of preaching. No matter the approach, the (overall) message should be the same. Preaching should be about the Gospel, Christ's redeeming love. The Bible is about the Triune God, with an emphasis on Jesus Christ. It is a story of redemption, a story of love. Throughout we see faith and hope and love being given to the sinner in desperate need of such grace. We, as a catholic Church, are given to Christ out of love. And I just think that a struggling man should hear and feel that love when he attends church.