ORSBORNAGAIN (6)
A devotional series by Major Rob Birks
ORSBORNAGAIN is meant to introduce the poetry of the first Poet General, Albert Orsborn (1886-1967) to a new audience and to reintroduce his works to dyed-in-the-(tropical)-wool Salvationists.
These are not new songs.
However, the lyrics are jam-packed with new life, which may be missed during corporate worship. Re-examined through scripture and experience, Rob Birks intends through an examination of these scared songs to renew the spiritual fervor of believers, and point seekers to their Savior.
Say but the word, they servant shall be healed,
I shall be loosed from my infirmity;
And, once again, the fount of life unsealed
Shall upward spring and flow eternally.
Vainly I seek a cure for my soul’s ailing,
Vainly aspire to reach the life divine;
Slave of myself, myself for ever failing,
Helpless am I until thy grace be mine.
I dare not ask as though by right of pleading;
Only my need lays hold upon thy name;
Yet none can cry and find thy love unheeding,
And none need fail thy saving grace to claim.
Thine is the name whereon I cry, believing;
Thine is the love that sees and pities me;
Thine is the power and mine the faith receiving
Cleansing and healing, life and liberty.
Albert Orsborn
735 – Our Response to God – Holiness – Wholeness
Orsborn was promoted to glory (went to be with Jesus, shed the mortal coil, joined the heavenly band, and so on) in 1967. So it’s highly unlikely, (i.e., impossible) that he was a Switchfoot fan. However, he and Jon Foreman, Switchfoot’s lead singer, have much in common. Orsborn knew he had a sickness. He knew he needed healing. He knew he couldn’t heal himself. And, most importantly, he knew where true and complete healing could be found. Jon Foreman is four-for-four in this area. A few albums ago, Switchfoot recorded a song called “Mess of Me,” which includes these lyrics:
I am my own affliction
I am my own disease
There ain’t no drug that they could sell
Ah, there ain’t no drug to make me well
I made a mess of me
I wanna reverse this tragedy
I made a mess of me
I wanna spend the rest of my life alive.
A lot of people know that Jesus is the master physician…for other people. These “healthy” people are more than happy to point “sick” people to Jesus. Interestingly enough, these people are also all too ready to write out prescriptions for the “sick” – what to do, what not to do, and so on. We can only assume they believe they are somehow helping Jesus’ healing ministry.
Speaking of Jesus’ healing ministry, in Matthew 9, after Jesus called Matthew to follow him, he went to Matthew’s house for dinner. The religious leaders didn’t like this at all because there were sinners present. They asked the disciples why their master ate and drank with sinners. Even though the question was asked behind his back, Jesus answered; “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (v 9:12). The sick who know they are sick can find help and healing in Jesus. The “healthy” who are unaware of their sickness cannot and/or will not.
In the summer of 2008, the “Birksfam” and 10 of our friends traveled to Africa to spend time at The Salvation Army’s Chikankata Mission in Zambia. On July 17, my daughter Lauren’s birthday, we went out with a mobile medical team to witness the life-saving HIV/AIDS prevention work they do in the villages surrounding Chikankata. After a training session with about 100 women and their babies, we went with Chiku, one of the saintly nurses. She took us to visit Dylan (not his real name), one of her AIDS patients, who had been very weak. He wasn’t home, which was a good sign, because it meant he had enough strength to work in his garden. We drove a ways further before walking down a path to his garden. My journal entry describes the moment we walked through the gate this way: “Life! Growth! Health! Green!” There was Dylan, standing in the middle of his garden, life tending life. He greeted us, and generously shared his story. We prayed together, purchased fresh greens from him, and left that “secret (of Thy presence) garden.” As I think back, I can’t help but wonder if Dylan was healthier than I was at the time. He knew he was sick, and I’m confident he knew where to find “cleansing and healing, life and liberty.” Twalumba (thank you), Dylan.
This all reminds me of a lyric from the second Poet General, John Gowans: “We’re all claiming the same cleansing, / We’re all finding our peace restored” (SASB 482).