SOFTLY AND TENDERLY

            Over my lifetime, church music has gone through many changes.  Some of these changes have created much controversy and not all have been accepted.

            Praise teams have replaced piano and organ accompaniment and often even choirs.  Praise and worship choruses have replaced hymns – hymn books have been replaced with words projected on screens.  Four-part harmony is something from the past.

          But one of the biggest changes is the disappearance of invitation or revival songs.  Undoubtedly, many readers of this column grew up in a revival tradition that included an extended  invitation  hymn — a congregational hymn at the conclusion of the service that focused on those attending who may be called by the Holy Spirit to make either a profession of faith or a recommitment of one's life. In services of this nature, the direction of the entire liturgy points to the sermon and this time of commitment.
           Over the years I have seldom written about these invitation hymns, but in the weeks ahead I hope to blog about some of these which have been part of the history of Christian music.  "Softly and Tenderly," which was originally known as "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling," is a classic invitation hymn from the 19^th century. It was written by Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) who was a composer of gospel, secular, and patriotic songs.

          Rebuffed in an ear­ly at­tempt to sell his songs to a com­mer­cial pub­lish­er, Thomp­son start­ed his own pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny. He lat­er ex­pand­ed, open­ing a store to sell pi­an­os, or­gans and sheet mu­sic. Both a lyr­i­cist and com­pos­er, he en­sured he would al­ways re­mem­ber words or mel­o­dies that came to him at odd times:  "No mat­ter where I am, at home or ho­tel, at the store or tra­vel­ing, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem wor­thy of a song, I write it down.

          Thompson was inspired to devote himself to writing while attending a meeting by popular evangelist Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899). When Moody was dying in the hospital he told Thompson, "Will, I would rather have written 'Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling' than anything I have been able to do in my whole life."

          Other well-known gospel songs by Thompson include "Jesus Is All the World to Me", and two with strong eschatological leanings, Lead Me Gently Home, Father" and "There's a Great Day Coming."  Perhaps Revelation 3:20 captures the spirit of the hymn: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (KJV) This patient Jesus stands "on the portals . . . waiting and watching . . . for you and for me."
          The second stanza takes a different approach: How can we reject the "pleading" one who offers "pardon"? The third stanza increases in urgency: "Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing . . . shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming. . . ." The final stanza returns to the theme of Jesus who offers "mercy and pardon" for the sinner.  The genius of a gospel song is usually found in the refrain and this one is no exception. The refrain extends the invitation to "come home" four times in the melody, and an additional two times in the accompanying lower voices.
            Interestingly, though "Softly and Tenderly" is the quintessential invitation hymn in the revival tradition, the invitation to "come home" may also be seen as the invitation to join Jesus in heaven. Indeed, two examples attest to this: The hymn was used during the memorial service for assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on April 8, 1968. It was also a recurring song in The Trip to Bountiful (1985), an Oscar-winning movie about an older woman in the 1940s who wants to return one last time to her girlhood hometown of Bountiful.
          Thompson took ill dur­ing a tour of Eur­ope, and his fam­i­ly cut short their tra­vels to re­turn home. He died a few weeks lat­er.

1   Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, 

calling for you and for me; 

see, on the portals he's waiting and watching, 

watching for you and for me. 

Refrain:

Come home, come home; 

you who are weary come home; 

earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, 

calling, O sinner, come home! 

2   Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, 

pleading for you and for me? 

Why should we linger and heed not his mercies

mercies for you and for me? [Refrain]

3   Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,

passing from you and from me; 

shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, 

coming for you and for me. [Refrain]

4   O for the wonderful love he has promised, 

                    promised for you and for me.

Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon

pardon for you and for me. [Refrain]

Listen to it here.   SOFTLY