Remembering my mother

 

September 5th was the anniversary of my mother's death - or as she would have said her entry into larger life, on the brighter side of death. She died in 2020, just a few weeks shy of her 98th birthday. A long-time choir director, she knew The Hymnal 1940 backwards and forwards and had an excellent grasp as well of The Hymnal 1982. And so, this morning, when the radio program With Heart and Voice played this hymn, I immediately thought of her, because when she was quite old and often feeling weak, she told me that its third verse was a comfort and encouragement!

The hymn is #541 in The Hymnal 1982, but in case you don't have that book at hand, here are the words, written by Jane Borthwick (1813-1897):

Come, labor on.
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain,
while all around us waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say,
"Go work today."

Come, labor on.
The enemy is watching night and day,
to sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
while we in sleep our duty have forgot,
he slumbered not.

Come, labor on.
Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here:
by feeblest agents may our God fulfill
his righteous will.

Come, labor on.
Claim the high calling angels cannot share--
to young and old the Gospel gladness bear;
redeem the time; its hours too swiftly fly.
The night draws nigh.

Come, labor on.
No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
till the long shadows o'er our pathway lie,
and a glad sound comes with the setting sun.
"Servants, well done."