And the Joy They Share as They Tarry There

My last semester in seminary I took a class entitled Hymnology. It was, you guess it, the study of hymns. It was an all encompassing study on hymn composition, what qualifies certain songs as hymns, a few stories behind some of the more well-known hymns, along with debates over old hymns and with what they considered to be contemporary church music such as praise and worship and hymns written in the twenty years. In our final exam we were tasked with identifying meter, tunes, which are very difficult for someone unable to read music to do, and we had to answer a few theological questions on a few hymns. 

One in particular stood out was this: Do you recognize the theological problem with the hymn "In the Garden"? It is a familiar hymn, mainly for the chorus: And he walks with, and he talks with me, and calls me his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. Now being the good Baptist I am, I was puzzled by this question. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out to me, I had nothing in my notes, so I googled the hymn to see what others had said. 

The hymn was written in 1912 by Charles Austin Miles. Miles was a pharmacist turned hymn writer and church music director, and an amateur photographer. The story goes like this: One day in his dark room, Miles had a vision in which he saw Mary Magdalene leaving the empty tomb. As she left the tomb and wandered into the garden, she sees Jesus (who she mistakes as the gardener) and he speaks her name. Miles awoke from the vision and quickly wrote the words to the hymn. 

Once I learned the story, I understood the hymn and made a case that there were no theological issues with the hymn. He had a vision, one based on a story that occurs, in some form, in all four gospels, and he is sharing Mary's experience. I could not find anything wrong with the hymn. Of course my answer was not correct. I wish I could remember exactly why it wasn't correct. I believe it had something to do with the chorus itself. It is a first person hymn, and if sung in community with one another, it conveys the message that Jesus only walks with ME, talks with ME, and tells ME I am his own. And that no one else will ever experience such a thing.

I have since learned that several of my contemporaries dislike the hymn for those very reasons. But yesterday I had a thought come into my mind that simply said, "So? So what if they have a theological issue?" And here's the story as to how that thought came:

Every first Sunday of the month, our church goes down to the local nursing home and sing with the residents. That's all we do. We pick out anywhere between 5-10 hymns, and take requests from the residents. Often the residents will request a hymn we do not know and just start singing, the pianist starts playing and we all join in. Yesterday we sang several of the good ol' hymns and I witnessed something spectacular. 

A majority of the residents have been abandoned by their families, or do not have any family, and they are confined to a wheelchair, heavily medicated, and some are so advance with Alzheimer and dementia, and other debilitating health issues. During a few of the hymns, one gentleman who cannot speak and only lays his head on the table, began to make a small noise, the noise a baby makes when he/she is happy. It started off slow until we sang "In the Garden", suddenly his noise grew louder and louder. I look over and I see him hitting the table with a smile. It appeared he recognized the hymn and it brought him great comfort.

I understand the argument against the hymn. I agree it should stop being included in corporate worship song books and I understand how it conveys a simple, selfish understanding of faith. A faith void of any acts of service. But when it comes to the dying, to the ones who cannot speak because their mind has reverted back to that of an infant, they need to be reminded there in their dark garden, as they await their last breath, Christ indeed walks with them, talks with them, and calls them his very own. And the joy they share as they tarry there, none other has known. At least not until we are there in our dark garden waiting for death.