These two verses (numbered #1 and #2) are actually the third and fourth verses of my hymn “Through my Savior.” Since they’re in the spirit of Easter, I submit them here:

Verse 1

Now in the morning of shadow waning,
Like when the light of morning filled a tomb,
Grant us forgiveness: both giving, gaining;
Fill us with light: Dispel avenging gloom.
Once in a garden, the blood was dropping;
Once on a cross, the voice of mercy said,
“Oh, my Father, forgive my brother;
I forgive him with the blood I shed.”

Verse 2

Through thine Anointed, we seek forgiveness,
Grasping thy mercy, casting off our sin,
Through our election of his atonement,
Touching Perfection, cleansing us within.
Though opposition may feign to hinder,
Like thine Anointed we begin to be.
Oh my Father, I now remember:
My Redeemer gave his life for me;
Through my Savior, I come to thee.

Some of this is symbolic. Notice the reference to the New Testament healing of the woman who touched the hem of the clothing of Jesus:

Touching Perfection, cleansing us within

Of course we need to apply that in a little different way in our own lives. We need to approach the Savior in our prayers to received his healing influence, yet the healing we usually most need is spiritual.

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Forgiveness – A Song Verse Explained

When is the “morning of shadow waning?” The dispelling of this particular shadow refers to attaining forgiveness, both forgiving and receiving forgiveness, so the particular “morning” is unique to each of us. In fact many of us may be enlightened by many such mornings in our lifetimes, moments when we forgive another person or when someone forgives himself or herself, or moments when we accept forgiveness from another person.

Images of Christ

We each have a mental picture of what we think the Savior looks like. But if we painted pictures of Him, they would all be different. We don’t really know what He looks like, but we can come to know His perfect love for us and draw closer to Him . . .

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In this new piece of music for a church choir, much of the text is a slight modification of Book of Mormon scriptures, yet the original meaning is there.

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When is the editing really completed? The words of my sacrament hymn (what I originally thought would be only a song) “Through my Savior” began to form in the late 1980’s, with occasional revisions, every few years. The music was likewise revised, including the 2011 hymn arrangement. In the past few days[mid-2011], I kept finding better words and phrases, even adding a new verse.

This morning I revised the first verse, again. Now (again) I feel sure that this is the final version of this hymn. [It has now been revised many times from mid-2011 through the end of March of 2015.]

The page linked above includes “Behold the Great Redeemer Die” by Eliza R. Snow, for it includes much that is lacking in my sacrament hymn, in particular details about the last few hours of the Savior’s mortal life.

So when do we stop improving what we have written and begin another work? In my case, I consider myself to have been a non-writer during most of the past twenty-two years, with occasional songs and short poems being exceptions; in addition, most of those years were spent procrastinating revising “Through my Savior,” not actually revising it. In general, we set aside revising and step up to a new work when the overall needs (for both writer and readers) tip the balance, causing us to step forward: when the value of starting something new overrides the value of revising the old.

On a sidenote, unrelated to writing but a critical principle mentioned in “Through my Savior,” is forgiveness. We must remember to forgive and forget.

Addendum #1:

It’s now nineteen days later: I have again revised a few words, making the sacrament song a bit more vague in the fourth line of the second verse (and so making it more applicable to more individuals) and changing “my” to “the” in the third line.

Addendum #2:

It’s now twenty-one months later: I have again revised some lines, this time where I have always been less than satisfied, at the beginning of the first verse:

Father in Heaven, I know my weakness

Thy name is blessed; bless me in my need.

Through thy Beloved, in this assembling,

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* A new site on sacrament hymns in general *