[Originally posted 4/2/2007]
This weekend I I flew back into Logan airport after two weeks of several trips. The weather was beautiful and our aircraft flew past Boston, turning around over Massachusetts Bay. The view of the ocean was awesome. It stretches forever, it seems.
A few hours later I was walking along the beach with my wife and our Corgi. She reminded me of the majestic hymn, The Love of God, that summarized our feelings. One stanza says:
Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song
Frederick Lehman wrote that hymn in 1917, writing two stanzas, the refrain, and the music. But this particular stanza he found on the walls of an unnamed asylum inmate after he died. Apparently these words were adapted from a poem called "Hadamut" written by Rabbi Mayer in 1096.
Nature is often an object lesson, calling to mind the truths that God has revealed to us. May the vast ocean always remind us of the infinite extent of God's love.