How
Great Thou Art By CB Taylor Kinsella
Aunt CB Taylor Kinsella
O
Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider
all the worlds thy hands have made
I
see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy
pow’r throughout the universe displayed.
Then
sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How
great thou art, how great thou art!
Then
sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How
great thou art, how great thou art!
This hymn always brings me to tears! There’s a
history here! In 1976, my sister Esther’s death, the suddenness of it, the
empty space she left----and her funeral.
Her husband, Dick Lochner, remembered how excited she’d
been at a recent wedding they’d attended, to hear this hymn. She had been
thrilled by the girl’s voice. Thus, he called the singer and asked her to sing
it at the funeral. It was glorious.
Esther Taylor Lochner
Then, the very next day, my sister Doris’ son,
Charlie, was being married. Bereft as we were, we still all felt that we should
attend to support Doris. Esther would have been the first to insist we do so.
Thus, we arrived at the church in Lockport, bringing along a few extra cousins
(Gladys and Sylva) who had come for Esther’s service. It was a lovely wedding,
the bride beautiful, the groom handsome and all was serene when a lady stood to
sing. She quietly started and poured forth “How Great Thou Art”. Just as
quietly, we all folded! Tears flowed and we loitered as people left the church,
trying to get ourselves composed and to give Dick, who had come with us, in
family solidarity, a chance to regain his calm.
Charlie and Mary Hawkes
Yes, we all attended the
reception. Did we dance? That’s lost in my memory but we did turn a happy face
to Charlie and Mary that I know.
Several years later, I drove a part of Chris’ eighth
grade class to a school excursion. One parent was a funeral director and we
were to see his funeral home as an introduction to understanding grief. All was
low key and serious until he turned on the music to explain its part in the
service. Softly came “How Great Thou Art”. I had to leave the room.
A beautiful hymn! I love to sing it! Great verses
and tune and such memories it holds. It encompasses all sides of life.
5 comments:
I can't begin to tell you how much this story puts me so close to the whole family, as now I know a lot of the circumstances that happened and others had endured for all of us. I was busy with my life in Central Florida and was not aware of all of this going on, and had I been closer to NY to attend this with the rest of my family, I would have had a hard time containing the tears myself. With the advent of this story for us all to be a part of, it was now my turn to feel the ping in my heart and dab off the tears.
Thank God, Pat, that you are taking charge of making all stories known to all of us and that Aunt CB has such a good memory of things that transpired earlier in her life and relates it to all of us, as it does make us tighter with each other even if not close enough through the miles. I really appreciate the times that we are actually together and can get into conversations about things in our past together--I always marvel at how close we all are with each other even if we didn't all grow up together at the same time. I have much love for all of my cousins and my family! God has blessed us with good family love!
Love to everyone --- Nance
Thank you, CB, for this story that really dips into your emotions!
I love you dearly!
The year my Mother (Gladys) died, both of my daughters got married.
That was one stressful year!
To go to one's Sister's funeral one day and a nephew's wedding the next would be so stressful!
What a roller coaster of emotions!
I (also) know the pain of loosing a sibling, it tears a hole out of your heart and that never heals.
The song, How Great Thou Art, is so wonderful for any occasion.
I love the whole song, but personally, the fourth verse is my favorite.
You have verse one and the chorus in the story, so I thought I would add the other 3 verses.
"Verse 2:
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Chorus
Verse 3:
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Chorus
Verse 4:
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then shall I bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!"
wonderful stories, memories and affirmation.
At Bryant Taylor's funeral, "How Great Thou Art" was also sung. It is a powerful hymn, loved, universally by all as you can see.
Evelyn
Pat and Mom - I just read both stories again with tears in my eyes. What a blessing to be born into this wonderful extendeddddddddddddddddddddd family.
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