The Church's One Foundation

 Over the summer the congregation has been asked to name their favourite hymns to be sung during the collection of the offering.  These requests seemed like great blog material for me, especially when I know of a great resource!  Dr. Cecil Kirk, late of our congregation, had a passion for the great hymns of the church and wrote commentary on hundreds of them.  On July 1, we sang The Church's One Foundation.  Here's what Dr. Kirk had to say about it.

Scripture reading: 2 Peter 2. 1 - 3



This wonderful hymn on the nature of the Church was the product of a bitter controversy that disturbed the peace of the Anglican communion in the mid-nineteenth century. At that time a South African bishop rejected the doctrine of eternal punishment and questioned the traditional authorship of the Pentateuch. Stone, a young curate of Windsor, wrote this hymn in defence of the traditional catholic faith. It is based on the ninth article of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in the holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints" and summarizes the Church as it should be in God's design, as it is in today's world and as it one day shall be.

The hymn begins with the origin of the Church and re-echoes Paul's bold affirmation: "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3. 11). The Church is a divine organism and not a human institution. Men and women may co-operate in building up the Church but all our building must be on the foundation stone of Jesus Christ. The Church is Christ's "new creation", a fellowship of people who have been born anew "by water and the word", through the preaching of the gospel and the water of baptism. And not only did Christ create the Church, he also purchased her "with His own blood" and espoused himself to her as "His holy bride".

The Church of Christ is universal: "elect from every nation", its members are, nevertheless, "one o'er all the earth". The thought is that of the unity of the Church and this theme is continued throughout the stanza which is really a commentary on Paul's description of the Church in his letter to the Ephesians (4. 4-6). Her one Lord is Jesus Christ; the one faith she professes is the historic faith of the Church condensed in the creeds; her one birth is the new birth through the ministry of the Holy Spirit; the one name she blesses is the strong name of the Trinity; the one food of which she partakes is the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and the one hope to which she presses is the hope of glory.

With the words "Though with a scornful wonder . . " we have a reference to the problems which caused the hymn to be written. Unfortunately there are still schisms and heresies which distress and tear asunder the unity of the Church and these continue to rage even today, but we have the assurance that the "night of weeping" will give way to "the morn of song". That hope emerges in the concluding verses where we view the Church as triumphant and glorified. Here below we know the "toil and tribulation and tumult of her war" but this state of conflict will not last for ever. There will come a day when "her longing eyes" will be blessed by the vision of Christ himself and the Church, victorious at last, will be at rest.

All this lies in the future. In the meantime there are two blessings to comfort us. One is the union we have with "God the Three in One". God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is present with us day by day through worship, daily communion, the Scriptures, the sacraments and the faith of his people. And that is a union which cannot be destroyed. We also have "mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won". That fellowship with those who have departed this scene of time comes through Jesus Christ. He is the one who has conquered death, the one who is the resurrection and the life, and all who believe in him are alive for evermore. We think with joy and gladness of those who have preceded us into the heavenly kingdom and we look forward to a wonderful re-union with them in the presence of our Lord. In the meantime we pray for the grace which will enable us to make that prayer a reality.  --Dr. Cecil Kirk

My thanks to Edna Kirk for sharing this essay.