Vivion Road 2021 Theme

How Can I Keep From Singing?  

Our theme of perspective this year draws from the song “How Can I Keep From Singing,” sometimes referred to by the phrases in its first line, “My Life Flows On” or “Endless Song.” The hymn was composed by Robert W. Lowry, circa 1868, although it is often misattributed as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn. Many of Mr. Lowry’s hymns are sung to this day, including some in our hymnal.

Throughout 2021 we will explore the themes in this song in many of our lessons as well as in our meetings. We have access to this song in our eChoice hymnal, and some version of it is likely familiar due to performances by several popular recording artists.

"How Can I Keep From Singing" is full of optimism and hope. As this new year begins, many are looking forward to better and brighter days. While it is natural for us to join in this worldly hope, “How Can I Keep From Singing” reminds us that our joy is in Christ, who reigns supreme over any earthly trouble or concern.

As we will sing it this year:

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth's lamentation,
I hear the real, tho' far-off hymn
That hails a new creation;
Thru all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?

What tho' the tempest loudly roars? (alt: What tho’ my joys and comforts die?)
The Lord my Savior liveth;
And tho' the darkness ‘round me close,
Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble in their fear
and hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our tho’ts to them are winging;
When friends by shame are undefiled, 
How can I keep from singing?

In addition to these, another verse exists, but is not used in our hymnal:

I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it,
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing;
All things are mine since I am his—
How can I keep from singing?

Last year we considered a theme based on vision. This year builds upon that theme in a hymn that encourages us to have perspective. Perspective comes from two Latin roots that together mean “look through,” another reference to sight. 
We encourage you to think and pray about what this theme of perspective means to you and your faith. You might consider the following excerpt from the third chapter of the  letter to the Phillippians:

17 Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Having the perspective that “our citizenship is in heaven” can help us in many ways, including how we relate to both our brothers and sisters as well as our fellow man. Also, as our theme hymn should remind us, even when we are in a valley, “Since Christ is Lord of heav’n and earth, How can I keep from singing?”

Wednesday, January 26, 2022