Aug 3, 2023

Philip Doddridge (1)

They were called The California State Youth Chorus of the Church of God in Christ, a group of forty-six African American singers ages seventeen to twenty-five. It was hardly a catchy title for a singing group, so the director renamed them the Edwin Hawkins Singers.
Edwin came across an old hymn composed by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), “Rejoicing in our Covenant-Engagement with God” that was later shortened to “O Happy Day.” Hawkins repurposed the hymn in 1968 by giving it a gospel flair. A San Francisco DJ played the recording on his morning radio show and other stations followed suit. It became the first gospel song to climb to the top of secular music charts. Doddridge wrote four hundred hymns, most of which served as musical summaries of his sermons for his congregation to sing.

“O Happy Day” is based on 2 Chronicles 15 when Judah rejoices in God’s covenant. The hymn is filled with images of covenant, an essential Biblical theme and important to Puritans like Doddridge. God establishes a covenant with people. While a contract is considered standard business practice, a covenant resembles the ties that bind people together in families. When Doddridge was dying of tuberculosis, his wife noticed his lips moving and asked if he wanted anything. “No,” he answered, “I am only renewing my covenant engagements with God.”

Today’s prayer is quite extraordinary. Jesus said there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than those who need no repentance. I have divided the prayer to share on successive days. I identify with his confession about skipping devotions and rattling off cold, formal prayers:

Eternal, unchangeable Jehovah! Your perfections and glories will never change.
Jesus your Son is “the same, yesterday, today and forever.”
The closer the eternal world gets,
the more I must consider it.
But sadly, my views, my affections,
and my best intentions keep changing, just like my poor body.
Where do these changes come from, Lord?
And what about the way my soul feels alienated from you?
Why can I not just come to you with the affections of a child,
as I once did?
Why do I avoid serving you?
It was once my greatest pleasure.
Now it seems like a burden.
Where is the blessing I once had?
My joy in you as my Heavenly Father
was so obvious that strangers could not miss it.
My heart overflowed with so much love to you,
and passion for serving you,
that it feels like self-denial not to express it.
Where did I fall?
You see me still, but I am not the same.
I blush to see how cold and indifferent I have become.
When you see me in secret,
you see me amusing myself with trivial things,
when I used to spend my time serving you.
You see me coming into your presence as if I was forced.
And when I am before you,
my spirit is so empty that I hardly know what to say to you,
though you are my God,
and there could never be anything more important than time spent with you.
Even when I do speak with you,
my prayer is cold and formal.
What happened to the passion I once felt,
the intense pursuit of you, O God?
And what happened to the wonderful rest I had in you,
that feeling of just being happy to be near you
and my determination to never stray from your presence?
I am so far removed from that place.
When my short devotions are over,
if you can even call them devotions,
I forget about you for the longest time…

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.