You know it’s true if Springsteen and a hymn from 1782 agree

It sounds like a Dickens tale.

Born poor and orphaned at age 12, John Fawcett survived by apprenticing to a tailor. He became a Christian in his teens, married at 25 and began pastoring a small rural church for pennies – sometimes potatoes, if that’s all his parishioners had. It was 1770, Wainsgate, England.

There’s no earthly reason for his name to be remembered 250 years later . . . but it is. He’s in our hymnals as the author of “Blest be the tie that binds.”

You know the words, right? And probably the tune, too.

“Blest be the tie that binds / our hearts in Christian love; / the fellowship of kindred minds / is like to that above.” That’s how it begins.

I didn’t know the backstory to this hymn when we met as staff in January to pick this year’s Christian Courier themes. June, we knew, would be annual church meeting month: Synod for the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. It would be a good month to focus on Christian community, right? Everyone liked the idea. So we settled on “the ties that bind” as our theme for June.

Among fellow Christians, Fawcett says in verse two, “our fears, our hopes, our aims are one.”

Does that match reality? Not always, judging by three articles in this issue – the ones by Phil Reinders, James Dekker and David Snapper – which explain the challenges to Christian fellowship facing the CRC.

Frankly, verse four feels like a better fit right now: “When we asunder part, / it gives us inward pain.” Fawcett meant “asunder” literally, in an era where communities couldn’t bridge geographical distance. He had been offered a better-paying job in the big city, which he turned down when his first church begged him to stay.

Reinders, Dekker and Snapper are concerned that “asunder” might become literal again. Our communities can’t seem to bridge the theological distance over human sexuality, and it’s causing tremendous pain.

Walking blind

The phrase “the ties that bind” is so evocative that it’s been used as the title to five films, three novels, at least seven songs – including one by Bruce Springsteen – and three video games. It also pops up as an episode title for 18 different TV shows, according to Wikipedia.

Here’s a few lines from Springsteen: “You don’t want nothin’, don’t need no one by your side / you’re walkin’ tough baby, but you’re walkin’ blind / to the ties that bind” (The River Album, 1979). His lyrics on love apply to the church; community matters. How we treat each other matters. Healthy Christian community is what Fawcett describes in verse 3 (with an audacious half rhyme): “We share each other’s woes, / our mutual burdens bear; / and often for each other flows / the sympathizing tear.”

While Fawcett focused on the church and Springsteen covered romantic love, there are many other ways to interpret the ties that bind. In this issue of Christian Courier, two columnists share dad stories – family ties (and actual ties, in Bob’s column!). Sports fans feel connected – especially if they’re cheering for the same team, as Heidi describes in “Hockey and heartbreak.” David Koyzis looks at Canada’s ties to our newly crowned King, and Curt and Rudy explore the links between humans and the creatures around us. As far as I know, none of these columns has been set to music yet – at least not for hymnal use. But their themes, like the ties that bind, run underneath our daily lives the way the bass clef parallels the treble.

We can walk tough, and ignore the ties that bind. We can act like we don’t need no one by our side. But how much more joyful to walk life’s roads together!

We can slice and dice our churches into ever-smaller groups, and hide the inward pain. But how much richer to have all the voices in harmony!

It’s time to exit verse 4 in the shared hope that God’s promises, as Fawcett describes in his closing verse, are true.

“From sorrow, toil and pain, / and sin, we shall be free; / and perfect love and friendship reign / through all eternity.”