{"id":409,"date":"2014-05-29T03:00:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T07:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/god-is-nigh\/"},"modified":"2014-05-29T03:00:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T07:00:02","slug":"god-is-nigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/god-is-nigh\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Nigh"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Melodious Monk<\/p>\n

This Memorial Day, hearing the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the simple melody we call ‘taps’ brought unexpected tears to my eyes. There’s a fair bit of mystery about the exact origin of this tune coming out of the Civil War, but the emotional impact of these 24 repetitious notes is undeniable. Originally written as the call to signal the end of the day, today most of us best associate the call with funerals and memorial services. I had forgotten the lyrics to this beautiful melody:<\/p>\n

Day is done, gone the sun
\n<\/em>From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
\n<\/em>All is well, safely rest
\nGod is nigh.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fading light dims the sight
\nAnd a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
\nFrom afar, drawing near
\nFalls the night.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks and praise for our days
\nNeath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
\nAs we go, this we know
\nGod is nigh.<\/em><\/p>\n

I especially find comfort and mystery in the last line of the 1st<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> stanzas, \u201cGod is nigh.\u201d What a wonderful way to end each day, remembering that no matter what has befallen us today, God was there. It’s a gentle reminder to put our tiny individual lives in the perspective of a vast and grand Heaven. Likewise, it is a moving statement to make at the remembrance of a loved one’s life, realizing that these fallen earthly vessels are now \u201cnigh\u201d with God. May God bless all of our veterans, and those who continue to serve in the armed forces today.<\/p>\n

\"American-landscape-canyons-sunset_1920x1200\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Melodious Monk This Memorial Day, hearing the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the simple melody we call ‘taps’ brought unexpected tears to my eyes. There’s a fair bit of mystery about the exact origin of this tune coming out of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paraclete-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}