Nearer, My God, To Thee

October 1, 2023 homily on Genesis 28:10-22 by Pastor Galen

“Nearer My God to Thee”

When Sarah Adams penned the words to the song “Nearer, My God, To Thee” in 1841 at her home in Essex, England, she had no idea the enduring legacy the hymn would have, or how it would bring comfort to so many through the ages. 

She had no idea, for example, that U.S. President William McKinley would quote the last refrain as his dying words after he sustained the gunshot wounds that would lead to his assassination in 1901. Nor did she know that numerous bands would play the hymn all across the United States in his memory. Adams had no idea that a few years later, the band on the Titanic would play her song to provide solace to the passengers on board as the ship sank beneath the icy waters. Legend has it that after the Titanic struck the iceberg, the band played lively music to keep the fears of the passengers at bay. But, as it became clear that the ship would go down, one passenger shouted out that they needed to hear hymns, not the “parlor music” that the band had been playing. And so the band played various well-known hymns, eventually landing on “Nearer, My God to Thee.”

Verse 1: Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

The Story Behind the Hymn

What is it about the Psalms and hymns and songs of our faith that we turn to them in moments of grief or despair? Why is it that hymns such as “Nearer, My God, to Thee” have such a power to bring consolation even in the midst of tragedy and loss? 

Perhaps it’s the fact that the hymns of our faith were written by real people, who had real encounters with God, who faced real trials and disappointments, griefs and sorrows, and yet through it all they experienced God’s presence right there with them.

Such was the case for the hymnwriter Sarah Flower Adams, whose mother died when Sarah was just five years old, and whose father passed away when she was just 20. Sarah experienced hearing loss throughout her life, which she inherited from her father, and both she and her older sister experienced feeble health like their mother, both of them passing away at the young age of 43.

 And yet, despite the challenges she faced in life, Sarah experienced the presence of God, empowering her to do remarkable things. At the age of 18, Sarah broke the female record for climbing Ben Lomond, a mountain in the Scottish highlands known to be quite a strenuous climb. At one time in her life, she was also a stage actor, who played leading roles like Lady Macbeth and Portia in Shakespearean productions. 

In addition to being a hymn writer, Sarah used her writing abilities to advocate for various justice-related causes in her day, using poetry and political verse to advocate for equal treatment of women and working-class people. As a member of a progressive Christian household and congregation, having been taken in by a minister and his family after the death of her father, these causes were near and dear to Sarah’s heart and were not separate from her faith, but rather an outworking of her confidence in God and her deep-seated belief in the dignity and worth of all God’s people.

Jacob and the Stairway to Heaven

Sarah Adams’ hymn “Nearer, My God to Thee” was inspired by the story of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, in which Jacob, also called Israel, saw a stairway (or ladder) going up to heaven. Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, who was planning to take revenge on him since Jacob had deceived their father Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing that should have been given to Esau. 

Jacob was wandering through a wilderness area, and when it grew dark he lay down to rest, using a stone for his pillow. 

Verse 2 of Nearer, My God, to Thee begins Sarah Adams’s poetic retelling of this narrative. She writes,

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

darkness be over me, my rest a stone;

yet in my dreams I’d be

nearer, my God, to thee;

nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

Verse 3 continues,

There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

In his dream, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending the stairway to heaven. God appeared in Jacob’s dream, and spoke to Jacob, reminding him of the promise God made to Jacob’s parents and grandparents, to make a great nation from their descendants and to give them the land on which Jacob was resting. 

Then the Lord spoke to Jacob, saying, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).

Now, I want you to stop and imagine this scene with me. (Close your eyes if you have to.) Imagine a staircase stretching from earth to heaven, and angels walking up and down the stairs. Now imagine that God is standing there. Where exactly do you imagine God is standing? Is God standing at the top of the stairs, in heaven, looking down? Or, is God standing next to you at the bottom of the stairs? Or is God somewhere else? (You can open your eyes now.)

Interestingly enough, the majority of the English Bible translations that I consulted translate this verse to indicate that God is standing at the top of the stairs looking down on Jacob. Several translations have God at the bottom of the stairs, standing next to Jacob. And one translation even has “the Lord leaning upon the ladder”! (Douay-Rheims Bible). It’s obvious from the variety of translations that the Hebrew here is unclear, simply stating that God is standing there, speaking to Jacob, promising to be with him wherever he goes, promising never to leave his side. Whether God is at the top of the stairs or at the bottom, the important thing is that Jacob felt God’s presence with him right where he was. On the ground. He didn’t have to ascend up to heaven to be with God. God’s presence was right there with him, and God promised to be with him wherever he went.

All of this seems to be quite startling to Jacob, who woke up the next morning exclaiming, “‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And [Jacob] was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel” (Genesis 28:16b-18), which means “house of God.”

In Sarah Adams’s poetic retelling, she writes,

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise,
out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

The Joy of God’s Presence

What was it about the story of Jacob and the stairway to heaven that resonated so deeply with Sarah Adams that she would pen the words of this song?

As someone who experienced the tragic loss of loved ones and was thus forced to move many times throughout her life, perhaps she, like Jacob, felt like a wanderer. During the time when she suffered from tuberculosis, perhaps she felt that she was at death’s door, and she expected God to come and take her home. When her theatrical career was cut short by her feeble health, or when her hearing loss prevented her from opportunities that others enjoyed, perhaps she wondered if there was anything more that God had for her to do. Perhaps this was why she resonated so deeply with Jacob’s story.

I imagine that it was in those times that she was surprised to feel God close to her, and that she too woke up as from a dream, saying, “Surely the Lord is in this place!” It was in moments like these that she too was reassured to know that God would be with her wherever she went, and that, like Jacob, God had something more in store for her to do. And so she penned the words of this song to help others know and experience God’s presence.

Upward I Fly!

Adams knew that there would come a day when God would indeed come to take her and all of us home. And she knew that in that moment, we will experience a nearness to God, unlike anything we have ever felt before. And so for the final stanza to her beloved hymn (the verse that President McKinley quoted on his deathbed), she wrote the words,

Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,

still all my song shall be,

nearer, my God, to thee;

nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

God’s Presence Empowers

The griefs and sorrows that Adams faced in her life could have left her feeling angry and embittered toward God. She could have sat around feeling sorry for herself, consumed with her own worries and concerns. But, like the psalmists of old, Sarah Adams cried out to God, in her sorrow and despair, bringing her worries and troubles to the Lord, experiencing the comfort and solace of God’s presence. Like the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, she looked outward, allowing her heart to break for the injustices around her, using polemical verse to speak out against the injustices of her day. And when she experienced the joy of God’s presence, she did not keep it to herself, but rather, like Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Mary in the Bible who sang songs of praise and led others in worship of our God, Adams used her artistic gifts to help others know and experience the goodness of our God. 

May we too rest in the confidence and assurance that God is nearer to us than we could ever have dreamt or imagined. May we too rise in the confidence that God will be with us wherever we go, and that as long as we have breath in our bodies, God has a good work for us to do. And may we too look forward in hope and anticipation for the day when God will take us home, when, on a joyful wing, upward we’ll fly. When all our song will be “nearer, my God to thee; nearer, my God to thee, nearer to thee!”

Amen!