On YouTube there are
several versions of Jim Manley’s great hymn, “Spirit of Gentleness.” Most
mornings I listen to one or another of them on my iPad, with my coffee, sound
turned low since I’m up early.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free.
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
It’s a hymn, in many
hymnals, not that anybody uses hymnals anymore, since someone discovered that a
screen can be mounted on a wall, but it can be used as a choral number, too.
One year the St. Olaf College Choir used it in their Christmas concert, one of
those lovely specials you see on PBS.
You moved on the waters, you called to the deep.
then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep,
and over the eons, you called to each thing:
Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.
Back in the 1960s, when I
was minister at The Wesley Foundation [Methodist campus ministry] at Illinois
State University, I came across an LP [high tech in those days] of Jim’s first
album, ”Raggedy Band.” I was grabbed by his voice, his lyrics, his theology. I
especially loved the song, “You’re Gonna Hear From Him Again.” I thought one of
the best things I could do as a minister to my students was get Jim to our
campus so that they could meet him and hear him.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free.
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
So I wrote to him through
the record company that put out “Raggedy Band” and asked him to come to Normal,
Illinois to do a concert. He wrote back and said he’d be glad to come. The
reply was from his home, in Hawaii! I had no idea that his day job was as
chaplain in a home for troubled children out in the middle of the Pacific.
Getting him to Normal was going to cost a bit more than I had in mind.
Fortunately, we had a small fund that a family had given as a memorial for
their daughter who died while she was a student at ISU. It was for special
events. I knew Jim would be special.
You swept through the desert, you stung with the sand,
And you goaded your people with a law and a land,
And when they were blinded by their idols and lies
Then you spoke through your prophets to open their
eyes
Since Jim lived in Hawaii
and his brother was in Kansas City, they rarely got to see each other. Jim
thought it would be great if his brother could come see him while he was back
on the mainland. So DeVerne Dalluge, chemistry professor and Wesley Foundation
treasurer, and his wife, Shirley, said they would host Jim’s brother and his
wife in their house.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free.
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
Jim’s brother was better
off than Jim. We housed Jim in the new room my brother and I had finished in
the basement. We didn’t know that our cat, Princess, went down to sleep with
him. We didn’t know Jim was allergic to cats. His concert was a huge success,
not just because of his lyrics, but because of his new voice, that sounded like
it came right out of a concrete mixer! It fit his lyrics so nicely.
You sang in a stable, you cried from a
hill
You whispered in silence when the whole world was
still
And down in the city you called once again
When you blew through your people on the rush of the
wind
Twenty-five years later, I
was pastoring in a small town in Illinois—Arcola. I had just published my book
for cancer patents, and was receiving a lot of invitations to speak at cancer
gatherings. We got home from the one at MD Anderson in Houston, and our grad
school house-sitting daughter said, “Oh, you won’t believe who stopped by while
you were here. It was Jim Manley. He was in town to visit his aunt.”
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free.
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
“Jim Manley has an aunt in
Arcola?” “Yes, Mary Nay.” Well, Mary Nay was one of my favorite church members,
and Jim Manley was her favorite nephew, but we had no idea we had that
connection. Actually, Jim had so many Aunt Marys that he called Mary Nay, at
her request, “Uncle Mary.” That was the kind of woman she was.
You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes
From the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams
Our women see visions, our men clear their eyes
With bold new decisions your people arise
Mary was elderly, and good
health can leave quickly when we are old, especially after a fall and a broken
hip. So it was not long before Jim came back to sing at her funeral. It was a
completion of the family circle for him, and a completing of the friendship
circle for the two of us to work together in worship again.
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free.
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness
Stir me from placidness,
Wind, Wind on the sea.
JRMcF
Yes, I have referenced
this great hymn before, most notably in the Oct. 15, 2015 CIW column.
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