On the evening of Wednesday, November 8, 2017, my wife and I chose to view the CMA Award Show broadcast on ABC. Before I go any further, please let’s not argue whether or not today’s version of country music actually qualifies as country music or pop music. If you viewed the show, you must admit that at least some of the presentations would qualify as country music. After all, several numbers included steel guitars and/or fiddles.
For me, at least, the highlight of the evening was not a country song at all, but rather a hymn published almost 150 years ago by Will L. Thompson. I was deeply moved, as were countless others, as Carrie Underwood presented the beautiful hymn, “Softly and Tenderly”, in front of an ever changing display of the names and faces of the many members of the music industry who died during the passed year, as well as the country music fans gunned down during a Las Vegas concert on the first day of October. Good Morning America, co-anchor Lara Spencer, felt Underwood’s presentation was a very moving response to the losses. Is that what that was? Is that all it was? Was the intent of the presentation of the song merely a tribute to the loss of human life? Is the most sad event in this life, death? Well, almost. The one event that I find more sad, would be for death to result in an eternity spent in Hell, rather than in Heaven.
Based upon my research and as stated earlier, the church standard, “Softly and Tenderly”, was penned in 1880 by Will L. Thompson. It has been my personal experience to find this song used frequently in church’s for decades. The website that I choose to research noted that Thompson’s inspiration for the hymn is the Biblical book of Mark, the tenth chapter and the forty-ninth verse, or more appropriately, Mark 10:49. Also noted is a theme of invitation and salvation. To an Evangelical Christian, these are two extremely important subjects.
One of Carrie Underwood’s greatest hits, if not the greatest hit, is “Jesus Take the Wheel”. The theme of the song is a young lady’s realization that so much of this life, as well as the one after, is hopelessly out of our control, and that our only real hope is to trust God’s plan for this life and Jesus Christ for the life after. What I heard during Underwood’s presentation was not a tribute to those whose lives’ are over, but rather an invitation to those of us who remain behind to accept the soft and tender call of the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ. Please review the lyrics, as well as the result of my research below.
What do you hear? Is the Master calling to you?
