shortlady
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Messages
- 2,696
Gone The Sun
READ: Isaiah 60:17-22
Your sun shall no longer go down , . . . for the Lord
will be your everlasting light, and the days of your
mourning shall be ended. —Isaiah 60:20
In 1862, during the US Civil War, General Daniel
Butterfield wanted a new melody for “lights out.” And
so, without any musical training, he composed one in
his head.
Years later, the general wrote, “I called in someone
who could write music, and practiced a change in the
call of ‘Taps’ until I had it suit my ear, and then .
. . got it to my taste without being able to write
music or knowing the technical name of any note, but,
simply by ear, arranged it.” General Butterfield gave
the music to the brigade bugler, and the rest is
history.
While there are no official lyrics to the hauntingly
familiar strains of “Taps,” here is a commonly
accepted version of one verse:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
What a comforting lyric as faithful members of the
military are laid to rest! And what hope in the
acknowledgment that God is near, even—especially—in
death!
At a time when death and evil reigned, the prophet
Isaiah anticipated a day when death itself would die.
“Your sun shall no longer go down,” he wrote to
Israel, “for the Lord will be Your everlasting light”
(60:20).
For those who follow Jesus, the strains of “Taps” are
not a funeral dirge but a song of hope. “The days of
your mourning shall be ended” (v.20). All is well. God
is nigh.
— Tim Gustafson
Sunset in one land is sunrise in another.
READ: Isaiah 60:17-22
Your sun shall no longer go down , . . . for the Lord
will be your everlasting light, and the days of your
mourning shall be ended. —Isaiah 60:20
In 1862, during the US Civil War, General Daniel
Butterfield wanted a new melody for “lights out.” And
so, without any musical training, he composed one in
his head.
Years later, the general wrote, “I called in someone
who could write music, and practiced a change in the
call of ‘Taps’ until I had it suit my ear, and then .
. . got it to my taste without being able to write
music or knowing the technical name of any note, but,
simply by ear, arranged it.” General Butterfield gave
the music to the brigade bugler, and the rest is
history.
While there are no official lyrics to the hauntingly
familiar strains of “Taps,” here is a commonly
accepted version of one verse:
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
What a comforting lyric as faithful members of the
military are laid to rest! And what hope in the
acknowledgment that God is near, even—especially—in
death!
At a time when death and evil reigned, the prophet
Isaiah anticipated a day when death itself would die.
“Your sun shall no longer go down,” he wrote to
Israel, “for the Lord will be Your everlasting light”
(60:20).
For those who follow Jesus, the strains of “Taps” are
not a funeral dirge but a song of hope. “The days of
your mourning shall be ended” (v.20). All is well. God
is nigh.
— Tim Gustafson
Sunset in one land is sunrise in another.