Yet the Dogs the Crumbs May Eat

The Presbyterian Women at the church I serve always have a summer Bible study.  This year, they wanted to look at women of faith, and an officer from the Salvation Army spoke to them in June about Catherine Booth, one of the founders of that movement.  In July, I showed pictures from my sabbatical as we looked at Susanna Annesley Wesley's influence in Methodism, and in August, our music director/organist led them in a discussion of Fanny Crosby's hymns and life.  This made me think about the ways in which early Methodism gave women the freedom to speak and be heard, as class leaders, as preachers, and even as the main voice/actor within hymns.

My daily devotions include Morning Prayer as laid out in A Disciple's Journal by Steven Manskar, a friend and colleague I met when he led the Wesley Pilgrimage in 2016.  Each day's reading features scripture, a short excerpt from John Wesley, and a verse or two from Charles Wesley.  Last week's hymn selection was two verses from a hymn Charles wrote based on Jesus' encounter with a Canaanite woman who persistently called for him to heal her daughter in Matthew 15: 21-28.

It's a tough story to read and even harder to preach because you have to unpack layer upon layer of meaning and nuance, but Charles Wesley imaginatively enters into the story as the woman herself.  The disciples try to shut her up and Jesus at first refuses to help her, saying it isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs, but she is stubborn and will not take no for an answer, and Jesus ends up praising her for her faith and healing her daughter.  In the words of Helen Bruch Pearson in her book Do What You have the Power to Do, she is the woman who extended the Lord's table.

While it is not uncommon for Charles Wesley to take a familiar story or person from scripture as a starting point for a hymn before creatively inserting himself and by extension, all sinners into the story, it is unusual that he opens each verse of this hymn by speaking from the woman's perspective.  She is the person addressing Jesus throughout the entire hymn, and she pleads her case, reminding him that his grace is for all people, tenaciously refusing to go away until he grants her request.  The final two verses conclude with Jesus' response to her as he commends her for her persistence and says, "Canaanite, thy faith is great!"

The hymn apparently disappeared from most, if not all, Methodist hymnals before 1900, and what a pity that is!  How often have you encountered and sung a hymn that told a woman's story in her own voice?  How often have you seen and heard a hymn based on an account of such an uncomfortable interaction between Jesus and someone else?

It has been said that Charles Wesley relied so heavily upon scripture for his inspiration that the Bible could be reconstructed from his hymns, and here is a fine example of him mining the text and coming up with pure gold as he highlights a nameless woman whose boldness and faith will never be forgotten.  Her bravery and doggedness (pun intended) provide a hopeful example to us whenever we think we aren't being heard when we are pleading with Jesus, whenever our faith falters and we give up and stop praying.  Charles Wesley deserves our gratitude for penning these powerful words that emphasize such amazing faith and God's free grace, and the Canaanite woman's hymn of persistence should be better known, don't you think?

LORD, regard my earnest Cry,
A Potsherd of the Earth,
A poor guilty Worm am I,
A Canaanite by Birth :
Save me from this Tyranny,
From all the Power of Satan save,
Mercy, Mercy upon me
Thou Son of David have.

Still Thou answerest not a Word
To my repeated Prayer ;
Hear Thy own Disciples, LORD,
Who in my Sorrows share,
O let them prevail with Thee
To grant the Blessing which I crave :
Mercy, Mercy, &c.

Send, O send me now away,
By granting my Request,
Still I follow Thee, and pray,
And will not let Thee rest,
Ever crying after Thee,
Till Thou my Helplesness relieve,
Mercy, Mercy, &c.

To the Sheep of Israel's Fold
Thou in Thy Flesh wast sent,
But the Gentiles now behold
In Thee their Covenant.
See me then, with Pity see,
A Sinner, whom Thou cam'st to save ;
Mercy, Mercy, &c.

Still to Thee, my God, I come,
And Mercy I implore,
Thee (but how shall I presume)
Thee trembling I adore,
Dare not stand before Thy Face,
But lowly at Thy Feet I fall,
Help me, Jesu, shew Thy Grace!
Thy Grace is free for All.

Still I cannot part with Thee,
I will not let Thee go,
Mercy, Mercy unto me,
O Son of David shew,
Vilest of the sinful Race,
On Thee importunate I call,
Help me, Jesu, shew Thy Grace,
Thy Grace is free for All.

Nothing am I in Thy Sight,
Nothing have I to plead,
Unto Dogs it is not right
To cast the Children's Bread :
Yet the Dogs the Crumbs may eat,
That from their Master's Table fall,
Let the Fragments be my Meat,
Thy Grace is free for All.

Give me, LORD, the Victory,
My Heart's Desire fulfil,
Let it now be done to me
According to my Will,
Give me living Bread to eat,
And say, in Answer to my Call,
" Canaanite, Thy Faith is great,
" My Grace is free for All."

 If Thy Grace for All is free,
Thy Call now let me hear,
Shew this Token upon me,
And bring Salvation near ;
Now the Gracious Word repeat,
The Word of Healing to my Soul,
" Canaanite, thy Faith is great,
" Thy Faith hath made Thee whole."

(words as found at https://hymnary.org/text/lord_regard_my_earnest_cry)