693 Just as I am Without One Plea

Charlotte Elliott, the author of the text for this hymn, spent much of her life as an embittered woman.  Charlotte was born in Brighton England but ended up with in bad health was a disability the followed her.  She felt that if God really loved her, "He would not have treated me this way."  She often railed against God and her family in violent outbursts.

Finally in 1822 a minister, Dr. Cesar Malan visited her and after one of her outbursts, her embarrassed family left Charlotte alone with the visitor.  He observed that she became embittered and now had nothing else in the world to cling to.  He told her that faith in God would be a cure to her bitterness and all she had to do to embrace the faith that could relieve her of her disappointment was to, "give yourself to God just as you are now, with your fightings, fears, hates and love, pride and shame."

Charlotte did come just as she was and her heart was changed that day.  Years later when her brother was raising funds for a school for the children of poor clergymen, Charlotte wrote a poem.  The poem was printed and sold all across England.  The poem was the source for this hymn text and has become the most famous invitational hymn in history.  It has become synonymous with the Billy Graham crusades. 

Miss Elliott lived to be 82 (in 1871) and wrote about 149 additional hymns, despite the fact that her health never improved.  After her death, her family found over a thousand letters she had kept in which people expressed their gratitude for the way this hymn had touched their lives.

William Bradbury wrote the music used for this text. Other hymn  tunes by Bradbury include "Jesus Loves Me This I Know", "He Leadeth Me", "Sweet Hour of Prayer", "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us."

The video this week is the great Mahalia Jackson singing this hymn.  Although the text is not there, there isn't any doubt what the words are about. A commentator once said about Mahalia, "she wasn't singing for a crowd or a congregation; she was singing for God. She just allowed us to listen while she did."