By the Sea of Crystal...

...was one of my grandmother's favorite hymns, appropriately enough because it was written by a Dutch pastor in the Christian Reformed Church, my grandmother's ethnicity and denomination, and written when my grandmother was growing up. My grandmother passed away this morning, for those of you who read my previous blog entry about the difficult week we've had. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They are felt warmly by all of my family at this time. We have felt peace descend upon us the past two days, and my grandfather was able to celebrate his 89th birthday yesterday with a celebration dinner with laughing and fond memories of their life together. God is good. And now, my grandmother gets to sing these words where she belongs, standing right by that crystal sea.

By the Sea of Crystal
Words: William Kuipers, 1932. Tune: John Vanderhoven, 1933
(If you're not a Dutchie and would like to hear the tune, go to this site:
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/t/btsocrys.htm)

By the sea of crystal, saints in glory stand,
Myriads in number, drawn from every land,
Robed in white apparel, washed in Jesus’ blood,
They now reign in heaven with the Lamb of God.

Out of tribulation, death and Satan’s hand,
They have been translated at the Lord’s command.
In their hands they’re holding palms of victory;
Hark! the jubilant chorus shouts triumphantly:

“Unto God Almighty, sitting on the throne,
And the Lamb, victorious, be the praise alone,
God has wrought salvation, He did wondrous things,
Who shall not extol Thee, holy King of Kings?”