Faith of Our Fathers

Today, as I'm often reminded, is the only date that is also a command: March Forth. This day is also the third of my grandfather's birthdays since God called him home. He would have been 98 years old today.

SSgt Joe H. Garcia

 We call him Grumpy, and as my father so aptly put it, "if there ever was a nickname that was the exact opposite of a man!" My grandfather was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and it showed. Wherever he was, this man was a servant to all he encountered. No task was too small or distasteful for him. He followed his Savior and took up His cross each day. Even when he was turning 95, people were shocked at his age, not believing that a 95-year-old man could be as actively serving in the church and the community as he was.

His smile and his laughter were infectious. His hope in His Savior was inspiring. His example was challenging. His legacy is enduring. This man was a man of faith. A faith that he instilled in his children and his grandchildren. A faith that gave him courage even as God called him home, because he knew the glory that was waiting there for him.

We are all now living in a dangerous world, a world where we regularly see reports on the news about the latest video from ISIS, the latest act of barbarism in this dark world. It is easy to forget, for those of us born at the end of the Cold War, that our parents and grandparents experienced their own fearful lives in a dangerous world, a world where one flinch on either side could have unleashed nuclear war. My grandfather's faith was sufficient for him. My faith, the faith that God gave me, at least in part, through him, is sufficient for me.

Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whenever we hear that glorious Word!

 Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them, could die for Thee!

Refrain

Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto Thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
We all shall then be truly free.

Refrain

Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife;
And preach Thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.

Refrain

(Public Domain)

Faith of Our Fathers was written in 1849 by Frederick W. Faber. James G. Walton added the refrain in 1874 after he set it to music he had arranged in 1864.