Verse 1:
Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar;
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.
Refrain:
Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!

I love getting my hands on a new hymnal, or at least new to me, and peruse the pages for a hidden gem I’ve never before heard. Recently, all of the books in my library, including my hymnal collection, ended up in a Christmas Tree made of books. At the same time, my wife wanted to start singing hymns to our five-month-old daughter, so I found an electronic hymnal to use until my others are freed. Among the classics I’ve heard a thousand times before and some strange new faces lay this brand new classic, Brighten the Corner Where You Are.

The words are simple, no ebeneezer or bulwarks here. The melody is bright, quick, and what some might even call chipper. In fact, there is nothing overtly Christian until the third verse, which might be a big reason why it is no longer a popular song in the churches I have frequented. But these are all the reasons this song captured my attention so strongly.

What is so striking about this song is that it does what few other praise and worship songs do: give us something to do other than sing! Not that there isn’t a time and place for taking us out of the picture to worship God, that is incredibly important and probably should be the bulk of how we worship. However, in our 1+ hour services, how much is actually devoted to practically and straightforwardly telling people how to respond to their faith? Maybe an application in a sermon, and rarely the benediction.

Brighten the Corner Where You Are is a call to act on your faith now and every opportunity you have. God offers us opportunities to act in all kinds of ways for all types of people, even though we may not know who might receive the message. The refrain says “Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar” (bar being like a sand bar or some sort of obstruction), meaning that the people we might touch could be far out of our understanding. God is in control, though, and our response to faith will be used in ways we cannot possibly imagine.

SDG,

-Paul Hart Cochran