An Ocean of Generosity

Why are we encouraged to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to ourselves and with others? In this column, Cultivating Songs of Faith, we explore that question by looking at one particular hymn each season, offering the story of its creation from the life of its author or composer. What you see here is a reflection rather than a formal academic history. I hope to help you to taste, see, and rediscover what is good in great hymns, and also occasionally enter into the conversation they have with ancient psalms and modern spiritual songs.

I stood at the edge of the beach, my toes sinking into the cool sand while the salty water lapped around my ankles. I had read stories about the ocean but had never seen it until that day as a young woman standing on the island of Maui while looking across the Pacific Ocean. I watched as the sunlight danced and sparkled across the surface of the water. The sound of the splashing waves was mesmerizing.

I squinted and gazed toward the horizon but it was nearly impossible to distinguish the point where the water ended and the sky began. I tried to imagine the distance that this line of horizon was from the beach where I stood. The expanse was more immense than anything else I had ever seen. I was overwhelmed with a sense of being engulfed in the unbelievable vastness, the huge power, the depth and mystery of the place. It was too much for my mind to comprehend, so I just stood for a long time, opening myself to the wonder, breathing in the salty smell and the spacious grandeur.

Scientists do have ways of measuring the volume of water in the ocean and have studied its currents and traced the shape of the ocean floor. We know that the earth’s oceans make up the largest volume of any single thing on the planet. The deepest point in the Pacific, called Challenger Deep, is deeper than the highest mountain on earth. And yet, the ocean in all of its enormity has something in common with everything else in our physical world—it is finite. 

In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul describes something more immense, something even more unfathomable than the ocean. He prays for his readers

“that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19, ESV)

Do you, like me, struggle to comprehend this truth? The generous love of God, the love that surrounds us everywhere and always, is deeper, wider, and more limitless than an ocean. We will never come to the end of it.

Samuel Trevor Francis (1834-1925) wrote the poem, “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” to describe this love. The poem later became a hymn that speaks to my heart deeply. The words describe Jesus’ love as a mighty ocean, its currents surrounding me and irresistibly guiding me home to Him. Even the melody that the text is most commonly sung to, the tune EBENEZER, sounds like the rolling waves of an ocean. It captivates my imagination and draws me into the same kind of wonder that I felt that day when my feet were touching the edge of the Pacific. 

Have you ever felt that you were at the edge of God’s love, just beyond its reach and doubting that it could find you? Samuel Francis may have experienced something like that. At the age of nineteen, he was walking along the Hungerford Bridge, crossing the Thames River in London. He wrote of the experience, 

It was a winter’s night of wind and rain, and in the loneliness of that walk I cried to God to have mercy upon me. Staying for a moment to look at the dark waters flowing under the bridge, the temptation was whispered to me, “Make an end of all this misery.” I drew back from the evil thought, and suddenly a message was borne into my very soul, “You do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?” I at once answered, “I do believe, and I put my whole trust in Him as my Saviour.” Instantly there came this reply: “Then you are saved,” and with a thrill of joy I ran across the bridge, burst through the turnstile and pursued my way home, repeating the words again and again, “Then I am saved; then I am saved.” [1]

In my own heart, it’s taken me a long while to believe that God’s generosity could extend to me, because the more I see Him in His holiness, the more I am aware of my own sins and failings. The nearer you come to a bright light, the more you are able to see shadows distinctly. However I was reminded by my own pastor just this week, “As we grow closer to the Lord, the reality of our sin and our desperate need for Him becomes more clear, while at the same time we feel the weight of the very same sin being swallowed up into the depths of His love.” [2] 

I can pour out my sins into the deep, deep ocean of His love and there they are carried away. What appears as a ripple on the surface is borne completely into an “ocean vast of blessing.” 

The tune EBENEZER was composed by Thomas John Williams (1869-1944). He served as an organist and choir director in South Wales and had written an anthem for his choir that the tune was taken from. “Ebenezer” means stone of help, and it was also the name of the chapel that Williams was attending while he composed the tune. Ralph Vaughan Williams called it one of the greatest of the English hymn tunes. Several other hymn texts are often sung to this tune including “Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness,” and another poem that describes the ocean of God’s love: “Here Is Love, Vast as the Ocean.”

EBENEZER is also affectionately known as TON-Y-BOTEL because of a curious story. In the late 1800s the tune had become so popular in Wales that a visitor from England noticed it everywhere; it was even sung by children in the streets. When he asked where it came from, someone answered that the tune was discovered in a bottle (“tune in a bottle.”) That myth was published in the Daily Mail in 1902 and now the two titles are permanently linked to the tune’s history. [3]

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth,
Changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He interceedeth,
Watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
’Tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
’Tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee! 

I want to share another song that tells of God’s love using the image of the ocean’s depths, but in this song the ocean is a well of ink that could never fill the number of pens it would take to write of God’s love. It declares that His love is “rich and pure, measureless and strong.” The song is “The Love of God,” recorded by Sara Groves. I share here only the amazing second verse followed by the chorus written by Sara. The original lyrics come from an old hymn which itself has a history tracing back to Jewish writings across many centuries. [4]

How deep is the generosity of God’s love poured out on us all, friends. What wonder fills my heart when I think of it!

The Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every tree on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

O love of God, how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song. [5]

[1] This story was gleaned from an online source: https://uplook.org/1996/08/samuel-trevor-francis/ 

[2] From a sermon by the Rev. Canon Dr. Matthew Burnett, given at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Colorado Springs on February 9, 2025.

[3] Hear “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” sung here by a choir just as Samuel Trevor Francis may have heard it sung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqaLeoEtbzc 

[4] Read the fascinating history of these lyrics on The Christian Scholar’s Review: https://christianscholars.com/the-true-story-of-the-love-of-god-is-greater-far/

[5] Listen to Sara Groves sing this beautiful song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRvrY0NPPTk

The featured image, “Gift of the Sea,” is courtesy of Amelia Freidline and is used with her kind permission for Cultivating.

Terri Moon

Terri Moon is a musician and a lover of Jesus. She delights in playing the music of Bach, growing English roses, baking up a good batch of scones, and all good, true, and beautiful things that point to Him. She has found that the most fulfilling adventures come through collaborating with others, and to that end she and her husband Steve (also a member of The Cultivating Project) serve gladly in their church and also on the leadership team of the Anselm Society. Together they raised four children and are now proud grandparents. Hosting friends in their Colorado home is one of their favorite joint adventures.

Terri holds a master’s degree in violin performance, and has collaborated in many concerts and taught students of all ages for 40 years. Her lifelong passion is the intersection of music, worship, and spiritual formation, and she longs to bring to life the beauty of the Church’s heritage in the arts. Terri currently serves as the Music Director of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Colorado Springs.