Blessed Be the Tie that Binds

 Phil Keim said "Blessed Be the Tie that Binds"  was his mother's favorite hymn and has become one of his favorites, too.  For me, I am taken back 50 years to a play in high school:  Our Town.  I had never sung the hymn until this play. (Yes, I am in the photo above) Singing it three times nightly, it became a favorite of mine, too.

1 Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above. 

2 Before our Father's throne
we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.

Although most people think of the ties as being Christian ties that bind us together, for Thornton Wilder, the author of Our Town, to have it sung three times during the play, it meant something else to him.  The first time it was sung was when Emily and George met at church in the choir.

3 We share our mutual woes,
our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear. 

4 When we are called to part,
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again. 

5 This glorious hope revives
our courage by the way;
while each in expectation lives
and waits to see the day.

The second time it was sung was on their wedding day.  So, "the ties" here were marital ties for a couple beginning their lives together with "mutual woes" "but we shall still be joined in heart."

6 From sorrow, toil, and pain,
and sin, we shall be free;
and perfect love and friendship reign
through all eternity. 

The third time it is sung is after Emily's death.  "The ties" are this time the ones that join the living and the dead.  Emily is seen below in her wedding dress in the cemetery with other townsfolk.  She ponders her life.  With the hymn again being sung at her funeral, the emphasis is on death being a part of life---it is another stage often misunderstood by the living. "We shall be free; and perfect love and friendship reign through all eternity."