It was November 25, 1963. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been assassinated three days earlier. I was only eight. I watched the funeral on our old black and white Zenith TV. Even at my young age I was riveted to what was taking place.
President Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin, like President Lincoln’s, was carried through the streets of Washington, DC, on a horse-drawn caisson, from the Capitol rotunda to Saint Matthew’s Cathedral for the funeral, then to Arlington National Cemetery for interment. All the while the US Navy band was playing the Navy hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.” (Navy veteran Kennedy commanded the ill-fated Patrol Torpedo Craft (PT) USS PT 109.) I cried. In fact, to this very day I cannot hear that hymn sung or played without getting choked up.
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.*
In 1958 the movie A Night to Remember was made. Based on Walter Lord’s 1955 best-selling nonfiction book of the same title, it chronicled the catastrophic tale of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, in which over 1500 souls were lost. At some point in my young life the film made it to TV and I watched it time and time again, enthralled and dismayed at the horrendous loss. I thought of “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and I cried.
O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.*
In 1976 Gordon Lightfoot released his opus, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” It recounted the dreadful sinking of the cargo ship on November 10, 1975, on Lake Superior. All 29 crew members died that day. When I heard Lightfoot’s song it was the first I knew of the sad tale. I thought of “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and I cried.
O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.*
Last week many of us followed the course of the OceanGate Expeditions Titan submersible, on a mission to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. We tracked the search for the vessel that had lost contact an hour and forty-five minutes into its journey. For days we hoped and prayed that the rescue efforts would find the vessel and save the five men aboard. That was not to be the case. Experts tell us that at some point there was a major implosion of the craft and all most likely perished in seconds. I thought about “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and I cried.
O Trinity of love and pow’r,
Your children shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
Protect them where-so-e’er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.*
In the early 2000s I was scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico, thirteen miles from Panama City, Florida. Somehow I got my left leg caught in the boat’s propeller and suffered lacerations to the bone from just above my knee to my buttocks. I almost bled to death. When I woke from surgery and realized what had happened, and for a long time afterwards, when I looked at my scars, I thought about “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and I cried. But they were not only tears of sadness, but also of deep gratitude. I grieve that so many others were not as blessed as was I.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.**
…and that’s the View from The Balcony.
Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, and an actor. He knows how lucky, how blessed he is. Randy may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.
*Eternal Father, Strong to Save, William Whiting, Lyrics,1860; John B Dykes, music 1861. Public Domain.
**Selected lines from The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Written by: Gordon Lightfoot.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
