The disciples knew Jesus as a friend before they knew Him as a Savior. Perhaps they felt comfort in confiding in Him when troubles arose. Perhaps He had a really good sense of humor that made them feel comfortable. Perhaps He was a person they could call when anything happened; whether they couldn't lift something by themselves or they had a deep philosophical question to ask Him, he was there. I often think that we Christians today are walking with a Jesus we think of as a fictional superhero rather than walking with the Jesus that walked, ate, laughed, and prayed with the disciples. This might be the reason why this song is so touching to me alongside my current walk with the Lord. The writer of this hymn, Joseph Scriven, actually wasn't writing a hymn. At the time, his mother was sick and dying in his home country of Ireland as he was living in Canada. To comfort her until he could be with her, he wrote her a letter titled 'Pray Without Ceasing'. 

We're starting off this series with one of the most known hymns I could think of: the doxology.

Sound familiar?
We often tie the doxology to the hymn we sing after we give offering during church. 
We view it as a hymn of thanksgiving, but is that what it was intended for? 
​Where did it come from? 

Have you heard of the term deconstructionism? It was first coined by philosopher Jacques Derrida in the 1960s. In his words, deconstructionism is "a theory of literary criticism that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth; asserts that words can only refer to other words; and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any text subvert their own meanings".
Throughout history, this process has been used without specifically being named and is more common than you think (and Derrida would agree). He himself believed that deconstructionism wasn't an additional method or doctrine, but a thorough step in internalizing literature just like turning a page or finishing a sentence.
​Now why is that term important? As of late, this term has been used within Christianity to describe the process of former evangelical Christians deconstructing their beliefs in order to refine their faith. (This term could also be referred to as 'disenculturation', however I personally believe that the latter is a fancier word to distance the blame of deconstructionism from the church.) This process usually includes removing themselves from the mainstream 'traditional' church and finding other ways of worship and spiritual renewal.  This could look like forming house churches or even attending multiple churches online with friends rather than attending a church in person.