Mrs Kim asks Dave to play “Hymn 17” while they eat dinner. Lane was hoping to persuade her mother to let Dave eat Thanksgiving dinner with them, but alas, she has apparently hired Dave to play while they eat.
I’m not really sure about this one, but in the Seventh Day Adventist hymnal, No. 17 is “Lord of All Being, Throned Afar”, written and composed by Oliver Wendell Holmes . The lyrics are quite interesting if you read them as pertaining to Lane and Dave’s situation:
Lord of all being, throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!
Yet to each loving heart how near!
Sun of our life, Thy quickening ray
Shed on our path the glow of day;
Star of our hope, Thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night,
Cheers the long watches of the night.
Our midnight is Thy smile withdrawn;
Our noontide is Thy gracious dawn;
Our rainbow arch, Thy mercy’s sign;
All, save the clouds of sin, are Thine,
All, save the clouds of sin, are Thine.
Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before Thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no lustre of our own,
We ask no lustre of our own.
Grant us Thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for Thee;
Till all Thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame!
One holy light, one heavenly flame!
Yes, their loving hearts are near (nearer than Mrs Kim realises!), and they hope for the day that truth will make them free. It feels like an ardent prayer for mercy upon them so that their “kindling hearts” will eventually be “one flame”.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 