Every night when I put Molly to bed I pray a benediction over her. This is the same prayer that our pastor prays almost every Sunday. It's the same prayer that Moses prayed over the nation of Israel thousands of years ago and that Jewish people have been praying since. I love the longitudinal connections.
I heard Michael Card's version of this and loved it. We sang it at the end of dinner for a couple of weeks.
Hymn of the Week
Barocha
Music by Michael Card
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and give you peace
and give you peace
and give you peace forever
the Lord be gracious to you
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace
and give you peace
and give you peace forever
the Lord bless you and keep you
the Lord make his face shine upon you
and give you peace
and give you peace
and give you peace forever
and give you peace
and give you peace
and give you peace forever
This weekend in church we sang the hymn To God Be the Glory. Whenever we sing this hymn, I am reminded of how blessed I am and how much I owe. One of my earliest memories of church is singing this hymn at Waterford Community Church. At the end of the Sunday night service, the congregation would sing a hymn as the pastor and his wife, who sat in the front row, would file out. This hymn was also the theme song to a Bible study to which my mom listened. I am so thankful to God for my parents and especially my mom and how she taught us that God was an important part of her life and should be in our lives.
I love the verses. They talk about all that God has done for us. Then the chorus is pure doxology. When we really understand what God has done on our behalf, that's where we have to go.
Every Thanksgiving we pick the same hymn, Come Ye Thankful People, Come. You can read previous posts about that hymn and why we've chosen it here and here. This year we also sang another hymn of thanksgiving for the week before. Now Thank We All Our God is a hymn that I have only sung a few times. It is a great one though. This week in church we focused on the thing that all Christians have of which to be most thankful, our redemption in Christ. When we sang this song and Ben and Caleb both looked at me and smiled, it was a great affirmation that something, albeit something very small, is actually sinking in.
As you and your family gather around tables this Thanksgiving, I pray that you are not only thankful for the many material blessings that we all have, but more so, you are thankful for God imputing your sin to Jesus and imputing His righteousness to you. If you are not yet thankful for this, I pray that God will give you the gift of faith and thankfulness for it.
Either you're resting in Jesus or you have no rest at all. Isn't that the way it is? I long to rest in Jesus and cast my cares to him. For who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.
Refrain
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Our small group has decided to adopt the Hymn of the Week. So, I'm not sure what this means exactly except that we are hopefully all singing this together this week and will sing it again when we get back together. This week's hymn is an amazing one, telling of who our God is. At church we often sing the new version by Bob Kauflin. I like them both. I love the piper organ rendition below. Enjoy!
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.
We're reading through Paul's epistle to the Galatians now after dinner. Paul's pretty upset with the church there. They want to add things like circumcision to the gospel. I went to the hymnal looking for a good one about what the gospel is really all about. I think this one get's it pretty right on. Who doesn't love to sing that chorus too? The Cathedrals do a great job of this one in the video below.
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Refrain
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Wonderful grace, all sufficient for me, for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious Name of Jesus.
Praise His Name!
Amanda didn't know this one. I remember it from way back. It's not a very common one but I like it.
Hymn of the Week More About Jesus Words by Eliza E. Hewitt Music by John R. Sweney
More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
Refrain
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
We're getting back into the swing of things for Fall. That means HOTW. This is my mom's all-time favorite hymn. It's a very different melody, but I like it too. Check out the video of George Beverly Shea singing this hymn below. It's from 1962. He doesn't look a day over 75.
Also, check out the girl at 1:38. I don't think she's going to go down front at the end of the service. HA!!
Hymn of the Week Ivory Palaces Words & Music by Henry Barraclough
My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,
And myrrh their texture fills;
Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine
With joy my being thrills.
Refrain
Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.
I wanted a hymn about redemption this week. I wanted a hymn that reminded me about what Christ had done for me. Yesterday I went to the funeral of a woman from church. Her daughters are our babysitters for small group every other Sunday. I had never met her. She died after a 16 month battle with cancer. The funeral was a wonderful time of "glorifying God and remembering the life of MP." I love the two sidedness of that theme.
MP wasn't perfect. I read her blog for the past year and she never claimed to be. She was like me, a sinner. That's what makes the old, old story even sweeter. It's not about ANYTHING that I've done or that MP did. It's all about what HE did for us.
Romans 5:7-8 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 1John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Give the song a listen below. I love the harmony of the Chuck Wagon Gang on this old hymn.
Hymn of the Week I Love To Tell The Story Words by A. Katherine Hankey Music by William G. Fischer
I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
Refrain
I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
I told the boys that this was a very famous hymn from when Billy Graham would preach his crusades. I've got to admit though that every time I sing it, I think of Mike Wooten saying, "The buses will wait while the choir sings one more stanza of 'Just As I Am.'" I don't remember the context, but it still makes me laugh.
Hymn of the Week Just As I Am Words by Charlotte Elliot Music by William B. Bradbury
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
We are back into our Hymn of the Week groove. This week's hymn is a short one, but a great one straight from Philippians 2.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Hymn of the Week He Is Lord Words and Music by Unknown
He is Lord, He is Lord
He has risen from the dead
And He is Lord
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord
We have been doing our HOTW for a while now and it is amazing how still I come across a hymn and think to myself, we haven't done THIS one yet? This is a great one because even Matt and Molly can get the last few lines. Molly especially loves to sing.
Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
It has been a while since I have posted our hymn for the week. We have been singing them, but not with much regularity. This week we are reading about Question 29 in our catechism devotions.
Question 29: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
Answer: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.
This made me think of how grateful I am for Christs redemption and how the Holy Spirit has applied it in my life.
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true.
I would tell you how He changed my life completely;
He did something no other friend could do.
Chorus
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me;
O how much He cared for me.
When we were reading our recent read aloud Reformation Heroes, we were reading about Martin Luther. It said that he was a hymn writer and that we still sing some of his hymns today. It mentioned Away in a Manger and A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I asked the boys if they knew these. They said they knew Away in the Manger, but not the other one. Well, that did it. I added this to our HOTW list right away. It is a great one. We talked last night about how this song is all about the "fight of faith" that we battle every day. God gave us the only way to win and that is in utter reliance on the fact that Christ must win the battle. The first verse doesn't quite get the whole story in, it mostly just introduces the battle. The victory comes in the subsequent verses.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
This was one of our HOTW's last Christmas. It is a good one.I love when a Christmas hymn bids me "come and worship." I want that to be my main goal and end at this time of year. I am easily caught up in many other things. This hymn keeps me focused. Hymn of the Week Angels, From The Realms of Glory Words by James Montgomery Music by Henry T. Smart
Angels from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s story Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
Refrain
Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Last week Abraham posted the request, "Recommend some Christmas music that most of us have never heard of." Shube recommended the hymn Who Is He In Yonder Stall? I had never heard of this carol, but I have listened to it a lot this week. It is great. I even sent a request (I've never done this before.) to Pastor Dan that we might sing it together some time during advent. I hope that you enjoy it too and that it helps you worship the "King of Glory!"
Welcome to the season of Advent. Since coming to a church where we celebrate Advent I have grown to love and appreciate this time of year even more. I love the fact that Advent is about looking back and remembering the way that God has kept his promise to the world by fulfilling his many prophecies in Christ's first advent. I also love how we look ahead to Christ's second advent and all of the joy and consummation that it will bring.
This week's hymn is definitely a looking back. Can't you hear the expecting Jews longing for their messiah, longing for deliverance from their oppressors? There is lamentation here. I join them longing for Christ's return. But like the psalms of lamentation, the chorus reassures and celebrates, "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." This is our hope this Christmas, that Christ will come to us in our fears, will come to us in our pain. Long with the exiles for our Emmanuel.
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
It's Thanksgiving time! This seems to be our traditional Thanksgiving hymn. This year, I am thankful mostly for God, but also for his many gifts. Pastor John has been preaching through John chapter 6. In this chapter Jesus feeds five thousand people. They want to make him their king. They love him, not because of who he is but because of his gifts (the bread he gave them.) I certainly don't want to seek God because of his many good gifts, but I do think that I can be thankful for and love God for his gifts AS WELL AS love him for who he is. What do you think?
Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.
Caleb is memorizing the first two verses of this hymn for his Wednesday night class. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to post of video of him doing it. (Wouldn't that be great!) I told the boys that this was the first song that I ever sang in church by myself. I can remember how nervous I was when Tom Knight and I sang this song. I think I was 10 or 11. Funny.
Hymn of the Week This Is My Father's World Words by Maltbie D. Babcock Music: Terra Beata, traditional English melody
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
