I love this melody, which I had only known as Rejoice and Be Glad. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other sets of lyrics to it, too.
Nathan and Lyle with autoharp and guitar bring it to life: a wonderful performance. You can’t go wrong starting your day with a hymn like this one.
No one has requested any hymns yet today, so let me go one of my own favorites, This Is My Father’s World–here performed as a “piano meditation” by Rick Betts, with satellite photos of our world, the work of God’s hands.
This verse, in particular, remember:
This is my Father’s world, and let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
Just to take a breather, and enjoy a bit of sanity, here’s a mother cat hugging and comforting her kitten, who has been having a bad dream.
Come on, I dare you–try to beat this!
Here are Nathan and Lyle, with their autoharp and guitar, performing Down at the Cross. The video is also a music tutorial, so be patient with Nathan’s introduction.
I love the sound these guys make. It’s so homey, so ordinary. And for the most part I’ve never heard these hymns before.
Why am I posting so many of them?
Because this is an evil age, evil in ways I never thought to see in all my days, and getting worse by the day. We need our Shepherd.
Hear us, O Lord: These things are done without our consent and against our will.
There are a lot of nice versions of this good old hymn, but I liked best this simple piano rendition–with the lyrics given, so you can sing along. Sing louder! For our God will hear us.
Please, everybody, feel free to suggest your favorite hymns so I can post them here. For this hymn shop to work, your participation is a must.
I never heard of this hymn until my wife suggested it last night, and this version of it charmed me. We already have this guy with the autoharp performing Bringing in the Sheaves. He may not be the next Pavarotti, but he plays the autoharp and uses it to praise the Lord, and that is very cool indeed.
So this is just two regular guys giving it their all for a hymn that you don’t often get to hear, up here in Yankeeland. I think it’ll help get your day off to a good start.
This hymn popped into my head today, and it doesn’t have much of a presence on youtube. I would like to hear a full choir belting it out, backed up by a really big pipe organ. But I’m also happy with a simple piano version.
Oh, the news stories out there are just so bad… and I’ve gotta cover it. Well, nobody ever said it’d be easy.
By reader request–and I don’t know who these performers are, but they do a lovely job.
I’m also not altogether sure I’ve got the hymn that was actually requested. So, Jaroc, let me know if this was the one you wanted. If not, I’ll go back for another look.
But this one will certainly do to start the day.
By reader request (hooray, somebody listened!), here is the Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice.
Knowing I prefer old hymns, the reader was a little tentative about requesting a new one. Well, my preferences aren’t so terribly important. And anyhow, new hymns that stand the test of time will be good old hymns someday.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9
By reader request, here is…. Elvis Presley?
If anyone as late as yesterday had suggested I’d be posting Elvis Presley here, I would have boggled at the thought. But God gave Elvis a beautiful singing voice, and here he uses it to praise the Lord. The lyrics are modeled after Isaiah Chapter 11. And it really is a nice hymn, and I’m glad somebody called my attention to it.
Just don’t ask me to post any “Christian rap,” folks. But I hope you’ve enjoyed Elvis’ piece.