This was the first hymn I learned to play on my harmonica. I still love it! O Worship the King–and I wish I knew who’s performing it in this video.
And, please, let’s keep praying for our sisters, Erlene and Phoebe, who’ve been sick all week: please, Lord, be swift to help and heal them! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Would you believe it? We used to sing this in high school, in assembly. Well, they put a stop to that, didn’t they? But I don’t want to get angry in introducing a hymn.
Faith of Our Fathers, sung by Bing Crosby.
And might I observe that we don’t know the half of what God has done, by way of watching over our country.
Requested by Susan: the Norton Hall Band performing All Creatures of Our God and King.
You know me. My idea of a hymn is a lady in a flowered dress playing the piano, with ordinary people singing along like they really mean it. But here we have a classic hymn with a modern musical arrangement–and it’s great! Thank you, Susan.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. –Psalm 119
This hymn, Oh, Sinner Man–a Caribbean spiritual, here transplanted to northern British waters–is a warning. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Repent now, and take Christ’s hand, stretched out for our salvation.
Take a moment to think about this video. Why are there so many lighthouses?
Because they’re needed! These waters are very, very dangerous–tricky currents, barely submerged rocks with sharp teeth, and cold enough to kill you in minutes if you fall in.
God’s Word is a lighthouse. It will keep us from the rocks, it will safely guide our course and bring us home, if we humble ourselves to follow it.
If this hymn doesn’t stir your soul, better check to see if you still have one: What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
Doc Watson, with untold thousands of hours of experience performing songs and hymns, feels this one so keenly, he is almost unable to get through it without his voice breaking. Doc, we know! Same thing happens to me when I try to whistle it. In fact, it’s happening to me now: the ineffable joy of feeling the presence of the Lord.
This was another hymn we sang a lot of in Sunday school, Wonderful Words of Life. We couldn’t do it up like these kids here at Fountainview Academy (oh, those voices! how those girls can sing!), complete with a lovely lake setting. We had to settle for just our own untrained voices and the lady at the piano. And that was just fine, too.
That lake–sometimes the work of God’s hands is so beautiful, you could cry. Turning into a softy in my old age, I guess.
Another Sunday school favorite, I Love to Tell the Story. I can still see Mrs. Raleigh seated at the piano (she was also the superintendent), still hear her playing this, and us kids singing it, soon to go on to the secondary Sunday school department (no more sandbox!)…
I like the way Alan Jackson sings it, rich and mellow, making it ring true.
Today’s hymn, Bring Them In, came out in 1885: I’d never heard it till today. Sung by Nathan and Lyle, plus family and friends, in Denton County, Texas. And whoever that is on the piano–wow!
Do we need revival? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we do.
Revive Us Again was written by William Mackay in 1863: played here by Nathan and Lyle with autoharp and guitar. Chords and lyrics provided, in case you’d like to sing and strum along. Ignore the music stand, they’re not going all Hollywood on us.
This is the same “Italian Hymn,” composed by Felice DiGiardini, that we heard yesterday with Come, Thou Almighty King. Here they have tweaked the arrangement just a little bit: sung by the choir at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City.
For going on 60 years I’ve had trouble remembering which of these hymns is which. But they’re both beautiful!