I don’t know about you, but after yesterday and this morning (more later), I need a lot of reviving. And this is the version I like best, by Nathan and Lyle in Denton County, Texas.
Last night I taught myself to play this hymn on my harmonica, so that’s a plus.
This is the hymn that’s with me this morning. The deer seem to like it when I whistle it to them: Revive Us Again (music from 1815, words from 1863), sung by the congregation at the Bible Believers Fellowship in Ohio. In case you were thinking that the popular song from the Depression Era, Hallelujah I’m a Bum, sung to the same melody, came first–no, the hymn came first.
Happy New Year, everybody!
If there’s anything our country needs more than a revival of its Christian faith, I can’t imagine what it is. So let this be our first hymn of 2017.
Yes, I know I’ve posted it before. I am standing by to post my readers’ hymn requests.
If you enjoy the way Nathan and Lyle perform this hymn, you’ll find more at their website, http://www.music-folk-play-hymns-com .
I know I’ve been repeating myself lately with these hymns; but I love this fine old hymn from 1863, and this is the one I woke up with this morning. I looked at a lot of versions, but for my money, Nathan and Lyle do it best–even if they’ve gone all Hollywood and provided themselves with a music stand.
I haven’t been getting many hymn requests of late, and I would dearly love to post some from readers who haven’t done this before. Come on in! The hymn shop’s always open, and everything in it is free.
It’s only 10 o’clock, and I’ve already seen and heard enough bad news to last me all weekend.
So for some good news, instead, Revive Us Again, one more time, with Nathan and Lyle on auto-harp and guitar.
And now it’s off to the nursing home. See you later, everybody.
The music for this hymn was written in 1815. Here’s Gary Chapman performing it solo, with guitar.
Do we, the American people, need revival?
Are you kidding? When Jesus came to resurrect Lazarus, Martha protested, “Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” (John 11:390) I don’t know that America is yet entirely dead, spiritually–but certainly she stinketh.
May He who called the dead man out of his grave call us.
Well, whistle, actually. Nobody wants to hear me sing.
Here in my home town, where various “progressive” schemes have almost totally erased all vestiges of the natural world, there is still a little-bitty “park” in my neighborhood, up on a hilltop. Calling it a park is a bit much. It’s really some three acres of waste land with a lot of fallen trees.
I went for a walk there yesterday. My elbow is still not healed, and walking is the only form of exercise I can do. I like the steep paths in the little park, so up I went, whistling as I climbed.
Suddenly I saw a deer, watching me. Then I discovered it was four full-grown deer. I was whistling Revive Us Again, and they listened attentively for as long as I kept it up. When I stopped, they melted into the background underbrush as silently as smoke. Now you see them, now you don’t.
I realize that for a lot of you, deer are no big deal, maybe even a daily nuisance. But here in the paved-over heart of New Jersey, I’m always amazed when I see one–let alone four at once. How they eke out a living around here, I can’t imagine: but these looked healthy.
They also knew a fine old hymn when they heard one.
I bought my bike in the first place, a few months ago, because my dentist wouldn’t give me a cleaning on account of my high blood pressure. I didn’t want to go on blood pressure medicine, so I got a bike instead and rode it every day. After a month or so of that, my pressure was jim-dandy.
Today in the doctor’s office the nurse checked my pressure again. “It’s going to be high,” I told her. “I’m at the doctor’s and I’m in pain.” And sure enough, it was very high.
But the doctor wasn’t satisfied. After I thought we were done, she said, “You know what? Let me check your pressure again. I think you might have what we call ‘white coat pressure.’ It goes up whenever you face a medical procedure.” But everything else, she added, appeared to be just fine.
So she checked it again, and it was high again. “You’re a Christian,” she said. “Think of something that makes you happy.”
The first thing that popped into my head was a hymn, Revive Us Again, complete with auto-harp and guitar. (You can find that hymn posted elsewhere on this blog.) And after 30 seconds or so, the doctor said, “Aha! Now it’s going down, just like I thought it would. You don’t have true hypertension. You have white coat high blood pressure.”
Well, that was good news.
If you’ve got a blood pressure monitor handy, you might want to try this at home. Or you could just take my word for it.
I know I’ve posted this before, but I need it today. And boy, if there ever was an age in which wholesale Christian revival was needed, it’s this one.
One of my chess buddies has suggested to me that I’d be healthier and happier if I stopped covering certain kinds of news stories, although he would miss reading them. He has a point there. But I feel it’s my duty to sound the alarm–and if no one’s listening, well, God won’t blame me for that.
Anyhow, here’s a hymn to give the soul a nice, vigorous rinsing.
You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I don’t cover.
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.