Monday, March 15, 2010

O day of rest and gladness...

One of my favorite parts of Sundays has always been the music (go figure), and I have a very special place in my heart for hymns. Rich lyrics, rich music...you can't go wrong! Actually, it's one of the reasons I got to have some pretty close ties with the Presbyterians which led me to living in Peru.

Growing up in a traditional Lutheran church and attending a fundamental Baptist school helped me to successfully (albeit unknowingly) evade the majority of Christian contemporary music, and instead become quite familiar with traditional hymns.

When I first went away to college and was trying out the different university ministries, I generally liked the teaching time, but I hated the worship time. I didn't know any of the songs which were all contemporary! But then one fateful Tuesday, I went to Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). And it was only in RUF that I felt right at home during the worship time, where hymns are not only sung, but esteemed. Older hymns are often sung to more modern tunes, and a good chunk of the hymns I grew up singing appeared before my very eyes on the projector screen.

To make a very long rabbit trail a little shorter, I stayed with RUF for four years, and went on two missions trips to Trujillo, Peru which, of course, led me to this very moment sitting in Peru typing this very blog entry.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to pass along one of my favorite hymns of all times and to wish you a very happy week. Enjoy!

1 comment:

robert said...

You've got a tremendous amount of SPAM comments that need to be put in the Trash. They certainly don't relate to your site.

I actually wrote to commend you for your continuing appreciation for our traditional Christian hymnody. Churches that abandon it in favour of all "contemporary" have robbed people of their rich heritage.

If you enjoy reading about our hymns and their authors, I invite you to check out my daily blog on the subject, Wordwise Hymns.

And if you’ll excuse a brief “commercial:” If you do not have a good book on the subject of our Christmas carols, I encourage you to take a look at my own, Discovering the Songs of Christmas. In it, I discuss the history and meaning of 63 carols and Christmas hymns. The book is available through Amazon, or directly from Jebaire Publishing. (Might make a great gift too!)