Hymnbook

From Hope Publishing, in one of the old hymnbooks from the Church. There is no publishing date that I can find but it is somewhere around 20 years old.

“One of our contemporaries has said, ‘God gave His holy Word in the form of our Bible. Man has compiled a book to be a companion to the holy Word, namely the hymnbook. The Bible is God’s expression to man, while the hymnbook is man’s expression to God. The Bible presents truths and doctrine, and the hymnbook helps translate them to the masses. Good church music is not an end in itself. It is a means to the end that the lost may be saved and the redeemed may be brought closer to God.”

That is the point isn’t it. Our songs are an expression to God, and in response to what we have learned about him from the Bible. I love that picture. It also speaks to why we should sing new songs, to continue responding to God in Spirit and Truth. It was interesting to see in the back of this hymnal two taped in lyric sheets. Typed, before computers or copiers. This shows that they were open to new songs.

This quote also shows an understanding that the song is not the worship. “Good church music is not an end in itself”. It is our corporate prayers, and our response to God in Spirit and Truth that is worship. That is a needed clarification for many who may believe that classical music is sacred. Is there really a sacred music?

The Lord is My Shepherd

Special thanks goes to the Sunday school classes for coming in to the Hymnsing. That was great. I hope you enjoyed it and had a chance to meet some of our older generation, they are very valuable. All you have to do is talk with them long enough and you will see.

Thank you team for picking the songs this week, it was great to play some oldies, but goodies. Your picks were great. It was so great to see how well the Holy Spirit put the songs and the message together.

“The LORD is my shepherd” was the theme that Dr. John Lillis from Bethel Seminary brought to us, and to not think of the word Shepherd as the important part, but the quality given to the Shepherd, the LORD-Yahweh. One point to ponder this week is that living a life of faith is based on our us learning who the LORD is. Dr. Lillis states it this way, “As we experience God, our faith grows.” As we struggle through the experiences that force us to trust God we are worshipping God. More and more of us is conformed into His image. We can see this struggle in many songs that we sing.

Come Thou Fount;

Verse 2
Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

This illustrates the point of the message, we learn to trust God through experiences. We struggle with who the LORD is, and learn to trust Him. Our trust in him is the binding fetter (restraints for a prisoner around the ankles). This is the lifestyle of a worshipper. Look at David’s struggles in the Psalm, “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” (PS. 71:23, ESV). He is singing so that his soul will rejoice and remember God’s faithfulness.

Dr. Lillis mentioned a verse in Be Thou my vision...“Thou and Thou only, and I Thy true Son.” This is the type of relationship that God is after. That through the struggles we become more and more his. In the newer song, Your Name, by Paul Balouche writes, “Your name is a strong and mighty tower/ Your name is a shelter like no other.” We have to experience God in order to trust Him, and this is our choice.

Hymnsing

Reformation Hymns

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 48
Martin Luther         1483-1546
The story of Martin Luther and his 95 thesis is revolutionary. He also saw the importance of songs. During the reformation this hymn was sung to encourage those who were being persecuted by the Church

PS-
We see the start of congregational singing. Bringing back the participation we see in the Early Church. He is quoted as saying, “I wish to compose sacred hymns so that the Word of God may dwell among the people also by means of songs.”


Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of All Nature 87
John Huss was someone who was executed by the Church for his preaching that Christ was the head of the Church, and not the Pope. His followers were also attacked and they sang this song to encourage each other. It was a folk song of the people which meant that it was not written down, but people passed it on from memory.

PS-
Because this song was not written down it is attributed to a German translator who brought this song to Germany and modern translators attribute this song with the German crusades, but there is more evidence that it was from the Hussites and sung by the Bohemians.

During this time the Reformers continued to remind themselves that about the greatness of God.

Psalm 145:3
“Great is the Lord and Greatly to be praised, His greatness is unsearchable.”

How Great Thou Art
This was originally a poem written by a Swedish pastor in 1886 after experiencing a violent storm and then the break of the sunshine after the storm. He then wrote out the ten stanza poem in worship of God. It came to America in 1950’s and was sung by George Beverly Shea, who sang with Billy Graham for fifty years during his crusades.

The Simple Truth

        Looking at Colossians 2:6-12, the song choices came out of the theme of being alive in Christ. During the worship rehearsal and before the service the band and I talked about the line in Hosanna, “In Your Kingdom, broken lives are made new, you make us new.” This rang through in my heart through the talk by Scott Furrow. Being the second week for that song, it still seems to be speaking to themes that our church needs to sing. Last week I was struck by the line, “Come have Your way among us, we welcome You here Lord Jesus.” Great words, without being open to God, then we are hindering the Spirits work in us.

        Paul, being very concerned about the trueness of the followers of Christ, encouraged them to be mindful of false teachers. In that day christianity was a new thing and there wasn’t a bible to go back to during controversies. The pull from the false teachers was to take the parts of truth that you agree with and throw away everything else. How often do we do that a Christians when following Christ gets uncomfortable. We have to know that God’s understanding is high and above ours. I was reminded of the passage in Isaiah,
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      so are my ways higher than your ways
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9, ESV)
Putting and end to our talk, we are humbled by Proverbs 30:2-6
Surely I am too stupid to be a man.
      I have not the understanding of a man.
3      I have not learned wisdom,
      nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
4      Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
      Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
      Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
      Who has established all the ends of the earth?
      What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
      Surely you know!
5      Every word of God proves true;
      he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6      Do not add to his words,
      lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (ESV)


        The quote from Dallas Willard’s book, ‘The Great Omission’ was poignant, that the greatest problem in Church today is that people are choosing to be Christians and not discples. True worship in the Spirit comes through conforming to Christ. Later in the book he states that, “We can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples”. A good definition for a disciple is a learner. When we are open to learning from Christ out of humility then things get really simple for us. Our purpose is clear and our vision as a church is simple. This is also what worship is. As we are being conformed into His image through the work of the Spirit then we are giving glory to God.

Newness of Life

Songs for today...
Happy Day - Tim Huhges
Hosanna - Brenton Brown, Paul Balouche
Wonderful Cross - Isaac Watts, Chris Tomlin and gang
Amazing Grace


Through Jesus we can have our broken lives made new. This is demonstrated by Jesus’ resurrection and work of Jesus Christ in our lives. He is always renewing and changing us, he wants it all and as we give it His character is shown through us. Theses are songs of hope, a true hope within a real purpose. Our hope is secure because of His ressurection and our purpose is to become more like Christ.

My hope is that we can unify in singing, “We welcome you here, have your way among us.” The song Hosanna is back from last week, because of this line, because we need to unify in our openness to God. This openness goes beyond our favorite songs, and outside of ourselves. It comes out a humble heart ready to be changed. In ‘Happy Day’ we get a chance to celebrate about the victory in the resurrection even if it is not Easter. In response to this we sing, “I’ll never be the same/ Forever I am changed.” What and exciting line. Can we sing this? Do we want to always be conforming to His image? Or are we fine, not in need of change? When we get to the place where we are not changeable, moldable, and surrendering our lives to God, then we are hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“God let it be true, let us be a Church that welcomes You, and the change you bring to our lives. Let us be available to you.”

The story of John Newton is a redemption story, of a changed life because of the grace of God. This slave trader was brought to his knees during a storm on the Sea. He began to read, “Imitations of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. He was gripped by grace. Repented of his slave trading and moved towards God. He became a ministry and began to write hymns for his congregation, one of them being “Amazing Grace”. This was the song of His heart and of his new life. Near the end of his life it is reported that in a loud voice during a sermon he proclaimed, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!”

Spirit and Truth?

What does it mean to worship in Spirit and Truth? What does it mean to be a "worship leader"? What songs does the Church need to sing? How does God want to use me to better serve the congregation? 

This is place for me to take notice of what God may be saying in answer to these questions. These reflections come out of the preparation time, meetings with Scott, and listening to what God may be saying during the services. My hope is to be more available to God and His ministry through me.