Now Thank We All Our God
We Gather Together
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Count Your Blessings
We also sang "Be Thou My Vision" as it fit perfectly with Josh's message.
Why so many?
Well, I'm developing an entire litany of reasons but try this one on: Many of the people I love, respect & admire...many of the people whose marriages I want mine to mirror, many of the Christians whose example I want Faith & Eli to see...these people are all steeped in the classic hymns! And in our tradition, many of those hymns can be found in "Great Songs of the Church", the hymnal Otter Creek used for many years when Buddy Arnold was the lead worshipper.
All of the hymns mentioned above are in that hymnal.
Do I want to go back & relive the glory days? Do I want to take us back 4 decades and stay there? No no no. But I long for us to find ourselves in the greater story (the meta-narrative is the new buzzword for this, right Josh?) of the Otter Creek family and of the body of Christ universal.
I love the new songs, and we'll continue to keep learning them and singing them. But I will not leave these classic, faith-shaping legends behind.
Tomorrow I'll tell you more about "Nun Danket" (the german name for the tune & hymn, "Now Thank We All Our God"). It has it's roots in the bloody Thirty Years War in Germany that raged from 1618 to 1648.
3 comments:
Murray - I cannot tell you how I wish your view on hymns were universal. So many of those wonderful hymns are tossed aside and labeled as "old and out-of-touch." There are so many things to learn from them particularly when the history of the song is known. Very relevant!
Thank you for using your gifts and passion to bless the Body!
Hugs! Donna
Amen, Murray! Kelly
I like 'em too Murray! Here's a link to a story about one that you might teach your kids.
http://songscoops.blogspot.com/search/label/Watts
Take care,
Dave
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