'Hymns' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance…” vs. 15 Psalm 89:15-18 There’s something to be said for familiarity in worship. While it is true that the old hymns can seem boring and often lack the spirited tempo of contemporary music, simply dropping traditional liturgies in favor of those that change from week to week doesn’t always make our hearts sing. The psalmist knew from experience the joy that…
Daily Devotions
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” vss. 1-3 Psalm 33:1-9 One of the consequences of these COVID years, paradoxically combined with our increasing mobility, has been the precipitous decline in worship attendance in most congregations. Oh, many have moved to live-streaming their services, but the…
Daily Devotions
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” vs. 24 Psalm 118:24-29 Over the last decades praise songs have been slowly making their way into the worship services of most congregations. At first they were resisted by liturgical purists who insisted they lacked the depth of the old chorales. Because of their repeating choruses they were called by some, “the songs without an end.” Often the words for praise tunes come…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 95:1-7a “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” vss. 1-2 As the worship quarantine continues in our congregations, one of the things we’re missing the most is lifting our voices in songs of praise and thanksgiving. In fact, we’ve been told by those who understand how…
Daily Devotions: June 24, 2020
June 24, 2020 Psalm 89:1-4 … “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.” vs. 1 Sometimes when we read the Psalms we wonder just who these Pollyanna writers must have been. We imagine that they lived in more tranquil times than ours; that they didn’t face the societal upheavals that get daily attention from our news sources. Otherwise, how could they have possibly written such optimistic…
Daily Devotions: March 21, 2020
March 21, 2020 John 9:13-25 … “He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” vs. 25 The Pharisees were throwing all kinds of questions at the man who had once been blind, implying that he hadn’t been blind in the first place, and then claiming that Jesus had been a sinner. The man’s responses are plain and to the point. He doesn’t know…
Daily Devotions: October 29, 2019
October 29, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 149: 1-5 … “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.” vs. 1 All of us have experienced new songs or hymns in the course of our worship, and some have found it to be an aggravation. They try to join in the singing but the tune is often unfamiliar and it doesn’t take long for them to start pouting. They want…
Daily Devotions: October 31, 2018
October 31, 2018 Psalm 24:7-10 …“Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in.” vs. 7 Those responsible for temple rituals in Jerusalem developed liturgies that could be used for special occasions and festivals. Fragments of those liturgies can be found in the psalms. They provide us windows into the worship practices of our ancestral faith community. Psalm 24 describes a kind of entrance ritual that involved a…