A Net in Time

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Music

Hymn Study: Praise Ye the Lord, The Almighty

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I LOVE the singing of Fernando Ortega… The way he sings hymns just lifts my spirit every single time.   He occasionally lightly changes the words but not enough to annoy.  🙂

Here he is, singing this lovely hymn written by Joachim Neander

Lyrics:
The verses I am familiar with in red.  
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise ye the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
 This hymn was originally written in German and was translated by Catherine Winkworth.    It was written by Joachim Neander, who studied theology in Bremen.      He wasn’t a serious theology student until he heard a sermon by a man by the name of Theodore Undereyk.  (source) .   (see…. good preaching changes lives)  🙂   He was a minister only for a year before he died, at age 30, from tuberculosis.

An interesting fact is that a valley was renamed after him, and in that valley the remains of Homo neanderthalensis, or the Neanderthal man was discovered.  (source)   This makes him the only hymnist with a hominid named after him.

 Now for this hymn without singing.  Isn’t the tune lovely?

 

Hymn Study: God Of our Fathers

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Here’s an hymn that is oft sung in our church.   It is a hymn written to help celebrate a national holiday but speaks much to God’s care for his people and our thankfulness to him for all he leads us through.

 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.
Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.
From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.
Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.
This hymn was written by Daniel C. Roberts and put to music by George William Warren.

The history to this hymn:
This hymn is a 19th century hymn written to commemorate the 100th year celebration of the  United States Declaration of Independence in 1876.  At that time Roberts was the rector in a small town in Vermont and he wrote it to help his town celebrate Independence Day.  At that time it was sung to the tune “Russian Hymn”. 

Later he was invited to submit his hymn for inclusion in Episcopal Church hymnal on which Mr. Warren was a committee member.   He was the organist for the celebrations of the 100 years since adopting the Constitution.  The committee wanted to use the song for their celebrations but didn’t want to use a tune called “Russian hymn” so Mr. Warren wrote a new tune called “National Hymn”.

Ever since that 100 year celebration this hymn has become widely known and is included in many hymnals.

Scripture associated with this hymn is Psalm 46:7 where we read
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Sources:
Lectionary.org.
CyberHymnal.
Center for Church Music.

Hymn Study: One Day

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Just as a fun preamble…I was thinking the other day about hymns I would want sung at my funeral, and this is one of them.  I LOVE this song.

But funeral arrangements aside…. here’s more about the author and the songs history.  🙂

I am so thankful that J. Wilbur Chapman wrote it back in the day.   Mr. Chapman lived from 1850-1918, an American belonging to the Presbyterian church.  As a child he attended a Quaker Day School and a Methodist Sunday School.  Upon maturity he became a pastor within the Presbyterian Church, later becoming an evangelist working under Dwight Moody.

Overtime he became a superintendant over a number of other evangelists.  In 1909, Chapman demanded that any field evangelist who doubted the inerrancy of Scripture be removed from ministry. (source)  I read this and thought “good on him”.


Most of his work occured in the states…but get this.. he made an evangelistic trip to Canada! 


Interesting fact.  Chapman wrote two poems that he gave to his evangelistic singing partner to put to a tune Charles Marsh. Marsh then wrote the tune, but
there was disagreement over the copyright between two publishers. As a
result, this song was not published until 1911.  (source)

 
Lyrics
1 One day when Heaven Was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was As black as could be,
Jesus came forth To be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men, my example is He!
Chorus:
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried My sins far away;
Rising He justified freely forever:
One day He’s coming– O glorious day! 
2 One day they led Him Up Calvary’s mountain,
One day they nailed Him To die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He![Chorus]
3 One day they left Him Alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He![Chorus]
4 One day the grave Could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore![Chorus]
5 One day the trumpet Will sound for His coming,
One day the skies With His glory will shine;
Wonderful day, my beloved One bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine![Chorus]

Hymn Study: While shepherds watched their flocks by night

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 This Hymn is based on this Scripture passage.
 

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”   Luke 2:8-14

This hymn is attributed to England Poet Laureate Natum Tate.    Until 1782, it was the only Christmas carol officially sanctioned by the Church of England.  (source) All others hymns were taken from the Psalms.

Natum Tate and Nicholas Brady collaborated on a Psalter entitled New Version of the Psalms of David,
which they published in 1696 to replace an earlier Psalter that had
been published by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins in 1562.  The
Psalter by Tate and Brady was adopted by the Anglican Church, and
endured as the standard work for the singing of psalms for more than a
century. (source)

Lyrics to 
While shepherds watched their flocks by night
While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
All seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord
came down
And glory shone around
And glory shone around

“Fear not,” he said,
For mighty dread
Had seized their
troubled minds
“Glad tidings of great
joy I bring
To you and all mankind,
To you and all mankind.”

“To you in David’s
Town this day
Is born of David’s line
The Savior who is Christ
the Lord
And this shall be the
sign
And this shall be the
sign.”

“The heavenly Babe
You there shall find
To human view displayed
And meanly wrapped In swathing bands
And in a manger laid
And in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph,
And forthwith
Appeared a shining
throng
Of angels praising God,
who thus
Addressed their joyful
song
Addressed their joyful
song

“All glory be to
God on high
And to the earth be
peace;
Goodwill henceforth
From heaven to men
Begin and never cease
Begin and never cease!”

Field Trip: Children’s Messiah

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It was recently our delight to attend the Children’s Messiah at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Ontario.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

One of the singers directed her solos at the children, holding out her hands, bringing out scarves for them to twirl around, smiling at them.   It was such a pleasure to see her delight in them.

The program was about an hour,  and was a joint social outreach programme of St Paul’s Cathedral Music Department
and Magisterra Soloists.   They did not perform the whole Messiah, but rather select portions with the conductor explaining different pieces to the children.  

They also had some congregational singing: Joy to the World and Silent Night.

The video below taken with my cell phone, so excuse the quality.

We had a nice sized crowd and they served hot chocolate and cookies afterwards

They will be doing this again next year, so if interested book Dec 2 to hear the Children’s Messiah.

Hymn Study: As With Gladness Men of Old

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 William Dix is the author to this lovely Christmas Hymn. His father was a surgeon as well as a minor English Poet. He lived 1837-1898.
William Chatterton Dix, born in England,  was a marine insurance salesmen who loved to write hymns, writing more than 40 over the course of his life.   Some of his more well-known hymns include: What Child is This and Alleluia!  Sing to Jesus.
Mr. Dix wrote hymns for children, Christmas and Easter for the most part.  
It is said that he wrote this hymn on Jan. 6, the
Feast of the Epiphany, while sick in bed.  (source)

Lyrics

“As with Gladness Men of Old”

1. As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold;
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright,
So, most gracious Lord, may we
Evermore be led by Thee!

2. As with joyful steps they sped,
Savior, to Thy lowly bed,
There to bend the knee before
Thee whom heaven and earth adore,
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek Thy mercy-seat!

3. As they offered gifts most rare
At Thy cradle, rude and bare,
So may we with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin’s alloy,
All our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King!

4. Holy Jesus, every day
Keep us in the narrow way;
And when earthly things are past.
Bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide,
Where no clouds Thy glory hide.

5. In the heavenly country bright
Need they no created light;
Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown,
Thou its Sun which goes not down.
There forever may we sing
Alleluias to our King!

Hymn Study: Joy to the World

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 Did you know that Joy to the World was not written as a Christmas song?

I KNOW!!!!!   I was shocked to learn that too.

It was actually written about the second coming to the Lord.  It was written by Isaac Watts. (source)

Can you imagine how joyful the world will be when the Lord returns?   Even the mountains and the trees will clap their hands.  🙂   All the sins and sorrows of this world will be gone!   Imagine it just for one moment…just imagine…no more sin, no more sorrow, just the joy of the Lord at his return.

Isaac Watts, the same boy who was fed up with lacklustre singing in the church, who was challenged by his dad to make something better, became “Father of English hymnody”.  If you want to know about Isaac Watts, check here.

Lyrics

Verse 1]
Joy to the World, the Lord has come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

[Verse 2]
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

[Verse 3]
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

[Verse 4]
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love