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6 Good Reasons to Have Singing Nights
When we worked in Haleyville, we had one Sunday night each month set aside for singing, Scripture reading and prayer. About 40-45 minutes of our hour-long worship was spent focusing on these areas of worship. Here at Lebanon Road, we have one Wednesday night ever other month for the same purpose. (Lebanon Road members, don’t forget that we have one tonight!) Some think that nights like these are a waste of time. I know I have some bias, because I am a song leader and enjoy singing, but there are other good reasons to continue with nights like these and to give them emphasis. Here are 6 reasons. 1. Singing unifies.…
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Thursday Hymn Reflection: "In Christ Alone"
[On Thursdays, we “reflect” on a hymn suggested by our readers. To add your favorites (no more than 3, please) to the list, simply leave a comment.] What a fantastic new hymn! “In Christ Alone,” in my opinion, will stand the test of time because it is a simple melody in the usual construction of four verses. The beauty of this song is that it builds together (1) the sacrifice of Jesus and (2) our response to it. The song begins with a verse of praise to Jesus. With that verse, we sing that our full faith is in Him, then we move to the reason why. Verse one uses…
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Thursday Hymn Reflection: "I Need Thee Every Hour"
[On Thursdays, we “reflect” on hymns submitted by our readers. If you would like to add your favorites–no more than 3, please–to our upcoming list, leave the names of the songs in the comments.] Written by a housewife in 1872, the simple words of “I Need Thee Every Hour” continue to bring comfort to many folks each time they are sung. In his book Then Sings My Soul, Robert Morgan gives the Annie Hawks’ own words as to where the poem came from (from page 179): One day as a young wife and mother of 37 years of age, I was busy with my regular household tasks. Suddenly, I became…
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Thursday Hymn Reflection: "Ancient Words"
[Each Thursday, we give “reflections” on songs suggested by our readers. To add a song to our upcoming posts, leave no more than three suggestions in the comments.] A fairly new song, “Ancient Words” has found its way into more popular usage in the last couple of years. As older songs have done, “Ancient Words” celebrates God’s Word, but it also has a unique trait in that it celebrates the history of the Bible. The history of the Bible is a fascinating study. Most of us respect God’s Word and hold it as inspired, but many fail to see the connection between our day and when the Bible was actually…
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Thursday Hymn Reflection: "Love for All"
[On Thursdays, we are “reflecting” on hymns suggested by our readers. If you would like to add your favorites, please list no more than 3 in the comments, and we’ll add them to our list.] Written by the younger brother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Love for All” is an amazing hymn that speaks to God’s unconditional love for us. The song is based so deeply on the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), that it was originally named “The Prodigal Son.” The poem has five stanzas, and is a song that needs to have all five to be sung properly. It is a song that moves more deeply in thought as it…
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Thursday Hymn Reflection: This is My Father's World
[NOTE: Today’s post continues our Thursday hymn reflections, which are simple thoughts on songs suggested by our readers. If you would like to add your favorites–no more than three–to our list, please leave a comment. We’ll get to it eventually!] This hymn, usually containing three verses, is part of a longer poem by Maltie Babcock. The original poem contained 16 stanzas and each began with the title phrase. Cyber Hymnal gives this brief introduction to the song: While a pastor in Lockport, New York, Babcock liked to hike in an area called “the escarpment,” an ancient upthrust ledge near Lockport. It has a marvelous view of farms, orchards, and Lake…
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Friday Links Roundup: LRYG is Famous Edition
We have a group of folks away this week. They are working in Beech Island, South Carolina, on a mission trip. We support the congregation there and our folks have been doing all sorts of community projects. They will also be conducting a Vacation Bible School tomorrow. Their work has gained some local attention from the media, and they are probably going to return with sunglasses and bodyguards from all their coverage! Two local TV stations have run stories this week about the work. Here is the ABC story (which focuses more on a parallel project) and here is the NBC story (which features nearly our whole group). I’ll be…
