Oldies

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.  

This morning as I dragged myself to exercise class, I began to dread the class, not because of the exercise, but because of the awful music which has no discernable lyrics that is usually played.  To my great surprise, as I rounded the corner, I heard the unmistakeable chorus of My Girl,  and my mood brightened immediately – I felt energized and happy!  We continued the workout with My Guy, Stand By Me, Shout,  and more of my favorite songs.  I asked the young instructor why she chose this music, and she said, “I love these songs because they tell a story, the music is memorable, and I don’t think there’s a single generation that doesn’t love it.”  Thank you!  I know every word of these songs, and it makes me feel good to sing along.

I began to think of all the other songs that I love, and a lot of them are hymns.  Charles Wesley wrote over 6000 hymns, and many of them I grew up playing and singing as a child, a young adult, and an adult.  There is hardly one in the United Methodist Hymnal that I haven’t at least heard.  The lyrics tell a sweet story, each verse is different, the chorus is energizing, and they all speak of our God and King.  These are the “Praise” hymns to which I can relate.

The first hymn in the hymnal is “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing”, and it speaks of voices raised in adoration and praise.  When you have a congregation or group of Christians lifting their voices in worship, it is a wonderful testament to our faith.

Last week, I heard a minister explaining to the people assembled for the funeral of a friend, that although hymns were not in vogue now, they were the foundation and essence of our faith.  He went on to say that the word “war” in the hymn we were about to sing, was referring to the Christian movement of winning people to Christ and waging “war” against the evil one. The hymn in question was “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and I was saddened to hear that this great hymn was under scrutiny of political correctness by those who don’t even know its origin.  It was written in 1865 to encourage churches to “put on the whole armor of Jesus Christ”.

I am proud to say that we sang it along with “He Lives” and it was a marvelous testament to a Christian man, a life well lived and a God well served!  Hymns are always in vogue.  

Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!