It’s been awhile since I posted a hymn. The Holy City is absolutely one of the best songs of any sort ever written, and this rendition is amazing. This is a very difficult song to sing since it requires incredible range. Most of us won’t get to hear life performances of it very often. If you do get an opportunity, consider yourself lucky.
It’s been awhile since I posted a hymn on my blog. Here’s another one written by Charles Wesley, which for some reason I only encountered for this first time a few weeks ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
One of the great things about the Christmas season is Christmas music. Not modern Christmas music, of course. I shudder at the mere thought. I’m talking about traditional Christmas carols. O Little Town has always been one of my favorites.
Also, one of the great things about YouTube is that you can type in the name of a song and get a dozen different versions, each of them wonderful in its own way.
I’d imagine that most Christians, while growing up, build a stock of favorite hymns. As for me, prior to my conversionat age 23, I didn’t know a single hymn, nor even a single verse from any hymn, except for a few Christmas songs. On the one hand, I missed out on a great deal of great music for a long time. On the other hand, I get hte pleasure and privilege of discovering all this great music now. Even today, in my sixth year as a Christian, I continue discovering wonderful new hymns all the time. Rock of Ages is one of my new favorites, and this is a beautiful rendition of it:
Hello there, loyal readers. I’m about to take off for three days of camping, hiking, and white-water rafting in West Virginia’s New River Gorge. As I find that separating myself from technology is necessary for relaxation, I will be entirely out of touch with the internet. Fear not, though, for I shall return! This return shall take place either on Monday night or on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, here’s another hymn to tide you over: O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, by the great Charles Wesley. He wrote in on the first anniversary of his conversion to Christianity and in preparation for Pentecost Sunday. Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns in his life, but this may well be the best.
One of the great benefits of converting to Christianity was that it opened up new worlds of music. I have known since I was a kid that there were a bunch of hymns out there but I never paid attention to them. In the world at large there’s little opportunity to hear hymns outside of church, except during the Christmas season when Christmas music gets poured out in excessive quantities almost everywhere. Even then, the part that one hears in malls and other public places is only a small fraction of what’s out there.
I’ve been a Christian for six years as of this month and I’m still discovering new hymns all the time. One of my most recent finds is Shall we Gather at the River. This hymn is not at all complicated is terms of music, writing, or rhyming. Indeed, its very simplicity is part of its appeal. For any well-known hymn, you can search on YouTube and find numerous performances and arrangements. This is one of my favorites:
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