“Welcome, Happy Morning!”

    I certainly can’t leave you on Holy Saturday and not celebrate with you on Easter Sunday! Enjoy worshipping with both ancient and modern… (playlist link below)

• Hallelujah Chorus (Handel, 1741)
• Welcome, Happy Morning (Vernantius Honorius Fortunatus,  6th century
• Jesus Christ is Risen Today (Latin, 14th century; translated into English in 1698. Stanza 4 added by Charles Wesley)
• At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing (translated from the Latin in 1849)
• Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain (St. John of Damascus, 8th century)

And a few ‘old’ 20th century classics: 

• He’s Alive (Don Francisco) 
• Because He Lives (Bill and Gloria Gaither), 
• Keith Green’s “Easter Song,” 

For wonderful 21st century Easter worship, enjoy all modern sources, too many to list. I’ve added a few to the playlist. Feel free to choose just the ones with which you want to worship. Enjoy!

He is risen! It is accomplished! Alleluia!

Julie

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-2DzbrW5IS0hEUN0AgpeH9HbfTJSaO_I&si=n7c_pYkjuC7XYFtm

Good (Holy) Friday & Saturday worship—ancient and contemporary

   [ If you haven’t read yesterday’s Maundy Thursday post, please go there first.]

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   When I was young, there were certain Good Friday hymns that deeply touched me and always brought me to tears. Some of you were also raised with these, but others of you may not be familiar. Either way, enter in…

“There is a Green Hill Far Away” (Cecil Francis Alexander, 1848)

   There are two tunes for this hymn. I loved both.

https://youtu.be/TUAvIDH47_s?si=ig9RMXux944todE_

https://youtu.be/lvqHhKF---U?si=OTM19Pd4NvU4do5u  (Second tune, instrumental only)

Sing, My Tongue the Glorious Battle (Venantius Honorius Fortunatus, 569). [sung to Pange Lingua, as with Now My Tongue the Mystery Telling]

https://youtu.be/zvMC0R1atP4?si=xVzZqjhbzRp_V2bU

Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended (Johann Heerman, 1630; translated 1899 by Robert Bridges) two tunes below

https://youtu.be/kXzKXBz9mgw?si=

https://youtu.be/_oHlAoxMXI4?si=iFCdtTrcJgOWuPUr (First tune with history of Heerman)

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (Paulus Gerhardt, 1656; translated 1899 by Robert Bridges) Tune adapted and harmonized from Hans Leo Hassler’s original by Johann Sebastian Bach

https://youtu.be/UgkVTtT-0xg?si=b8p9WyLyXqHKBLnM

What Wondrous Love is This? (Southern Folk Hymn 1811)

https://youtu.be/n-UmemwpAvA?si=4QkPpvacORv-khkO

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts, 1707)

https://youtu.be/Tkx8WAycYAc?si=q-KawMHqiVOcuibX

Glory Be to Jesus (18th century)

https://youtu.be/aIdBD18v3a8?si=WgDuuZUXBroN0zqS

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Back to the 21st century:

The Power of the Cross (Getty/Townend) 

https://youtu.be/nPFv-ywTY-c?si=PrCkMeq6I_SaIas4

Thank You, Jesus, for the Blood of Christ (Charity Gayle)Recent: Charity Gayle, Thank You, Jesus, for the Blood of Christ

https://youtu.be/dhU-Omwg2rU?si=atmNjGW2syWtj3L0

The Wonder of the Cross (Robin Mark)

https://youtu.be/NzUeL5WOPSU?si=X5fhrzy4CKn-bxWw

Dutch Sheets’ powerful Holy Friday post: 

https://youtu.be/qmaG-xN4xgs?si= 

Awesome Good Friday worship with Jesus Image:

https://www.youtube.com/live/QisytlzXLmY?si=JLDpQxICC7YCAVMy

Remembering the Sacred

   I love so much of the fresh, Christian worship music being created now. Charity Gayle, Jeremy Riddle, Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, We the Kingdom, Sean Feucht…. I also love to pray listening to ‘Soaking’ music from people like Julie True and others. I look for what I see as God-focused worship, over the ‘what He can do for me’ songs. Yesterday I was inspired to worship with Charity’s “Name Above All Names, and His Presence was so strong. “Lion,” is another favorite, ‘for such a time as this.’.

   This morning, however, on this Maundy (Mandate) Thursday, when we especially focus on the Lord’s Supper before He knowingly and intentionally headed to the Cross, I was drawn to the Ancient hymns. Many have been sung century after century. I am sad that they appear to be lost to so many believers today. These hymns’ sacred and reverential spirit  is an integral part of the Whole of what I see as intimate or affectionate reverence.. [*See my 2016 post linked below ], The depth of this heritage humbles and roots us in an age in which we are perhaps vulnerable to casually taking for granted GOD’s sacrificial gift and also losing sight of Him as YHVH. 

   He has, indeed, granted us that great Gift of being invited into His Presence. Yet have we maintained, as Tozer says, “The Knowledge of the Holy?” Or do we now, for example, approach Holy Communion as if it is coffee hour? Are we more focused on what we do or don’t receive from Him than Who He Is and how Worthy He is of our love, adoration and thanksgiving?

   We are all guilty of a lack of piety at times, because we also know Him as precious Friend, which He invited us to be. But let’s not forget Who else He is: the Great I Am, the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the Cosmos. Although He sacrificially made a way for an Intimate relationship with Himself, we must never lose our attitude of Honor and Reverence toward Him. 

   So today I bring before you some ancient worship songs which to me evoke that sense of holy awe. I love the whole of worship music through the centuries, from ancient through modern. Let’s visit a few of the former. I invite your comments and suggestions for others you remember.

1) Now My Tongue the Mystery Telling (Thomas Aquinas, 13th century)

Better seen on a tablet or computer

https://youtu.be/c7XGcnsKpl0?si=0nu6vUiMVAaeDmDl    (Zoom in to see lyrics better or see next link)

https://youtu.be/4axqhVgyBbE?si=cnbBoAvp6IwvFTok

2) Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (approx 275 AD)

https://youtu.be/8wl4u8lnDQs?si=zQ_kf2byJIW_tgWM

3) Humbly I Adore Thee, Verity Unseen (Thomas Aquinas, 13th century)

https://youtu.be/jPgGAoebsGA?si=pgDpP1FT2I8Pf72n

4) My God, Thy Table Now is SPREAD (1755)

https://youtu.be/ss4iEslMrBs?si=cG3IeyUDTZFqiP8m   (Zoom or make full screen)

5) O God Unseen Yet Ever Near (Edward Osler, 1836 … not ancient but almost 2 centuries old)

https://youtu.be/bvKEjmXvjoc?si=DYF5lOlgJnr2AUCg (choir)

https://youtu.be/ysbMFBdCvIA?si=QHLcZ81wdpGGYg2S (instrumental with lyrics)

*Affectionate Reverence post from December 1, 2016

https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2016/12/reverence.html

1Yahweh is King over all! Everyone trembles in awe before him. He rules enthroned between the wings of the cherubim. So let the earth shake and quake in wonder before him! 2For Yahweh is great and glorious in the midst of his Zion-people. He is exalted above all! 3Let everyone praise this breathtaking God, for he is holy. 4A lover of justice is our mighty King; he is right in all his ways. He insists on being fair to all, promoting true justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5So everyone, exalt the Lord our God facedown before his glory-throne, for he is great and holy.  —Psalm 99: 1-5   TPT

“With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!” —Psalm 103:1

On my father’s shoe

 

   Does anyone else remember grabbing on to your father’s leg and not letting go, so when he tried to walk, he had to drag his leg (and you) behind him? Sometimes you could even manage to ride on his shoe.👞 Surprisingly, he never appeared irritated (at least mine didn't). He just looked down and chuckled. I probably did the same thing with my mother; I just don’t remember it. I’ve seen my toddler granddaughter attach herself to her mom in this way. 

   We were not a demonstrative family. [Hugging wasn’t something you would have seen in our home, both my parents having been raised in a ‘keep your emotions inside’ heritage. Hugging, for example, wasn’t seen in our home until my sister came home from college one day and threw her arms around my neck. I thought to myself, “Wow, I like this hugging thing!”] My father was predominantly of German background and my mother, English. Yet we knew they loved us, and my sisters and I are very grateful to have been blessed with the parents we  had (still have, in heaven).

   This morning I was reading and pondering Psalm 65, The first 2 verses read, 

   “Oh God in Zion, to you even silence is praise! You who answers  prayer…”] 

Brian Simmons (The Passion Translation) noted: 

The root of the Hebrew word for ‘prayer’ is palal, which also means ‘tent peg.’ Jewish tradition views palal prayer (intercession) as a means of attaching yourself to God. In the same way a tent peg establishes a tent and fastens it securely, so palal prayer fastens the soul to God. Palal prayer is when you grab hold of God and attach yourself to him in surrender and humility. Hold on to God like a tent peg holds on to a tent.

I thought this was wonderful. However, instead I pictured myself riding on God’s shoe, with my arms attached to His leg. I could hear Him chuckle. Certainly, He wants us to pray ‘face to face,’ but I believe it also pleases Him when we attach ourselves to Him and don’t let go. 

   Go ahead, pray, holding on tight, and make sure your humility, gratefulness, and love towards Him abound with His every step. I believe He will laugh out loud and most surely respond tenderly to your prayer.