Category: Music

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Praise as a Perpetual Psalm

I found this gem in Spurgeon:

This submission to law is praise. Obedience is homage; order is harmony. In this respect the praise rendered to Jehovah from the “bodies celestial” is absolutely perfect. His almighty power upholds all things in their spheres, securing the march of stars and the flight of seraphs; and thus the music of the upper regions is never marred by discord, nor interrupted by destruction. The eternal hymn is for ever chanted; even the solemn silence of the spheres is a perpetual Psalm.

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The Music of Psalm 148

Psalm 148 provides the musical chords to the creation account. From the first halleluiah to the last halleluiah there are no minor chords; only major chords. The choir never slows the pace.

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Yann Tiersen’s La Chute

This beautiful piece serves as a kind of background to Genesis three. La Chute means “the fall.” I am not sure if there is any connection here with Albert Camus’ philosophical novel La Chute. Nevertheless, it is a masterpiece.

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How much music is in your home?

The Spirit is the music of the Trinity. It is the breath that gives melody to the Word of the Father. To ask the question “how spiritual are you?” implies “how often do you sing?” is your home filled with music? Are your covenant children being nurtured in a musical environment where the Spirit of God is heard?

There several ways to make these things happen. It may not be easy for some parents, but it is an important and necessary step to take. A few practical suggestions:

1. Sing during family worship. Use a hymn for an entire week. Allow your little ones to hear the same tune for a week. If you are a liturgical family, use seasonal hymns. For instance, during this Lenten Season we are using several Lenten Hymns (see examples here).

2. If you own a psalter, establish a pattern of learning one psalm a month. My friend Michael Owens has recorded all 150 psalms in the Genevan Psalter. You can find tunes and lyrics from the Genevan Psalter on-line.

3. If you are a pastor who desires to encourage your congregation to sing at home you can prepare them weekly by offering suggestions via e-mail. Send the congregation in advance the list of hymns you will be singing this Sunday and encourage them to practice.

I would love to hear more suggestions.

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A Lenten Hymn

We will be singing this beautiful Lenten hymn this Sunday at Providence. Here is my brief recording of it.

Stricken, Smitten, Afflicted

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
‘Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
By His Son, God now has spoken:
‘Tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting His distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him,
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ’s the Rock of our salvation,
His the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

 

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O Lord, Look Down From Heaven, Behold by Martin Luther

From Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth page 26-27:
“A paraphrase of Psalm 12, this hymn was written in 1523, the same time as many of Luther’s other psalm-hymns. It was published in the first Lutheran hymnal, Achtliederbuch, of 1524. Luther’s version of the psalm reflects much of his own experience in the early days of the Reformation. Though several different tunes were used for this text with various levels of success, the present tune dates from 1524 and is possibly by Luther himself.

Prelude: Ach Gott vom Himmel
George Friedrich Kauffmann, 1679-1735
Publisher: Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel

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Jesus, the Great Exegete

Stanley Hauerwas writes:

Jesus is able to resist the devil, a devil able to quote scripture, by being a superior exegete to the one who would tempt him. Jesus, the faithful interpreter of Israel’s scripture, teaches us how to read so that we might know how to resist the devil.

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Love is inebriating…

Love leads to a sober intoxication. The lover in the Songs is inebriated with erotic language. Eroticism is the language of Bride and Groom. Eroticism is the deepest description of how Yahweh intimately engages His Bride. The Bride is filled with love and wonder and the Groom finds her beauty better than wine.