Christianity is a singing religion … after all, there is MUCH to celebrate about our God and His Gospel! Jesus Himself sang with His disciples on the night before He went to the cross (Matthew 26:30). And in Colossians 3:16 we are told to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Christians have literally sung together since the beginning!
Further, Christianity is not a “fake” religion. We can be real with God … therefore, not only have Christians expressed joy in their singing, but also heartache, longing, and lament. Melodies match our mood to express our hearts at the deepest levels.
As a result, for 2,000 years, Christians have written songs celebrating our God and encouraging us to follow Him together and live for His glory. As Christians living today, we have access to both the “greatest hits” of the past two millennia, as well as new songs that are being written today. We literally have a treasure chest of rhyme and meter and message!
Sometimes, Christians will talk of loving the “old hymns.” At other times, people will mention how they love the new songs of today. Me — I like them all! But when we say “old hymn,” what do we mean?
Does “In Christ Alone” count? That one is only 23 years old now (written in 2001). How about “Great is Thy Faithfulness”? That one just celebrated its 100th birthday (written in 1923)! Or do we need to go way back to the 1800s, with songs like “How Great Thou Art” (1885), “Holy Holy Holy” (1826), or “It is Well with My Soul” (1873). But those songs are still “contemporary” compared to “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” or “Amazing Grace” (both written in 1779), “Praise to the Lord the Almighty” (1665), “A Mighty Fortress” (1529), or “All Creatures of our God and King” (1225).
Still, think of the relative youth of even Luther’s “Fortress” compared to “Be Thou My Vision,” which was written in the 500’s AD!!!!!!!!
“Old” and “young” are terms that only have meaning with a referent. To my son I am “old” while to my parents, I am a “kid.” So, understanding the sliding scale of age, what if I told you that even “Be Thou My Vision” was “new” Christian music, compared to the best worship songs and prayers ever written?
Well, written between 3,500 and 2,500 years ago, a hymnal was compiled to fuel our worship of God. This book would be named, “Praise Songs – to the accompaniment of stringed instruments.” (Ironically, that name sounds quite contemporary, doesn’t it? The “worship wars” of the 1980’s and 1990’s talked of organs vs. guitars, and hymns vs. praise music. Surprisingly, the oldest known hymnal out there was called “Praise songs – with strings”!) This ancient song book had a number of human contributors, people like Moses and King David (among others) … but the real genius of this book is that it is inerrant and inspired by God!
What is this book? It is the book of Psalms (Hebrew title means “Praise songs” and Greek title means “accompanied by strings”) … 150 songs planted in the middle of our Bibles so that we might place them at the center of our souls. Over the next 9 weeks at Wildwood, we will be walking through 9 Psalms in a sermon series titled “Him Book: Psalms for our Souls.” The series will cover the following Psalms on the accompanying dates:
* April 7 – Psalm 8
* April 14 – Psalm 23
* April 21 – Psalm 34
* April 28 – Psalm 46
* May 5 – Psalm 67
* May 12 – Psalm 90
* May 19 – Psalm 103
* May 26 – Psalm 130
* June 2 – Psalm 145
It is my prayer that these Psalms will encourage your souls in a deep way! Oh … and by the way … we will be ending each message in this series by singing a contemporary arrangement of one of these ancient songs. I. Cannot. Wait.
See you Sunday for part 1 of this series. Let’s skip the “new songs” (like “Be Thou My Vision”) for the next few weeks and sing the old stuff … written by Moses, David, and the like. 😂 See you Sunday … and bring friends!