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Memorizing Great Hymns of Faith
Last year I did a post announcing our church's plan to memorize ten of the great hymns of the faith. I asked you to give me your list of the top ten hymns. I got a lot of helpful feedback. Well, we finally settled on a list and last week we released a CD entitled How Sweet the Sound that features the ten hymns. It features many talented musicians and singers from our church and was produced by Dave Campbell and Roger Hooper. Both are incredible musicians and servants. They did a wonderful job. Here's our schedule for memorization (the links on each song take you to a page with lyrics and background information):
NOVEMBER - Amazing Grace DECEMBER - Before the Throne JANUARY - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty FEBRUARY - Be Thou My Vision MARCH - And Can It Be APRIL - Crown Him with Many Crowns MAY - A Mighty Fortress JUNE - Be Still My Soul JULY - How Firm a Foundation AUGUST - Great is Thy FaithfulnessIf we left off your favorite hymn, please forgive us! We're doing this project because we want to benefit not only from the songs written in our lifetime, but also from hymns that have served the people of God for generations and will endure long after we're gone. They are time-tested and true. They speak to every circumstance of life and point us to the wisdom, love and power of our gracious God and Savior. This past week the Harris family has been working on Amazing Grace. Yeah, I know you think you already have it nailed, but go ahead and do verse 4 right now. Gotcha! Anyway, I hope our church's little endeavor will not only bear much fruit in our congregation but also encourage other churches to revisit great hymns. To that end, Ken Boer, with the help of our communication's team led by Don Nalle has put together a terrific website for the memorization project. On it you can find lyrics, background information on each hymn and other resources. (One more thing, Hannah Kim did the design for the CD. Great job, Hannah!) You can also use the widget below to download the tracks from the CD. Enjoy!
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Comments (5)
I'm so excited to see "And can it Be" on this list! I suggested it back when you did your original post, and was so hopeful that it would be included. All of the songs you've chosen are beautiful and Christ-centered, and I'm looking very forward to hearing the CD.
Posted by Ruth | November 11, 2008 9:09 PM
I downloaded it 2x and the Amazing Grace track won't come through for some reason.
SO glad to see "Be Still My Soul", "Before the Throne", and "Be Thou"... 3 of my favs!
Posted by Jenn | November 11, 2008 11:57 PM
Unfortunately it did not work for me. Tried twice, hopefully credit card wasn't charged twice. I've emailed NoiseTrade. I wish you guys would go back to regular distribution - I really wanted to listen to the songs.
Posted by Chris D. | November 12, 2008 8:18 PM
Once a month I visit the local nursing home with my pastor. He leads a service, and I give a short Bible talk. Many of the people who come to the service are not in a good way - it seems that many of them don't even know that we're in the room, and have very little idea about what's going on around them. Today we sang two songs - "The Lord is my shepherd" and "Love divine, all loves excelling". It is wonderful to see how they respond to the songs - they might not be able to sing along, but they hear the music and the words of these old hymns and their faces light up. I hope these songs are sung well into the future. Yet there is an extra value in knowing and singing them now, that we might serve those who grew up on these hymns, and who might continue to grow in their faith because of them.
Posted by Steve | November 13, 2008 5:04 AM
Josh,
awesome stuff my friend! "And Can It Be" is one of my faves. We do this song in our services, LOVE IT.
Thanks again for all you do!
Hope to talk to you soon!
Caleb Gordon
Posted by Caleb Gordon | November 14, 2008 3:24 PM