Never Alone

From "Let All Creation Sing," EMU music. Go here.

[first stanza]
We’re not alone, for Christ is here
Immanuel our God come near
We’re not alone, for to our world
Jesus has come, eternal Word.
And as he speaks, our souls laid bare
Naked, ashamed, sin is made clear
And yet he clothes us in his love
Never alone, Christ is with us, is with us. Read More......

Sitting in my car in a parking lot in NE Philly

The Lord used this song in my own life at the most difficult time I've known. And it was a calamity of my own making. There was no one else even partly responsible. My world had crashed around me. 

It's not that the difficulty went away when I heard this song. Not at all - actually things became much, much darker in my soul for a very long time. But here was hope. I held onto what this song had to say with the grip only the desperate understand.

We all have those songs, I suppose, that not only speak a good word now, but also bring back many memories - painful, sweet. God is good. From Sovereign Grace here.  

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Just because

Bach rarely made mistakes. He didn't here, either. For Easter Sunday he wrote this cantata (BWV4) based on Luther's hymn, Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands. The tune is Latin, 12th cent. Here is the final stanza, "We eat and live well" (upon Christ by faith, that is). Check out the text under 'read more.'



Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra



Then let us feast this Easter Day
on Christ, the Bread of heaven;
The Word of Grace has purged away
the old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed,
he is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other. Alleluia!

Go here for more info about the cantata.

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"Hear Our Praises" and Hillsong

Frankly, we don't sing much Hillsong -- I love the feel of the songs, but sometimes the words leave me unsure what they mean. It's like the focus is a bit blurry. Sometimes they feel all about me, and not enough about the Lord. That's prob'ly an affliction for us reformed types -- over analyzing every song. Oh well -- to TRUTH, to CLARITY, to LIFTING UP THE CROSS. That doesn't mean, however, that they're aren't some good Hillsong songs. And I'll keep looking for more. This one is good. Start using it.



from Lifewayworship
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A gem recover'd from the vault

O Thou In Whose Presence. A beautiful hymn on Jesus, our Shepherd. It seems Joseph Swain (1761-1796) wrote his 11-stanza hymn as part of a larger work: Redemption: A Poem in Five Volumes.



from 49 Hidden Treasures from the African American Heritage Hymnal by James Abbington 2005 GIA Publications, Inc.


We sang 5 stanzas to the tune DAVIS, an early 19th cent. American tune. It'd be interesting to hear what tune 18th cent. English Baptists used. Swain was converted as a young man, than baptised by John Rippon. Later he became a pastor of a Baptist congregation at East Street, Walworth.

This hymn is not to be found in Gadsby or Spurgeon, in Trinity Hymnal (blue or red), in Met Tab's new hymnal (from Peter Masters) or in Praise!. I did find it in a copy I have of Southern Harmony (1854), which uses DAVIS, although in a more angular form than we now know.

O Thou In Whose Presence
O Thou in whose presence my soul takes delight,
On whom in affliction I call,
My comfort by day, and my song in the night,
My hope, my salvation, my all.

Where dost Thou, dear Shepherd, resort with Thy sheep,
To feed on the pastures of love?
Say, why in the valley of death should I weep,
Or alone in the wilderness rove?

O, why should I wander an alien from Thee,
And cry in the desert for bread?
Thy foes will rejoice when my sorrows they see,
And smile at the tears I have shed.

Ye daughters of Zion declare, have ye seen
The Star that on Israel shone?
Say, if in your tents my Belovèd has been,
And where, with His flocks, He is gone.

This is my Belovèd; His form is divine;
His vestments shed odors around:
The locks of His head are as grapes on the vine,
When autumn with plenty is crowned.

The roses of Sharon, the lilies that grow
In vales, on the banks of the streams:
On His cheeks, all the beauties of excellence glow,
And His eyes are as quivers of beams.

His voice, as the sound of the dulcimer sweet,
Is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at His feet,
The air is perfumed with His breath.

His lips as a fountain of righteousness flow,
That waters the garden of grace,
From which their salvation the Gentiles shall know,
And bask in the smiles of His face.

Love sits on His eye-lids, and scatters delight
Through all the bright mansions on high;
Their faces the cherubim veil in His sight,
And tremble with fullness of joy.

He looks, and ten thousands of angels rejoice,
And myriads wait for His word;
He speaks, and eternity, filled with His voice,
Re-echoes the praise of her Lord.

Dear Shepherd, I hear and will follow Thy call;
I know the sweet sound of Thy voice.
Restore and defend me, for Thou art my All,
And in Thee I will ever rejoice.
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"I know whom I have believed"

A new song for us. It takes a gospel song and puts a new tune to it. From Christ Community Church (Franklin, TN), on Re:awakening, vol. 1. See the album here.

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"All Hail the Power of Jesus Name"

I've mentioned that, when possible, we use hymn arrangements from lifewayworship. This is part of the effort by the SBC to create a hymnal "without a back cover." You really should check it out. You pay for it, of course. But then you own the music. Here's a sample from one of last week's hymns.

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Can't help myself

The Youngest Master: Mendelssohn at two hundred by Alex Ross. from The New Yorker. Read it here. 

Excerpt from Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream. (He was 16 years old!)

Claudio Abbado conducting the London Symphony, DG 471467.

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