I must have been in the fifth or sixth grade, and I was sitting in Sunday night church. I was seated toward the back of the sanctuary, maybe on the back row, with my friends. We had just sung Victory in Jesus as a congregational hymn, and after the hymn ended the pastor asked if anyone wanted to give a testimony. I watched my dad stand up (he and my mom were sitting much closer to the front) and begin to talk. His mother, my granny, had died just a few weeks before, and while I don’t remember anything else about his testimony I remember that at the end he said, “she has now experienced that victory in Jesus we just sang about.” I think about that every time we sing Victory in Jesus. I especially thought about it when the quartet sang it yesterday.
Many years ago when Beverley and I had the chance we would drive to Durham on Sunday mornings and worship at Duke Chapel. We loved the Gothic architecture, we loved hearing William Willimon preach, and we loved the music. There were two organs in Duke Chapel at the time (there are four now), the Flentrop at the rear of the chapel was our favorite to hear played on those Sundays (click here to see the Flentrop organ and the other instruments in Duke Chapel). I remember the first Sunday we worshiped at Duke Chapel, we arrived early, and the choir was still rehearsing. We stood in the narthex and I heard them sing “My shepherd will supply my need, Jehovah is His name.” They sang it perfectly later in worship that morning. It is one of my favorite texts (it is a paraphrase of Psalm 23) and I love the tune from Southern Harmony to which it is most often sung.
If you were in worship yesterday at May Memorial, you heard Victory in Jesus sung (very well) by the men’s quartet. We also sang the hymn My Shepherd Will Supply My Need as our second hymn. While the reasons for doing so vary, I love both of these hymns.
This past Saturday afternoon we met in the sanctuary for a rehearsal for our new worship service which begins this Sunday. The band worked on the congregational songs that we will sing this Sunday, and one of the songs is 10,000 Reasons. This contemporary song is based on two older sources, one being Psalm 103, and the other being the 19th century hymn Praise My Soul the King of Heaven. I have listened to the song as a source of spiritual encouragement for several years, and I love the version recorded by Josh Garrels, you can hear it by clicking here. It is one of the songs that I listened to a lot while on my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I love the song.
There are so many different kinds of music that praises God, and I am grateful to be a part of a church that takes the Church’s Song very seriously. I appreciate Stuart, Sandra, the choir, the quartet, and the newly formed band that will lead in our 8:30 service. I rejoice that we recognize that God is praised, our hearts are warmed, and our minds are sharpened by a wide variety of hymnody, contemporary songs, instrumental music, and choral anthems. I am blessed by the music of our church and the musicians who lead it.
Yes, the Victory is ours in Christ Jesus. Yes, our Shepherd will supply our needs. Yes, God is rich in love, slow to anger, God’s heart is kind, therefore, we will keep singing.