Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
Kum ba Yah is a spiritual song dating back to at least the 1920s, when the earliest known recordings took place. According to the Library of Congress the two earliest versions were both collected in 1926. Both of these versions now reside in the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. It is unknown when in 1926 either version was recorded […]
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All the Way the Savior Leads Me is one of the songs that runs through my mind at times. The hymn was written in 1875 by Fanny Crosby. “A frequently told story about this hymn relates that it came to Fanny as a result of a prayer. Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began […]
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We’ve dissected some difficult subjects in the past in our conversations on depression, domestic violence and prodigal living. If you’ve read my blog for a while you will know how important music is to me. My Behind the Hymn on Sunday is a very popular feature. We’re going to delve into another subject that is just as important, but not […]
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Angels We Have Heard on High commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke. The song focuses on the shepherds encounter with the angels foretelling of the birth of the newborn child. Reports say that in 129 A.D. Pope Telesphorus ordained that the “Gloria” be sung at the Christmas Eve midnight mass. The phrase became known […]
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African Americans have a rich musical history through the use of passing down stories in the guise of a song. These songs are called spirituals and the slaves often sung them in the fields, while working and in their celebrations. These songs have a feeling of “incredible majesty and haunting beauty.” Go Tell It on the Mountain originated as a […]
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This is a beautiful Christmas song that Daddy and I performed together many times. The lyrics and music were written by William H. Neidlinger in 1890. No other information is known about this beautiful Christmas carol. The song has been recorded and performed numerous times over the years by various artists. Maybe his work was inspired by the passage in […]
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Imagine traveling to the Holy Land and being inspired by the places where Jesus was born, walked, died and rose from the grave. To ride by horseback out to the fields where the shepherds attended their sheep and the angels appeared to them. That’s exactly how the lyrics for O Little Town of Bethlehem were inspired. Later the author wrote […]
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The hymn we sing today as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing has had many alterations since it originated. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing first appeared in the 1739 Hymns and Sacred Poems. This is one of the few Christmas hymns written in the 17th and early 18th Centuries, after the English Puritan’s abolished Christmas Carols for being part of a […]
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In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was most likely shocked when the parish priest asked him to write a poem for Christmas Mass. De Roquemaure was the commissioner of wines in a small French town and well known for his poetry. He was an unlikely person for the priest to ask to write this poem, in the fact that he was […]
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We Gather Together is a popular hymn sung at Thanksgiving. The song was written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius. The original title of the Dutch hymn was “Wilt heden nu treden“. The song was written to celebrate the Dutch victory over the Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. The song acknowledges the triumph over the nation’s turbulent history. In […]
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Franz Schubert composed the popular Catholic hymn in 1825, as part of his Opus 52. He titled the song “Ellens dritter Gesang” or Ellen’s Third Song. Philip Adam Storck translated and published the poem Lady of the Lake into German in 1819. This was the inspiration for Schubert’s work. The song was composed as a setting for Sir Walter Scott’s […]
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In honor of Veteran’s Day this week, I wanted to look at a beloved Patriotic hymn. Katharine Lee Bates and a group of colleagues ascended up Pike’s Peak by prairie wagon in the summer of 1893 while on a working vacation. She was so inspired by the view that beheld her that she began to write the poem to America […]
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Dave Moody was preparing for the worship service he was to lead that evening in 1977. He sat down at the piano and began to worship God. A song came to him, and as he played the melody and words seemed to flow out of him. That evening he felt led to sing this song at the worship service. People […]
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This is Mama’s favorite song. In honor of her birthday this week, I thought I would cover the history of this song of praise. The song was written by Jack William Hayford, who is a pastor. Rev. Hayford is said to have composed over 400 songs, hymns and musical works. The inspiration for this song came from a 1977 vacation […]
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This hymn was written by Ralph Carmichael in the mid-1950s. Mr. Carmichael shares that his pastor, Lester Harnish, requested he write a new hymn to be used as an invitation each night for the upcoming revival. This revival was scheduled to last for two weeks and would be sung at the end of the sermon. At the beginning of the […]
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This hymn was written in 1952 by Rev. John M. Moore. Rev. Moore was born in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland on September 1, 1925. He shares that he was raised by godly parents and accepted Christ when he was sixteen years old. He studied the ministry in Glasgow, Scotland and served several churches in the area. Before immigrating to […]
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Edward Perronet was born in 1726 England, the grandson of a French immigrant. He followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the ministry. He became close friends with John and Charles Wesley, eventually leaving the Church of England and becoming a traveling Methodist minister. One story about Perronet says that Wesley encouraged him {Perronet} to preach, but he was resistant. […]
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This popular hymn was written by Fanny Crosby, author of over 8,000 hymns and songs. She often collaborated with composer William Doane. Doane wrote the music and then the melody was played for Crosby. Upon hearing the melody she said she felt it said, “Jesus, Keep me near the cross.” She said down and wrote the words for this hymn. […]
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God wants to show us His faithfulness, but sometimes we have to surrender all before He can prove that He is faithful to us. Great is Thy Faithfulness was written by Thomas Obadiah Chisholm as a “testament to God’s faithfulness through his very ordinary life.” Chisholm was born in 1866 in a log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky to James Washington […]
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Love Lifted Me was a joint effort of James Rowe and Howard E. Smith. The two friends wrote the hymn together. James Rowe was born in Horrabridge, Devonshire, England in 1865. He was the son of a copper miner. James worked for the Irish government for four years, before immigrating to America. He was 24 years old when he settled […]
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