Posts Tagged ‘music’
Songs of the Saints: Ellis J. Crum
by Wayne S. Walker Ellis J. Crum was born on April 11, 1928, in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of Ellis J. and Marion Lucille Rice Crum. Even at the age of five, he was telling Bible stories to large crowds. From the ages of eight to twelve, he spoke on subjects such as “Fighting the…
Read MoreSongs of the Saints: Paul H. Epps
by Wayne S. Walker Paul H. Epps was born on Mar. 20, 1914, in Booneville, Arkansas. Living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, from 1923 to 1945, he attended West Texas University in Canyon, Texas. His interest in music goes back to his early life when he studied rudiments and harmony in summer singing schools. Also, he graduated…
Read MorePsalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
by Wayne S. Walker via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 1, January 2015 We know from the New Testament and can infer from later writings of church leaders that Christians of the first century did sing in their worship, but we do not know precisely what songs they sang or exactly how they sang them. Some…
Read MoreSongs of the Saints: James W. McFadden
by Wayne S. Walker In his book Hymns and History, Forrest M. McCann wrote, “Various individual Christians have published hymnals used more or less regionally in the United States and by segments of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Among these, without any effort to be definitive, are the following: S. H. and Flavil Hall, The Gospel Message…
Read MoreSongs of the Saints: Tullius C. O’Kane
by Wayne S. Walker A name which may be a little more familiar, or at least recognized, than Skene but still not as well-known as Campbell or Stone is Tullius Clinton O’Kane, who was born in Fairfield County, in the vicinity of Lancaster, Ohio, on March 10, 1830, and educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University…
Read MoreHow do I handle someone objecting to “Precious Memories”?
Question: I enjoyed your online message based on the hymn Precious Memories. After having led this hymn in worship for almost sixty years, the preacher where I attend said if Precious Memories was sung, he would walk out and not sing it because it is unbiblical. He says angels do not have specific messages for…
Read MoreSongs of the Saints: Robert Skene
by Wayne S. Walker Unlike Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell, Robert Skene is probably not a readily recognized individual to many people. However, his name has been preserved in history as the composer of the tune for a song that has been quite popular among churches of Christ. Very little information is available about…
Read MoreSongs of the Saints: Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell
by Wayne S. Walker Anyone who has studied and is familiar with the history of the call for religious reformation and restoration in the early 1800s of this nation will certainly recognize these two names. Barton Warren Stone was born on December 24, 1772, near Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland. The preaching of James…
Read MoreWhy Not Use Both?
by Matthew W. Bassford Several weeks ago, I encountered an article called “The Devolution of Christian Congregational Worship.” [https://www.patheos.com/…/the-devolution-of-christian…/] Judging from the title, I predicted that it would be another grumpy get-off-my-lawn rant about contemporary praise songs and the damage that they are doing to Christianity. I was not wrong. As always, I am struck…
Read MoreMusic
by Richard Blackford We don’t limit “Set for the Defense” (Philippians 1:7,17) to responding to arguments made against God and the Bible (often in blasphemous attacks), but also in presenting positive affirmations for believing there is a highly Intelligent Designer who is the cause of all creation. Many things in our universe argue for such…
Read MoreMusic and Lyrics
by Becky Rene Introduction I love music and I love to sing and dance to my favorite songs but, as my parents and friends keep telling me, “You can’t sing and your dancing is an embarrassment.” Well that is true and so I have to sing and dance in the privacy of my room. If…
Read MoreClapping as an Accompaniment to Singing in Worship
by Wayne Jackson Recently, it has been argued that clapping as a rhythmic accompaniment to singing in Christian worship is not an addition to the singing (as it is a mechanical instrument). It is merely an aid comparable to a songbook. In this article, we’ll discuss the nature of handclapping as a function of worship…
Read MoreTen of the Best-Known Early English Hymns
by Wayne S. Walker Our English word “hymn” comes from a Greek term (humnos) meaning “a sacred song” and is defined as “a song of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, etc., especially one sung at a religious service.” We often use the term generically to refer to any religious song, but hymnologists make a technical distinction between…
Read MoreMy Voice
by Chadwick Brewer “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20). Have you ever wondered why God never asked us to have choirs…
Read MoreWorshipful Music
by Robert F. Turner Plain Talk, July 1969 Recuperating from surgery, I lay bedfast, half-hearing the radio. Suddenly I realized that the instrumental number being played was the very old and beautiful hymn, Near To The Heart of God, and that I was brought into a worshipful attitude as I listened. The shocking aspect of…
Read MoreI’m unsure about a line in the hymn “Count Your Many Blessings”
Question: I’m unsure about the line: “angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey’s end” in the song “Count Your Many Blessings.” Would it be unscriptural to sing that verse if we don’t exactly know how angels are “sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation,”…
Read MoreMy Friend, A. W. Dicus
by Rick Lanning It was August, 1971. My parents were with me that Sunday morning as we entered the Temple Terrace church building across the street from Florida College. I was entering my freshman year the very next day. I saw my dad start talking to someone he obviously knew from his past. He soon…
Read MoreReflecting on “Hoods in My Hymnal”
by Matthew W. Bassford The other day, Steve Wolfgang sent me a link to this article, “Hoods in My Hymnal.” In it, the author points out that James D. Vaughan, founding father of the Southern gospel genre of hymnody (though not the author of “Love Lifted Me”, despite what the article implies) was a leading…
Read MoreWhy Do Most Churches of Christ Use Shaped Note Hymnbooks?
by Wayne S. Walker Question: I’m still doing some research as time permits regarding hymnbooks and how certain practices arose among our brethren. I know the history of shape notes well, but not how the system came to be used (and how widely it still is) among our brethren. A couple of questions you may…
Read MoreChoirs and Solos
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Choirs-and-Solos.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 13:12-16 I. Satan never stops in his relentless pursuit of God’s people to lead them astray – I Peter 5:8-9 A. In the past, we talked about the introduction of musical instruments into the worship. 1. We showed from scripture that the practice was not authorized by God 2. We showed…
Read MoreHow does copyright work with translated songs?
Question: I would like to seek your guidance, brother, regarding the translation of English hymns into another language. Here in the local congregation where I belong, we are working on a project to create a new hymnal (words only) where the text is in a local dialect. All of my work (written or translated) are…
Read MoreHymns and Opportunity Cost
by Matthew W. Bassford As a rule, people have trouble understanding the importance of what they can’t see. We prefer buying a big-screen TV to saving for retirement, so we benefit from ideas that help us to reckon with the unseen. Of these, one of my favorites is the concept of opportunity cost. It comes…
Read MoreAm I bad for not liking Christian music?
Question: Greetings My question is concerning music. I am a devoted Christian. I love my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. All I want to do is honor Him and glorify Him. I read and study the bible. I read many good Christian books. I don’t like Christian music. Does this make…
Read MoreWorshiping like the Psalms
by Matthew W. Bassford The other day, I saw an article by a professor of Old Testament studies in which he compared the content of the book of Psalms to the content of Top 25 Christian contemporary music. He observed that many of the most prominent themes of the Psalms, like God’s help for the…
Read MoreSinging to the Lord
by Michael Hickox via The Sincere Milk of God’s Word “Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,…
Read MoreName the Hymn
/20 54 You have 180 seconds (3 minutes) to complete 20 questions. Ah! Times up! Created on December 06, 2021 Name the Hymn The clue will be the first phrase of the first verse of the hymn. Guess the title of the hymn from a multiple-choice list. You won’t necessarily get the same set of…
Read MoreNow Thank We All Our God
by Cloyce Sutton II The “Thirty Years’ War” (1618-1648) was a devastating European conflict centered in what’s now Germany. It began as a power struggle between Protestant and Catholic forces within the Holy Roman Empire but spread among various factions throughout Europe, eventually drawing in much of Central Europe, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Dutch, Croatian,…
Read MoreReview of Songs for Worship and Praise
by Wayne S. Walker The newest general hymnbook published for use among churches of Christ is Songs for Worship and Praise, edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr., and published in 2010 by Taylor Publications of Montgomery, TX. Brother Taylor has been active in church music for many years. I believe that he set the type for…
Read MoreFanny Crosby
by Bob Buchanon If I told you that today would have been the 201st birthday for Frances Jane Crosby van Alstyne (born March 24, 1820), many would ask, “Who is she?” If I told you that I was referring to Fanny Crosby, many would then reflect on their favorite hymn from this amazing writer and…
Read MoreJust as I Am
by Doy Moyer Just as I am without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me. And that Thou bids’t me come to Thee O Lamb of God, I come. by Charlotte Elliot I have long thought that “Just as I am” is a beautiful, inspiring hymn. While I don’t know that it…
Read MoreA Gender-Neutral God in Hymns
by Matthew W. Bassford The other day, I found myself going through some hymns of hope and comfort that a hymn blogger has been posting daily through the coronavirus pandemic. The style (organ plus choir) isn’t my thing; from my perspective, you’ve got a nasty instrument drowning out the good parts. However, the hymns themselves…
Read MoreI used your information on hymns. Thanks!
Question: Hello, I was writing an invitation for a Wednesday night service. I was looking up a hymnist and wanted to see if he might be a member of the church. I still don’t know, but I found your writings on lyricists and hymnists in the Lord’s church. I will no doubt go back later and reread…
Read MoreBeulah Land
by Paul Springer What is Beulah land and should we sing about it? The word is used in Isaiah 62:4-5 (NKJV), “You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; nut you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your…
Read MoreShouldn’t we be skipping some verses in Ten Thousand Angels and Amazing Grace?
Question: In the song “Ten Thousand Angels,” the last words in the fourth verse states: “Salvation’s wondrous plan was done.” In the preceding words, He gave himself to die, followed by Salvation’s wondrous plan was done gives the idea that there was nothing left for Christ to do in order for salvation to be accomplished.…
Read MoreThe Power of Music
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017Fall1ThePowerOfMusic.mp3 by Christopher Scott Wyatt Music’s Influence Musical Experiment on Teens Think about all the different moods, feelings, and even actions that music inspires in us! Music can turn a stressful job or situation into a fun one! Music can turn jesters and revel rousers sober for a time! Think about what music does to…
Read MoreHow do I get a hold of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ?
Question: Do you know of any way to get a hold of a collection of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ? I very recently joined the church and have been wondering why we sing songs that were written by unsaved people? I actually love these old hymns like “Sweet Hour of Prayer”…
Read MoreIs it acceptable to use songs that have humming for one or more of the parts in worship?
Question: Good evening brother Jeffrey, I pray this email finds you in good health. May God favor you for blessing us and teaching us. You and many have given me so much knowledge in God’s word and increased my faith. I am a member of the Church of Christ. I wanted clarification about how some…
Read MoreHow Song Leaders Can Pick Good Hymns
by Matthew W. Bassford via His Excellent Word Over the past month or two, I’ve heard from a few people who were wondering why I was writing so much about good and bad hymns. What’s the take-home? What’s the so-what? I have an extremely strong view of congregational autonomy, so I’m not trying to dictate to…
Read MoreIs it sinful to listen to music with bad language and references to sinful acts?
Question: Good afternoon, I was recently in the backseat of my friend’s car when she started playing illicit music on her phone. When I later confronted her about it, she told me that while she doesn’t believe it is recommended, it is not a sin. She said that God may have to reveal something to…
Read MoreIs Zion only the church here on earth?
Question: Can you comment on Zion, Zion, I long thy gates to see. Some say it is not scriptural because Zion is the church in every sense, and never heaven, as it seems in the song. Thanks for your consideration. I wish to be accurate when I sing a song, but I love this song!…
Read More