Hymns Forever!

At night sometimes I wake up and a hymn is running through my head. This morning I woke up with the words from a hymn text,

Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to God on high;
Alleluia! to the Savior
who has gained the victory;
Alleluia! to the Spirit,
fount of love and sanctity:
Alleluia, alleluia!
to the Triune Majesty.

What a wonderful way to begin the day. I find tremendous joy and comfort in the hymns and our family CD collection reflects that. The great hymns of the Western canon have been bathed in the blood, and tears and joy of centuries of believers in Jesus Christ. Much of the hymnody can be traced directly back to passages of Scripture that inspired the words in the first place. The snatch of hymn I had in my head this morning opens with the words of the angels who sang in joy at the birth of our Savior, “Glory be to God on High!”

We sing through the joyful times and we sing through the sad or troubling times. A troubled mind? I remember the song of the angel trio from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, lifted right from the pages of the Psalms.

“Lift thine eyes, o lift thine eyes,
To the mountains, whence cometh, whence cometh
Whence cometh help!…”

Christians have hymned their way through every manner of persecution and pestilence, tragedy and loss, joy and triumph. Their song is always focused on the Lord. I have put this ancient hymn to memory because it is not only a song of worship, but a confession of faith.

WE praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbath;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee;

The Father, of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the Kingdom of
Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the Glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants whom thou hast
redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

At our church we actually sing this hymn that dates back to the 4th Century when the heresy of Arianism was sweeping the church. This heresy taught that Christ was not eternally existent and that He was not of one substance with the Father. This song of fierce joy, sung by those greatly persecuted for the their faithfulness, confessed the true Christian faith and praised and worshiped God. Of such faithful confessions our great hymns consist. I have found a website where a retired organist just sits and plays the great hymns on his home organ. He plays both the grand hymns and also the comforting gospel songs that belong to all believers. At a time when the rich hymns have been largely discarded by pop culture Christianity, it is refreshing and delightful to remember the words of these great songs of the church. Hymns will always live on in the hearts of believers and some day, when we finally are all together before the throne of the Lamb, our hymn singing will continue without end. Here is what Scripture describes:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

–Revelation 5:11-13