How Sweet the Sound!

In 1779, the English poet and pastor John Newton first published the words to the hymn Amazing Grace.  Those words were put to a popular tune in the 1800s, and Amazing Grace, as we know it today, was born.  The song grew out of Newton's own conversion experience -- his coming to faith in Christ and his leaving his past life as a slave trader.  It's a song that has appealed to Christians across cultures and across generations.  What does the song say to you?  Do you hear your own story in Newton's stirring words? 

Here is U2 performing Amazing Grace as a lead-in to the song, Where the Streets Have No Name ...

 

Or perhaps you would like to hear the Harlem Gospel Choir's take on this spiritual ... 

Bluegrass great Ralph Stanley "lines" this great hymn, as folks did before written hymn books were common in churches ...

And let's not forget what the bagpipers have done with this classic tune ...

Finally, here is the Soweto Gospel Choir performing Amazing Grace ...

How sweet the sound, indeed!  Join us next week, on May 6, when we reveal the Wesley Award for the category of Best Saying of Jesus.  Until then, friends ... God Bless You

Psalms: Songs for Real Life!

This week the Youth Sunday school class is taking a look at the Old Testament's Book of Psalms.  The psalms are poems and song lyrics that were written to be used in worship and to celebrate Jewish feasts and festivals.  The Psalms were assembled as a collection in the Third Century BCE after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon.  By Jesus' time, the collection was being referred to as the Book of Psalms.

Artists continue to this day to set the psalms to music.  Here's an example from the band Third Day, which wrote this song using Psalm 36:5-7 ...

   
And here's one from my era ... U2 performing their song, "40", which, as its name suggests, is based upon Psalm 40:

Psalms often draw upon timeless references to nature.  Look at this passage from Psalm 91:

 ¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
   my God, in whom I trust.”
 ³ Surely he will save you
   from the fowler’s snare
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

The psalms cover the whole range of our emotions as we speak to God.  The psalms have it all: joy, grief, thankfulness, anger, praise, fear, you name it!  The great reformer Martin Luther believed that you could hear the voice of Christ in every Psalm - praying with us and for us.  The German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer described the Psalms as "a strange journey of ups and downs, falling and rising, despair and exaltation," and he relied upon "praying the Psalms" to the very end of his life.  When in prison awaiting execution at the hands of the Nazis, Bonhoeffer found comfort in Psalm 30:5:

 For his anger lasts only a moment,
   but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
   but rejoicing comes in the morning.

So, what Psalm is speaking to you today?  Do you have a favorite?  Let us know.  Tomorrow, we will award the first ever Wesley Award for the category of Best Psalm and will announce the winning Psalm on this blog.  Stay tuned!