God's Growing Garden: Old Fashioned Sunday Hymn Sing #146

Welcome to the 146th Old Fashioned Sunday Hymn Sing!

I miss the old hymns that I remember from my childhood - there were no drums, no electric guitar and no mind numbing beat. It was just voices and maybe a piano or an organ. The choir led the congregation in singing - and the words of these hymns are poetic. I realize that there is a need for the modern "seeker oriented" worship music - but it is also necessary to have deeper songs (no offense intended to anyone who prefers the newer church songs).

I decided to have an "Old Fashion Sunday Hymn Sing" once a month on this blog.

I personally do NOT have a great singing voice - I used to play the guitar & piano but my voice is NOT an instrument. That's the great thing about this digital hymn sing, you can warble along without being embarrassed or without offending anyone else.

The hymns that we will be studying are taken from an old hymnal from a Baptist church that is no longer in existence - "The North American Hymnal" published in 1956 by "THE ROGER WILLIAMS PRESS"

I will also try to find a version of the featured hymn on "YouTube" to share with you each month.

Today's featured hymn is "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" and the author is John Newton. He had a difficult childhood, losing his mother when he was only 7 years old. At the age of 11 he joined his father working at sea. For a while he was a captain of a slave ship but then repented and became an impassioned abolitionist. It wasn't until he was forty years old that he was ordained in the Church of England. He had more than 250 hymns published.

I have included two wonderful versions of this hymn. The second version is acapella sung by the same man singing all four parts. (videos are located below the lyrics).

Enjoy!

Turn with me to number 429 in your hymnals and let's sing:

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

written by John Newton (1725-1807) & composed by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

1. Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; He, whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for His own abode; On the Rock of Ages founded, What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, Thou may'st smile at all they foes.

2. See, the streams of living waters, Springing from eternal Love, Well supply thy sons and daughters, And all fear of want remove; Who can faint, while such a river Ever flows their thirst t'as-suage? Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age.

3. Round each habitation hovering, See the cloud and fire appear For a glory and a covering, Showing that the Lord is near! Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; He, whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for His own abode.