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I just bought the newly remastered box set of The Beatles collection. I never liked the first-issue of the library on CD; it sounded very tinny. Even with seriously destroyed hearing, I can tell the difference with this new set, especially on their older stuff. Brass instruments sound brassier, Paul’s bass is bouncier, and you can hear other subtleties that are entirely missing on the previous issue. It also helped me to close out my Beatles collection, since I was missing a few songs, including the very funny B-side “You Know My Name, Look Up the Number.” (Does anyone even know what a B-side is anymore?)
But my point isn’t to talk about audio-geek stuff. In listening to the entire Beatles oeuvre over the course of one weekend, I came to remember just how good they were. If you weren’t around when this stuff was new, you can’t appreciate how revolutionary they were. No one else was doing this stuff, especially starting with their “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” albums. Add a piccolo trumpet solo? Every other band in the world soon had some sort of novelty instrument in their songs. Deliberately distort your guitar? Suddenly that’s all you heard.
My music appreciation prof at Wheaton also played with the Chicago Philharmonic. He said he believed that every Beatles song after 1965 was written by someone other than the Beatles. He couldn’t believe that someone with no formal musical training and who couldn’t read music could produce something that creative. I saw it as a left-handed compliment to the Beatles, although he certainly didn’t intend it that way. (And in truth the Beatles did have the help of classically trained George Martin as their producer.) But seriously, do you think if there was a ghost writer out there he'd have kept silent all these years?
I’ve pretty much given up listening to contemporary music. My thesaurus does not contain enough synonyms to describe how utterly bad most of it is, both musically and lyrically. In addition to listening to distinctly non-Top 40 artists such as Patty Griffin, Patty Larkin, Shelby Lynne, Alana Davis, David Wilcox, Calexico, and Brooklyn Funk Essentials, I’ve turned increasingly to world music. I grew to love African music when I lived there, and so I have a lot on my iPod, including Geoffrey Oryema, Ayub Ogada, and Amadou & Mariam.
I’ve also added a lot of Middle Eastern music, including Vas, Azam Ali, and Niyaz. I can’t understand a word any of them are singing (they sing in everything from Swahili to Malian to Arabic to Farsi), but it’s beautiful, intricate music with unexpected chords and unusual (at least to Western ears) instruments and rhythms — everything contemporary American music is not.
After world music, I’ve been buying a lot of movie soundtracks. Thomas Newman is probably my favorite, followed by Hans Zimmer.
So where does CCM fit in my listening? Unfortunately, not a lot appeals to me for the same reasons most contemporary music doesn’t. (Not a great commentary on CCM, I think.) I’ve never grown tired of Fernando Ortega, though, and from that you might safely assume I also love the classic hymns of Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, et al. And I still like the grammatically problematic Delirious?, Tree 63, the unfortunately short-lived Smalltown Poets, and anything by Switchfoot.
So, have I ... ahem ... struck a chord with anyone? Anyone else know of these musicians? What other good acts should I check out?
I first heard the Christian music group Delirious* back in the mid-90s. It wasn't my style of music, but after some thought I bought a couple of their albums. My justification: I was a musician, and this is popular, and so it'll be good for me to study their music.
It wasn't long, though, before I came to admire their work and consider them among the most influential worship bands in modern Christendom. I now own each one of their albums, have listened to each one many times, and have played their songs numerous times in church and elsewhere.
Here's a now-funny story: I woke up the neighbor's sleeping child by playing "Obsession" for my girlfriend Ashleigh one night in the parking lot years ago. Who knew that my car stereo was that loud?
Last night I was able to attend their concert here in Colorado Springs, part of their farewell tour. I'm heartbroken even writing that, seeing that their time as a band is wrapping up. That said, I have no doubt that their time in ministry is hardly coming to a close. Their passion for Scripture, for the Lord Jesus, for God's glory, for the oppressed, for excellence ... will continue to express itself and bless people even after their time as a band comes to a close.
If you're not familiar with their work, I suggest you order a copy of their forthcoming album, History Makers: Greatest Hits. (In the interest of full disclosure, I confess that their publicist offered to send me the CD for free. I refused, since I have no use for a "greatest hits" album: I already own everything Delirious has put out.)
And if you can, I plead with you to go to one of the few concerts left in their tour. Though I'm an editor, I don't have the words to describe the blessing pouring out from these concerts.
It's been over a decade since I first gave Delirious a listen because I thought it'd be good for me. It hasn't just been good; it's been very good.
In closing, here are a few photos. The first is of lead singer Martin Smith with his wife Anna in the Focus on the Family studios. It was an honor to spend half an hour with them yesterday, along with Lisa Anderson. Stay tuned for that podcast....
This photo shows all five bandmembers. You'll have to take my word on that.
Meet Mr. Smith.
Meet Stu G.
Ted meets Martin.
Meet Ted and his date for the night, the more than fair Mrs. Slater. I must say that I bought my glasses before she bought hers.
*The band's name is actually "Delirious?," but for the sake of grammatical clarity, I've made an executive decision to drop the question mark. My conscience is clear.
So yesterday we spent some time with Christian hip-hop artist KJ-52. It was a great interview, which you'll hear on our podcast within a week or two. Here he is with Lisa, the host of The Boundless Show podcast.
So tomorrow we spend some time with Martin Smith, lead singer of Delirious?, a band whose music is awesome and whose name is grammatically troublesome.
So, is there anything you'd like us to ask Martin?
(I've also been given special access during tomorrow night's concert here in Colorado Springs to take photos from "the barricade." I'll plan to post photos, taken with my Nikon D40, on Thursday.)
Bob Kauflin, Boundless author and Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, has been leading corporate worship for over 30 years. And he's never been more passionate about the cross of Christ.
In his most recent blog post, "Lessons Learned From Three Decades of Leading," Bob writes about "why the cross should play such a central role in our singing." He then goes on to reference his friend CJ Mahaney's thoughts on cross-centered worship. CJ give four reasons why "Cross-centered worship songs are vital to the life of the church":
- First, since the cross is the storyline of Scripture, it should be the storyline of our corporate worship.
- Second, we must never leave the impression during corporate worship that we do not need a mediator.
- Third, cross-centered songs imitate the heavenly model.
- Forth, cross-centered songs affect our souls.
I touched on this a while back in "The Cross: Crucial in Worship":
There is no greater mystery, nothing that inspires more wonder, than the crucifixion of our Lord. It was the greatest act of both love and hate ever portrayed. It's a manifestation of both the stratospheric height of God's mercy and the grimy depth of our sin.
Paul boasted in but one thing: the cross. The hosts of heaven include Jesus' death in their continuous expression of praise, day and night. My sin, as the old hymn goes, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. We are reconciled to God through the cross of Christ.
You could ponder the cross for a lifetime and never fully explore its depth and significance. It's both simple and complex. It's seen as both foolishness and the pinnacle of wisdom. It illustrates both divine compassion and divine wrath. Christ the all-powerful was crucified in weakness. It's both glorious and shameful. It shows us both God's fierce anger and His lovingkindness.
So if the cross is central to our faith, and will be throughout eternity, why is it so little referenced in the songs we sing at church?
Why, indeed?
If you're a worship leader, I implore you: Please seek out songs about the cross of Christ for your congregation to sing. If you're not a worship leader, please consider sharing this blog post on Facebook, or directly with your pastor. I'd love to see a broader discussion of the relevance of the cross in congregational singing.
I'm sitting here in a coffee shop in Santa Monica, CA, and about half an hour ago I just happened to look up and there in front of me was an actual celebrity.
I had been told this might happen.
The problem is, I can't for the life of me figure out who he was. I was told that might happen too. I know he's been on TV, I just can't remember what it was. I'll let you know if I ever solve the mystery. So far I have it narrowed down to the fact that he was in a comedy, and the fact that the show was eventually cancelled.
Anyways, as I work on this blog I'm listening to a movie soundtrack that has been one of my favorites for years. No matter what mood I'm in, this music always seems to meet me exactly where I am. And the older I get, the more fascinated I am by the role of music in our emotions.
We can hear it but we can't touch it and we can't see it. Sometimes there's an image associated with it, but even without it the right set of chords can suddenly resonate with us in a way no set of words ever could. Why is that?
I think of C.S. Lewis' quote about how strange it is that we as humans comment on the concept of time:
We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. "How he's grown!" we exclaim, "How time flies!", as though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed; unless of course the fish were destined, one day, to become a dry animal.
Could it be that music is a similar concept? Perhaps it resonates with us so deeply only because the true language of our hearts is something far more heavenly than beats and words?
In an effort to get my point across with a splash, I'm going to be hyperbolic:
- Singing a hymn at church is not worship.
- Playing guitar at small group is not worship.
- Humming along to a song in your car is not worship.
- Raising your hands on Sunday morning is not worship.
- What the band does on stage is not worship.
These may be expressions of worship, but the worship itself takes place at the heart level. It's my heart's response to relationship with my Creator. It's something I do "in spirit and in truth." No sound waves are involved.
Without something taking place in the heart, the hymn and guitar and song and hands and band are simply noisy gongs or clanging cymbals, signifying nothing.
When our hearts worship the Lord -- that is, when our wills are aligned with His, when we humbly concur with His judgments, when we are grateful for His lovingkindness, when we are overwhelmed with His holiness -- then we might express this worship with our bodies.
We may give money to the local church or serve at a crisis pregnancy center. We may work diligently, even when the boss is not around. We may say no to extramarital sexual activity. We may ask forgiveness, and extend forgiveness.
These are all everyday expressions what's going on in our hearts, all expressions of worship.
Or we may sing a song, we may strum a guitar, we may hum, we may raise our hands, we may rock with the band. But again, those activities are not necessarily worship: They're merely symptoms of the worship that occurs within us toward God.
* * *
So now I'm left wondering: If heart-level worship is behind all the activities of our Christian lives, if our work and our giving and our purity and our singing can be expressions of worship, why can't our attitude -- that mediator between our hearts and our actions -- sometimes look the same from activity to activity?
For example, if my God-honoring hard work is punctuated by moments of light-heartedness with co-workers, why can't an appropriate amount of light-heartedness be present when I'm with co-church attendees? Why do I have to express worship in such a "reverential" way in the church sanctuary, while I'm free to express my heart's worship in a more "conversational" or "relational" way in other areas of my life?
The next time I'm singing in church, I'll resist the urge to furrow my brow in concentration, I'll resist the urge to have a pained "I'm worshiping" look on my face, I'll resist the urge to work so hard to invoke the Spirit who is always among us.
Instead, I'll simply enjoy the music and resonate with the lyrics, worshiping my Savior in the same everyday way that I worship Him while cooking a meal for friends or doing dishes with my wife.
My life took a turn a dozen years ago. Though I personally didn't care for their style, I bought a Delirious album, thinking it'd be good for me to become familiar with their music.
I came to love their music, and have since come to appreciate a swath of contemporary Christian music. Sure, a whole lot of it is worthless pabulum: uninspired lyrics spit out by some Random Christian Cliché Generator, skill-less musicianship, tired rhythms and chord progressions, sterilizing production. But some Christians creating music for today's generation speak with a relevance and passion and quality that inspires me in my devotion to the Lord and my devotion to excellence.
So today I'm listening to RED, a band whose lyrics wrestle with our disposition to sin, that explore our struggle to honor the Lord with integrity. That they use distorted guitars and edge into metal/screamo at times does not distract from the urgency and desperation of their message. Indeed, I find that it promotes it, helping me better engage it.
I don't know that I would have denounced this kind of music a decade ago; I may have just dismissed it. But these days I adamantly appreciate the breadth of musical styles embraced by many of today's Christian musicians.
I had a conversation with someone earlier this week who was condemning the music of today's Christian artists because it's "loud" and "rhythmic" and "extreme." Such music, because it may provoke a physical response, he dismissed as "sexual." His judgment reminded me of Michal, King David's wife, who mocked her husband for the "vulgar" way he was "leaping and dancing before the LORD." God's judgment against her? Barrenness.
I'm learning not to be so quick to write something off as ungodly simply because it's not my preference. After all, the Lord's ways are not like my ways. And where Scripture doesn't express a clear judgment, perhaps I should be slow to express mine. At least in the realm of music.
Well, that's a little peek into where some of my thoughts are today: affected by a discussion I had a few days ago and by my current iPod playlist. May what you find here -- our articles, blog posts, and podcasts -- effect some engaging discussions for you! :-)
I met a friend for lunch today, and as I jumped into my smoldering black car with black interior (Note to self: begin saving non-profit salary that is already compromised by excessive Starbucks runs and trash mag purchases to buy summer sports car or fun, trendy Vespa for use from June-Aug), my stereo erupted in sound. Loud sound. Ok, ridiculously loud sound. I find this disconcerting, because this means I had it that loud when I arrived at work this morning, and if I really listen to the stereo that loud, I will soon be deaf. (Wait, can I hear the keys click as I type?! Phew. So far, yes.)
Anywho, the second thing I found disconcerting was the music itself. Because here I was on a beautiful summer day, moonroof open (allowing the sun to scorch my head and almost give me convulsions), air conditioning on (after I shut the moonroof, so don't judge), checking how I looked in my new and unnecessary but outrageously awesome new sunglasses, and blazing down the road...to a classical guitar piece.
Ooof. I was in my car on June 24th with a concerto as my soundtrack. Not acceptable. Worse, I knew I couldn't jump over to the radio, because the only songs playing there now are "Boom Boom Pow" and "Poker Face." Even the country stations will have a version of "Poker Face" soon -- just you wait. So friends, I need help creating a summer playlist. I gave a shout-out over on Facebook immediately after lunch, and realized after receiving too many suggestions of the Beach Boys' "Endless Summer" that 1) I need cooler friends, 2) I need younger friends, and 3) I had a Beach Boys T-shirt in jr. high that I wish I still had.
So hit me. What are the best summer songs out there? Which songs hold memories, which evoke summer perfectly, and which just kick a mad beat? While you're thinking, I'll give you a few reasons why summer is the best season (I don't have to include this, friends, so consider yourself fortunate. Bonus material right here):
- More daylight
- Driving at night with windows open
- Sleeping at night with windows open (unless you live in a sketch area and need to be careful)
- Berry season
- Summer camp, even if you don't go to summer camp anymore
- My birthday (just sayin')
- Road trips
- Independence Day (USA)
- Independence Day (other countries that I am too lazy to look up)
- Anything to do with water and being in water
- Special limited-edition ice cream flavors through Schwan's, Ben & Jerry's and others
The list goes on. Feel free to add to it. Summer-haters, don't bring us down. Yes, we know many of you live in humid, bug-filled regions, but this is your problem. Move to Colorado!
I love you all.
You've probably noticed the new Twitter button on the left-hand side of the website. We're in our third month of trying to steward Twitter as a social networking tool and today we took it to a new level by doing our first "Twitterview." Our guest was Jeff Caylor an independent singer-songwriter that Boundless is particularly partial to and has frequently featured on the podcast. If the interview seems a little disjointed it's because all the questions had to fit into the 140 character tweet format.
***
Boundless Good Morning Jeff. Ready to get started?
Jeff Caylor Good evening. Let's do this. Since the answers have to be brief, why don't you guys just ask me "yes" or "no" questions. Cool? We'll call it a micro-view.
Boundless I guess it would be more accurate to say "Good evening" for you in Hong Kong. I'll see what I can do about some yes/no questions.
How is Christianity different in Hong Kong than in America? In other words, how does Chinese culture affect worship, beliefs, etc.?
Jeff Caylor I was just talking to someone yesterday about how "belief" in general doesn't seem to have the baggage it does in the US. People are interested in your beliefs, they don't openly mock or insult them. My experience at least. Incidentally, Hong Kong still enjoys a lot of freedoms that mainland China doesn't in that regard.
Boundless How has this affected your view of Christianity, if at all? Has it affected your music?
Jeff Caylor I think the culture in general tests my faith in ways I wouldn't have expected. Patience is important in a big, crowded city. As far as my music, I think themes of loneliness come up naturally in a city like this. First song on my CD goes there.
Boundless How is facilitating worship through music different in Asia compared with here in the U.S.?
Jeff Caylor I think we all have a lot to learn about worship and I'm learning too. I'm part of a fantastic church, though.
Boundless What have you learned from self-publishing and promoting your own music?
Jeff Caylor It's a lot of work. I suppose what I lack in talent, I have to make up for in promotion. And I hate promoting myself. When you make your first recording you think the world is going to somehow find you on their own. Then you sell 20 CDs. I'm grateful that I have a lot of friends who have helped get the word out. Not easy when you don't have a promotions budget.
Boundless Would you say that promoting yourself is your least favorite part of self-publishing?
Jeff Caylor No. I hate spending money more. But you have to do it to make CDs, make t-shirts, buy advertising. You have to have a strong stomach and a solid belief in your music, in this economy, to invest your money like this.
Boundless Motte has been looking for you on Pandora and has finally found you. The Boundless team definitely believes in your music!
Jeff Caylor Whee! Yes, I'm web-biquitous. Grooveshark.com is an interesting site too.
Boundless Which of your new songs kept you up at night the most?
Jeff Caylor I knew the album would be called What Birds Dream before I knew if it would be a song. It came at the 11th hour.
Boundless Well Jeff I know it's getting late but I have two more questions for you. What's the sickest you've ever been?
Jeff Caylor Haha! Once I ordered the hot salsa at Chipotle. It is as hot coming up as it is going down. I always go for medium now. Was that question from Ted?
Boundless You know it. Ted also asked when you're going to be open to having a guest keyboardist appear on any of your songs.
Jeff Caylor Ted: I'm mastering (this week) a very vibey remix album that will release June 30. I think you'll dig. Lots of synths. It's being worked on right now by an amazing musician / producer in the UK named Gavin Harrison.
Boundless Last question: How has your heart been affected by having your first album, Okay, recognized by CT as the #5 album of 2007?
Jeff Caylor When I made those recordings, I really just wanted to express some thoughts and emotions in song-form. I was amazed to get recognized that way, and really humbled. For awhile, there was this pressure to go beyond. You realize that it's really out of your hands though. I just want to make great music that hopefully connects with people. I think the new album is better, but it's also different. I want all my recordings to be different and not predictable.
Boundless We're really looking forward to featuring the new album on the podcast.
Jeff Caylor You guys really have believed in my music and me and I appreciate it a lot. You're excellent editors and amazing friends. Thanks so much! I'll look forward to the podcast, too!
Boundless Lots of mutual love and admiration! Thanks for staying up to chat with us. It's been a blast. Now go get some sleep.
Jeff Caylor Good time. As we say in Hong Kong, BYE-BYE!!
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Interviewing Jeff was a fun way to begin the work week. I hope you enjoyed the interview as much as I did. You can hear Jeff's music or read more about his life in Hong Kong on his website.
You know how you can preview pieces of songs on Amazon and iTunes? Well I was doing just that, sampling the music of a new-to-me country singer. Having heard a song that made me weep for those who suffer infertility, I did a quick search to find out who the artist is. Turns out it's Kellie Coffey. Powerful lyrics, great voice. I wondered what else she'd recorded. Hence, the piece-of-a-song preview on amazon.
One song in particular grabbed me. It's upbeat, fun, and the lyrics about "kissing her sweetheart and holding him" sealed the deal. This will be a fun sitting-on-the-porch-sipping-coffee-with-Steve song, I thought. So I hit the "buy song" button. And about 3 seconds later, I was listening.
Uh, not exactly what I thought it would be.
Here's the context of those romantic sounding lyrics I heard in the short clip:
look at you, lookin' good, you tell' me that you're sorry
look at me, all gussied up, lonely little darlin'
your cheatin' heart is in your hand with a promise to be true
well hallelujah baby tell you what I'm gonna do
And then here's the part I heard on the preview:
I'm gonna kiss you in the moonlight
I'm gonna take you in my arms and hold you tight
Yeah I'm gonna be your ever-lovin' honeypie ...
When pigs fly!
Ha, ha. Boy did I misjudge that one!
So instead of a romantic date song, I now have a solidarity-with-my-single-friends-who-need-to-be-strong-and-walk-away-from-dysfunctional-relationships song. If that describes you, you probably need to spend a few minutes with our Define the Relationship Tool. Unlike my 99 cent iTunes purchase, the DTR Assessment is free.
I love hymns. I do. I know I stick out like a sore thumb in my generation and like a statistical anomaly on demographic studies, but so be it. I love hymns.
This thought crossed my mind when I read today's Boundless article, "Love to Tell." Before I could even read the article, I had to finish the hymn in my head.
I love to tell the story, 'twill be my theme in glory,
Everybody together!
To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
And there's just something about Easter hymns, in particular, that gets my blood flowing a little. Maybe it's the memories of a childhood and youth of Easters spent with believers singing together. I loved seeing the congregations get a little umph in their songs this time of year (Hard to sing "Up from the grave He arose" in monotone).
Or maybe it's the lessons that I've learned from those hymns-- "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe".
Or maybe it's the humility they remind me to have -- "When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride."
Or maybe it's the thankfulness of generations of saints that they call me to join --"I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain."
Or maybe it's the sheer joy of Christ's victory -- "Christ the Lord is risen today, Ah..ah..ah..ah..alleluia!"
I sometimes wonder if C.S. Lewis' admonition to us about books might not work for music too. Lewis wrote:
"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books."
Maybe for every new song we sing to our Lord, it might not be a bad idea to go back and sing an old one. Not because an old song is worthy just because it is old, but because old songs have stood the test of generations and may point us toward genuine truths and even our own mistakes.
So, this Sunday, I certainly won't mind if our congregation sings contemporary songs. There are some great ones. But I hope we sing some old hymns as well. I'd like to "Awake my soul and sing, of Him who died for thee, And hail Him as thy matchless King, thro' all eternity."
It happened again on recent Sunday. I was in church -- a congregation I've faithfully and contentedly attended for nearly a decade now -- and as we sang several songs of worship, I couldn't help but think of the book "In Christ Alone" by Sinclair Ferguson. In the foreword, the Rev. Alistair Begg writes about three things that concern him when it comes to the present generation of Christians.
First, Begg describes his experiences addressing students at Christian colleges across the country. "Their enthusiasm and creativity spur me on," he writes, "but an accompanying uncertainty and lack of definition in basic Christian doctrine are causes for genuine concern. Some cannot, for example, explain why Mormonism is not Christian because they are unsure of the doctrine of the Trinity. Many appear to be uncertain about the exclusive claims of Jesus" (especially considering what Begg calls "the prevailing emphasis on ecology and poverty").
Second, Begg considers the contemporary believer's favored reading material. "Books on self-improvement and 'how-to' texts on all matters earthly sell in abundance. We are reading about our bodies to the neglect of our souls ..."
Finally, Begg laments what he calls the loss of focus on the Gospel in our songs:
"This is no comment on musical styles and tastes, but simply an observation about the lyrical content of much that is being sung in churches today. In many cases, congregations unwittingly have begun to sing about themselves and how they are feeling rather than about God and His glory."
Sometimes I wish I had never read Begg's words, because that morning in church I could not get them out of my mind. I saw very clearly that he was right, that many evangelicals today have unwittingly embraced songs about themselves at the expense of those focusing their gaze upon Him.
Now, I want to make it clear that the church I attend is not overly "contemporary" or "seeker-sensitive" or any of the other words used to describe congregations that seem to favor (forgive the cliche') style over substance. No, my fellowship is known for its committment to expositional, systematic, verse-by-verse teaching. It's simply the case that we sing many of the same worship songs as thousands of other churches, and that the same theological vagueness Rev. Begg sees in Christian students and books is also apparent in our songs.
So what, then, is the antidote? Part of the answer, Begg concludes, is the need to consistently focus on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
"We are helped in the process by the work of Gospel-saturated hymn writers. Over the centuries, Isaac Watts, John Newton, William Cowper, and many others provided the church with biblical theology in memorable melodic form. Today, men such as Keith Getty and Stuart Townend are doing the same with compositions such as their contemporary hymn that shares its title with this book: 'In Christ Alone.' We should be encouraged by the fact that 'In Christ Alone' has become something of an anthem for the church in the first decade of this century. As Alex Motyer has rightly observed, 'When truth gets into a hymnbook, it becomes the confident possession of the whole church.' Perhaps all that is necessary to expose the shallowness of our songs and to cause us to praise God as we ought is for pastors and poets and musicians to drink from the same fountain. Then biblical exposition will issue in song and our hymns will be full of the Gospel."
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all --
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
Copyright 2009 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. The Line and Boundless Line are trademarks of Focus on the Family.
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