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Celebrating the Spirituals: Sober but Serene on Themes of Judgment By: Msgr. Charles PopeI’ve often been impressed at the ability of the old African-American spirituals to treat serious subjects in a clear, memorable, and almost joyful way. This is true even of very weighty matters like sin and judgment.  And while we are here in the opening weeks of Advent, quite focused on the Second Coming of Jesus to judge the world by fire, we do well to look at some of the creative lines from different spirituals that articulate this theme.It can be very helpful to the preacher, teacher,...

In Politico Magazine, but discussed at the National Review. Our anthem is too militaristic? Um, we're not even in the top fifteen. Here are the first few stanzas of the French national anthem. I've bolded my favorite parts. Let's go children of the fatherland, The day of glory has arrived! Against us tyranny's Bloody flag is raised! (repeat) In the countryside, do you hear The roaring of these fierce soldiers? They come right to our armsTo slit the throats of our sons, our friends! (Refrain) Grab your weapons, citizens! Form your battalions! Let us march! Let us march!Let their impure...

Admitting the problem is the first step towards recovery. So let's admit it: if we swop the lyrics of a Taylor Swift ballad with some of today's contemporary Christian worship songs, no one would know the difference. Others have noted the "Jesus-is-your-boyfriend" style worship songs clogging the airwaves of contemporary Christian radio and Sunday morning worship sets lack depth and reverence to the Almighty. They're right. But there's an even bigger problem when contemporary Christian songs downplay, even scold Christian's public witness for the sake of couch-potato Christianity. Last week a fellow pro-life, pro-family activist turned on his local "family-friendly"...

I have learned in my life, that music is powerful beyond words, and often does what words alone can never do.Historically, when my soul was asleep morally, it was music that called me back. I joined the church choir to meet girls, but through the music, the Lord showed me a deeper desire in my heart, for goodness, beauty and truth, indeed, my desire for God Himself. The music awoke my sleeping soul to God.More recently and in a particular way, music often awakens my soul to the deeper meaning of Sacred Scripture. I have often heard or read a...

One of the more prominent features of Protestant denominations over the decades was hymn singing. Get in your time machine go back 50 years, to any Protestant denomination, and you would find every member of the congregation on their feet, hymnal in hand, singing quite loudly, even harmonizing the old familiar hymns: Onward Christian Soldiers….Amazing Grace….When the Roll is called up Yonder….More About Jesus….Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow!Catholics congregations were rather different. Low Masses in Latin were common where there was little or no singing. High mass featured complex music that a trained choir largely handled. And the...

The prosperity gospel has not produced a new generation of great Christian hymns. Neither have Positive Thinking or Progressive Christianity. There is a reason we would not expect them to. The fact is, the deepest songs come from the deepest truth. The most faithful songs come from the most faithful expressions of the Christian faith. The richest songs come from the richest understanding of who God is and what God has done. As Christians we are told to sing from the gospel, for one another, to the Lord—a ten-word summary of Colossians 3:16 which says, “Let the word of Christ...

It's hard to believe that the greatest message the world will ever hear is contained in one simple scale. (Voice over by Willie Minor.)

1 We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing; he chastens and hastens his will to make known; the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing. Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own. 2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine; so from the beginning the fight we were winning; thou, Lord, wast at our side; all glory be thine! 3 We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant, and pray that thou still our defender wilt be. Let thy congregation escape tribulation; thy name be ever praised! O Lord,...

On Tuesday night's (Nov. 26) "The Voice" live show, the Top 8 contestants performed "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?," backed by Seattle's Starbucks Chorus, a vocal group that raises money for local charities. But after the performance, the Twitterverse erupted with complaints that the word "Lord" was dropped from the lyrics. Backstage, "Voice" coach Blake Shelton was still trying to get to the bottom of why it happened. "I don't know what, uh -- how it happened, or -- I'm learning about it just like you guys are," Shelton tells Zap2it. "I was sitting in my chair singing that song...

Q - A few years ago, it was announced that the term "Yahweh" is no longer to be used (removed from all songs). It seemed like an odd decision and with all that is going on in the world, a huge waste of time to make a big deal about. Why did we do this? A - Thanks for the question! I know this is a point of confusion for many. I hope I can adequately explain the reasoning behind the decision, but let me first point out something else. Don't think the Church isn't doing those other more important...

Birth of Robert Robinson, English clergyman and author of the hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." He was converted at age 20 under the preaching of revivalist George Whitefield. As sung in most modern hymnals Come Thou Fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of God's unchanging love. Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I'm come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,...

"Oh, dont you know that Jesus died to wash your sins away Oh, please heed His call, in sin dont fall Were getting closer to the grave each day Were getting closer to the grave each day Mortal man, wont you stop now and pray Leave the road of sin alone, let Jesus lead you home Were getting closer to the grave each day They nailed His hands, they pierced His sides On His head the thorns did lay Be prepared to go, one thing we know We're getting closer to the grave each day On the judgment day, when...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The centrality of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement is being emphasized by Southern Baptist leaders after a state newspaper editor wrote that he does not sing certain words of a popular hymn due to its mention of God's wrath. Substitutionary atonement refers to the belief that Jesus died in the place of sinners, taking on Himself the wrath of God that they deserved. Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist, in an Aug. 8 editorial, paralleled the angst expressed by a Presbyterian Church USA hymnal committee in rejecting the song "In Christ Alone" because of the line...

I saw this over at Denny Burk’s blog today. Apparently the reason the Presbyterian Church USA doesn’t like “In Christ Alone (one of my favorites), is because of that unpopular, un-politically correct word, “Wrath.” As we’ve pointed out many times here at SUFTT, the more sin is watered down, the less we have of the true Gospel. In other words – no sin = FALSE gospel. The PCUSA has been going down a concerning path for quite some time now, and it appears that this is just another symptom of the problem the devil delights in: a departure from Truth...

Special to The Washington Post I am a Methodist minister and a Washington Nationals fan. I was there on Opening Day in 2005 at old RFK Stadium in Washington, and I try my best to plan my summer around Nats home games. I have only one issue with the ballpark experience, and it’s not with the beer prices. It’s with “God Bless America.” In his May 15 column, Washington Post writer John Kelly described the odd feeling of not knowing whether to stand during the singing of this song in the middle of the seventh inning. Like Kelly, I don’t...

We sing the Psalms because the people of God have been doing so since as early as Moses (Ps. 90) and especially during the days of David, when the Psalter became the “hymnal” of Israel. When we sing them, we identify with our most ancient forefathers and offer transcendent praise, applicable in all times and in all places.

Kristyn and Keith Getty specialize in writing modern hymns for churches Most songwriters in Nashville want to get their songs on the radio. Keith and Kristyn Getty hope their songs end up in dusty old hymn books. The Gettys, originally from Belfast, Ireland, hope to revive the art of hymn writing at a time when the most popular new church songs are written for rock bands rather than choirs. They’ve had surprising success.

St. Augustine said that when we sing sacred music, we pray twice.   This post is meant as a brief collection of those "double-prayer" hymns for our new Holy Father.Here's the first link to one such song, for Pope Francis. A Timeless Classic Hymn Link Faith of Our Fathers

This animated video of a US Northwestern rough legged hawk and it’s cry, brook fish, farm pig, Galapagos tortoise and bullfrogs singing the chorus to the hymn, "Revive Us Again", are to inspire faith in Jesus our Lord. The voices of this video are myself and grandchildren; Elijah, Megan, Taylor and Jamee.

Dear Cecil: This has probably been answered somewhere before, but I was getting my teeth drilled that day. Just what does kumbaya mean? — F. Pierson, via the Internet