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The woke professor tearing up Baylor University continues his wild ride of unrestrained progressivism, recently interrupting church liturgy to unironically point out that the title of a centuries-old hymn is “sexist” for containing the word “brethren” and that he’s edited and moved around parts of it as to not cause offense. The last thing that I’ll mention is because I’m Episcopalian, I don’t like to interrupt liturgy. Liturgy is holy. It works when it’s together. We have a song that is 200 years old, which will be our opening hymn. I am well aware that the title Brethren We Have...

Mass in Gregorian Chant | 1 Hour of Sacred Choir Music and Hymns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed90FUyE4rM Add what you love and what inspires you on these Holy Days

We should strive to play, sing and compose our best, but worship is not about us and what we like. It's a way of encountering and glorifying God.The old fogeys may have had a point about guitars in church. It’s not that there is anything profane about guitars; they are great instruments that can be used wonderfully in worship. And scripture testifies to the worth of using many instruments to praise God and includes calls for loud rejoicing in worship. But there have been downsides to the revolution in church worship over the last couple of generations. Fights over church...

Today’s Scripture: Psalm 145:17 “The Lord is . . . kind in all his works.” The apostle John said, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). This succinct statement, along with its parallel one, "God is light" (1 John 1:5; that is, God is holy), sums up the essential character of God, as revealed to us in the Scriptures. Just as it is impossible in the very nature of God for him to be anything but perfectly holy, so it is impossible for him to be anything but perfectly good. Because God is love, an essential part of his nature is...

A church with one service a week will likely sing over 200 songs in a year. Our church has five services in two languages at two sites on Sunday. We also have Wednesday night programming. Throw in the student service and children’s ministry, and we probably sing close to 2,000 songs in a year (obviously some are sung more than once).Songs elicit emotion. That’s how the art form works. Worship is no exception. Most have a favorite worship song. Most will have a few worship songs they don’t like. One song can mean something different to two people standing next...

‘Twas the night before Sunday, when through GCC, No Spirit was stirring, for those gifts had ceased. The hymnals were nestled all snug in their pews, For J-Mac was coming to preach the good news. Then in crept Ol' Gavin, with loathing and spite To snatch up those hymnals, in the dead of the night. He went one by one, threw each one in his sack From the very first pew, to the one in the back. Then Newsom he laughed, such a terrible laugh, And said, “This will cut their dumb service in half!” “No worship, no singing, they’ll...

Audio Transcript “Reckless Love” — megahit worship song. Its lyrics have reached millions and inspired over a dozen emails our way in the last month, like this one from Tim, a regular listener to the podcast. “Pastor John, hello! Over the past couple of months, I’ve been hearing the song ‘Reckless Love’ playing in churches and on the radio. One of the main lines in the chorus celebrates ‘the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.’ My question — is this a biblically and theologically correct way to describe God’s love? Is the term ‘reckless’ too reckless? I don’t want to...

Dear friends at FR! I just want to throw this out there in Freepland to be an encouragement to all in the Lord; via beautiful Christian music! A good friend and brother of mine has this wonderful website and app for your smartphone, home computer or a laptop that you are able to stream FREE beautiful Christian music all day long! There are hundreds of fine Christian music songs, Seasonal music, instrumental bluegrass and children songs for God's people to enjoy! I can't recommend this app and link to you enough! For it is indeed a true blessing in the...

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee; Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty! God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity! Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be. Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man, Thy glory may not see: Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, Perfect in power in love, and purity. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God...

Traditional favourites are squeezed out as mourners opt for more personalised tributesHymns have been completely squeezed out of the top ten musical choices at funerals, with mourners instead opting for contemporary songs such as Ed Sheeran’s Supermarket Flowers, a new entry to the list. Frank Sinatra’s My Way again topped the latest chart drawn up by the UK’s biggest chain of funeral directors, but for the first time since the biennial exercise began in 2002 not a single traditional hymn made it into the top ten. Data from Co-op Funeralcare, whose funeral directors arrange up to 100,000 ceremonies a year,...

The Hiding Place Hail, sovereign love, which first began The scheme to rescue fallen man! Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace, That gave my soul a Hiding Place! Against the God who built the sky I fought with hands uplifted high, Despised the mention of His grace, Too proud to seek a Hiding Place. Enwrapt in thick Egyptian night, And fond of darkness more than light, Madly I ran the sinful race, Secure without a Hiding Place. But thus the eternal counsel ran: "Almighty love, arrest that man!" I felt the arrows of distress, And found I had no hiding place....

My Entry for the Best Hymn Ever Written Msgr. Charles Pope • December 20, 2018 • Anthony Esolen recently wrote a piece about the beauty of the older poetic and metrical hymns as compared to many modern asymmetrical and syncopated songs. I wrote a post about the beautiful hymn “Rorate Caeli Desuper” yesterday.The hymn writers of old knew that in order to get a large congregation to sing together, a steady beat or meter was needed. Most modern church songs have complex, uneven rhythms. It is no wonder that many Catholics just stand there while cantors and choirs sing...

Faron Young - What Can He Do (1958)

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The old Civil War carol "I Heard the Bells" by the Trail Band. Using Trek's "Undiscovered Country."

A leading Church of England vicar yesterday condemned the words of one of the country’s best-loved hymns as obscene, offensive and unfit to be sung by Christians. The Reverend Gordon Giles, one of the Anglicans’ leading authorities on hymns, declared that I Vow to Thee My Country should be rewritten if it is to be sung by modern congregations. His verdict was delivered in advance of the remembrance weekend when the hymn, which is especially valued by military families, will feature in thousands of services across the country and the Commonwealth.

Happy Easter freepers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW0QkOUjweM

And with Sweet Sleep Mine Eyelids - A Meditation on a Beautiful Hymn of the Night Msgr. Charles Pope • July 25, 2016 • One of the great night prayer hymns, “All Praise to Thee My God This Night,” appears in numerous hymnals of the English tradition. Sadly, it is not in our current breviary, but I hope that the new one might feature it. It was written by Thomas Ken in 1709 and is most often sung to the beautiful tune of Tallis’ Ordinal, which you can hear in the video below.Ideally, night prayer should include acts of...

This song, Jesus Love Me, This I Know, written by William B. Bradbury. I sing one verse and choirs only, and I Dearly Wish all who watch a very Merry Christmas, mandolin and singing covered by myself, (o7jimmy).

We've all had the experience of getting a song stuck in our head for an extended period of time. If you're really unfortunate, that song may be one by Christopher Cross or Air Supply. But sometimes, these "earworms," as they are dubbed, can lead to good things. That recently happened to one of us right here at BreakPoint. While reading a biography of the early 20th century evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, my colleague and friend Roberto Rivera found himself humming and singing the gospel song "It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)." He's not sure why the song popped...