The Christian faith is all about continuity. God has made the Church so that it grows and lives by believers telling other people about His infinite grace and the salvation they can have. Many of us can trace a bit of our “spiritual lineage” through those who made it possible for us to come to …
Tag: hymn
Hymns are the musical substance of the traditional church. They typically have high doctrinal content with classical/choral music. Many of the older (up to the 20th century) were written with four choral parts for choirs to sing.
Modern hymnals go beyond this definition, however, because continuing history provides more and more choices of music for worship. New hymnals include more international and contemporary songs as well. This is in keeping with the definition "hymn: a religious song or poem of praise to God".
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN) – Eight handbells
The title from Joachim Neander’s German 1680 chorale, reads even more impressively in German: Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren. “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” has been a church favorite for many years – after all, our very lives depend on God and His infinite power. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, …
Jan 25
Sing Praise to God (Who Reigns Above)
Sometimes we end up writing a “standard” and a “surprisingly easy”™ version of a particular piece. The reason for this, of course, is that sometimes the standard versions can be quite challenging. So we don’t want to prevent anyone from being able to enjoy playing a tune because they’re still on the learning curve. In …
Jan 20
One Day!
Well, that’s not a really-I’ll-eventually-get-to-it promise… it’s the title of our just-released eight-handbell hymn arrangement. One Day is one of the hymns that tells of what Jesus Christ did with no uncertainty – He’s our Example, and Redeemer, and Hope. Our arrangement shares the excitement of knowing that! We hope you’ll take a look, and …
One Day (ONE DAY) – Eight handbells
I call One Day an “eternity hymn”. It looks across all of time and proclaims the Lord’s great works, and with each chorus brings it all back to how it matters to my hope in Christ. One day when Heaven Was filled with His praises / One day when sin was As black as could …
Jan 03
O Worship the King!
There are many hymns whose words are sung with multiple hymn tunes (just take a look at your metrical index!). Some time ago we put out an arrangement of the LYONS hymn tune which is commonly used for O Worship the King… and today we’ve added an eight-bell score for HANOVER, one of the other …
O Worship the King (HANOVER) – Eight handbells
There are a number of times a text is fitted to more than one hymn tune. This arrangement is the alternate tune for LYONS … or if you like, the tune for which LYONS is an alternate. O worship the King all-glorious above, O gratefully sing His power and his love: Our shield and defender, …
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (ST. DENIO) – Eight handbells
Hymns have long been a means of trying to understand the unfathomable nature and Person of God. Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise, to the tune ST. DENIO, speaks of how God is beyond our comprehension who reaches to us from His throne. Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most …
Nov 26
We Gather Together
It’s Thanksgiving Day, possibly one of the highest-caloric-content dates on the American calendar. There’ll be turkey, potatoes/rice, candied yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham, mulled cider, and pies, pies, and pies for many of us today (perhaps to carbo-fat-protein-load for Black Friday?). Anyway, we’ve just added our eight-bell arrangement of We Gather Together (hymn tune KREMSER) …
We Gather Together/We Praise Thee, O God Our Redeemer (KREMSER) – Eight handbells
The hymn We Praise Thee, O God Our Redeemer, also sung as We Gather Together, was adapted from a sixteenth-century Dutch folk song, and endures in our hymnody as a glorious way for us to turn our hearts to God. We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator; in grateful devotion our tribute we bring; …