Hymns

I've recently been researching hymns in order to find some that are "period" to sing at re-enactments. Doing this has made me realize that I haven't sung many hymns in a long time. Sure, I sing a few hymns in church every week, but a lot of the songs we do are contemporary. Now, before you worry that this is a rant, let me say that I love contemporary Christian music. It reaches the hearts of today's people in ways that a lot of music can't. I always feel revived after I get to sing "Shine, Jesus Shine" or "God of Wonders."

However, there is a lot to be said for hymns, and I think today's churches sometimes forget the importance of hymns. I realized just how much the "old standbys" mean when we were trying to fill some time for our small church in Lafayette where I'm part of the worship team. We asked for requests from the congregation, and a young adult suggested "The Old Rugged Cross." Previous to that day, this song was "nice," but I'd never thought too deeply about it. But as I stood there singing it a Capella (because it was in a terrible key and we're a somewhat inexperienced worship team), the tears just started to roll down my cheeks. Never had those words rung so truly in my heart.

In addition, sometimes the oldest hymns are the ones that touch us the most. Whether it's Phil Keaggy style or Celtic style, one of my all-time favorite songs will always be "Be Thou My Vision," which may have been written as early as 8th century AD I recently found it online and discovered that it has more than the standard four verses I'm used to hearing. There's a fifth, rarely-sung verse that goes after the first two verses. For your enjoyment, here are the five verses:



Be Thou My Vision (Ancient Irish Hymn)
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word,
I ever with thee and thou with me Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my battle shield, sword for the fight
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;
Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower:
Raise thou me heavenward, O power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
Thou mine inheritance now and always;
Thou and thou only first in my heart;
High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O Bright Heaven's sun!:
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all. 

 With views like these, is it any wonder that the Irish wrote "Be Thou My Vision?" (Pictures from the book, "Spectacular Ireland")