SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 19 OF 22: JOY TO THE WORLD (ADVENT OF, YOU GUESSED IT, JOY)

At Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, Indianapolis, IN

Joy to the world! The Lord has come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing!

Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ!

Let field and flood, rock hill and plain

Repeat the sounding joy!

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The wonders of His righteousness 

And wonders of His love.

NOTES ON THE HYMN

• I know. I didn't do the repetitions of the last line of each verse. Sorry.
• One of the best known songs of the Christmas season, but this actually is an advent hymn. In fact, it's based on Psalm 98 and is focused on the 2nd Advent (Christ's return) rather the 1st Advent (Christ's birth). 
  
• The third week of Advent is the Advent of Joy. So I spent a lot of time trying to decide which song would be most appropriate. A who tenth of a second. 
• I started this series with a Watts song. Time for another one. The only other author I had repeated was Charles Wesley. 
• By the way, did you know the music was written by George Frederick Handel? (I just saw a picture of him; to me, he looks like he'd fit in a hard rock band.) The music was adapted from the Messiah.
• The meter is the common meter (8,6,8,6). By the way, the other Watts song in my series - "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?" - is also common meter. So 
  

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 10 OF 22: O FOR A HEART TO PRAISE MY GOD

Kookaburas, Louisville Zoo

O for a heart to praise my God, 

A heart from sin set free,

A heart that always feels Thy blood 

So freely shed for me!

 

A heart resigned, submissive, meek, 

My great Redeemer's throne,

Where only Christ is heard to speak, 

Where Jesus reigns alone;

 

A lowly, humble, contrite heart, 

Believing, true, and clean,

Which neither life nor death can part 

From Christ who dwells within.

 

A heart in every thought renewed, 

And full of love divine;

Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, 

A copy, Lord, of Thine!

 

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; Come quickly from above,

Write Thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of Love.

 

NOTES ON HYMN

• This is the second hymn by Charles Wesley included in this series. It won't be the last. Wesley is only one of two hymn writers I'll be including more than one song by, the other being Isaac Watts.
• Does this song at all make you think of another of Wesley's classics, "O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing?" Both of them are written Common Meter (8,6,8,6). In the Worship and Service Hymnal I grew up with, both songs are set to the tune Azmon, though for this song it also suggests a couple of other tunes, including Arlington, which is usually associate with "Am I A Soldier Of The Cross."
• In the above mentioned hymnal, it only included four verses for this song, omitting the third verse I included. The Cyberhymnal lists nine verses for "O For A Thousand Tongues" and eight for this one, so I selected one of the other verses to include when Becky and I sing it.
  

SUNDAY HYMNS, PART 1 OF 22: AM I A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS?

Statue of Major General Henry W. Lawton, Garfield Park Conservatory, Indianapolis. Photo by Jeff Reynolds.

 

Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own His cause 

Or blush to speak His name? 

Must I be carried to the skies

    On flowery beds of ease

While others fought to win the prize

    And sealed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

    Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace

    To help me on to God?

Sure, I must fight if I would reign;

    Increase my courage, Lord:

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,

    Supported by Thy word.

SOME THOUGHTS ON ABOVE HYMN

• Becky and I attended Arlington Avenue Baptist for years. I mentioned it would be appropriate for this to be the official church hymn, since it is set to the tune called ... you guessed it ... Arlington.
• The words of this hymn were written by Isaac Watts.
• The meter of this hymn is Common Meter (8,6,8,6), called this because of the number of songs that have this meter. An interest thought for me is to sing this to the tune of "Ghost Riders In The Sky."

 INTRODUCTION TO THIS SERIES:

• From now until January 1st, I will be sharing one of my favorite hymn lyrics each Sunday. 
• The first 16 weeks will be in alphabetic order.
• Advent and Christmas hymns will be featured from the Sunday following Thanksgiving (1st Sunday of Advent) to Christmas day, and I've got a hymn lined up for New Year's Day.
• I debated having the picture on the top of being a hymnal open to the hymn of the day, but I decided to have a photo I took that I consider appropriate for the song.