Worship

“Users of the online database [hymnary.org] doubled as the novel coronavirus closed many church buildings this spring, and the website now is nearing 40 million page views for 2020, its highest ever.” - RNS

Most commonly sung congregational songs in the U.S. 2000–2015 vs. 1737–1960: “Among many similarities, one difference was striking: the topic of heaven, which once was frequently and richly sung about, has now all but disappeared.” - C.Leaders

“It isn’t white supremacy to accept the cultural tradition handed to you, to dig deep into it, and to work to expand and continue and then hand on that tradition.” - Mark Ward

“Comparing Watts’ hymn with the Psalm on which it is based raises several important clues as to which advent Watts had in view. The Psalm itself does not necessarily give indication as to which advent it presents. Both salvation and judgement did come with Christ’s incarnation, although they will certainly come with finality when He comes again.” - BPNews

“What you’ll hear in this episode: What it means to read the great hymns as devotional poems. Why should Christians read hymns as poems in addition to singing them. How Dr. Ryken envisions readers using this anthology of hymnic poems.” - Servants of Grace

“Then again, I’m cool with singing ‘Hark! the Herald Angels Sing’ instead of ‘Hark How All the Welkin Rings’ this Christmas Eve, so…” - Aigner

“Our hymns typically have stanzas. The hymn in Philippians 2 does as well. The stanzas are easy to spot, because the phrasing is parallel, and the content progresses from ‘down’ to ‘up’ ” - Olinger

“All the New Testament passages most commonly identified as taken from hymns in the early church are about Christ. No surprise there. They celebrate his uniqueness, his glory, his powerful work in accomplishing our salvation. I’d like to begin with the classic—and controversial—passage from Colossians 1” - Dan Olinger

“…you need to set up, with great detail, how your members will prepare and submit their videos. In this example, I first prepared a video of me conducting the song with the original track (including voices) that would be a guide for participants.” - Kenny Lamm