Editor’s Note: The following appears in the November/December issue of Nurturing Faith Journal. In 2025, the publication will receive a new look and name – Good Faith Magazine, which will be free for all Good Faith Advocates.
Last year, our church celebrated its 175th anniversary with all the pomp and circumstance our small town First Baptist could muster.
We threw a huge party, shared biographies of former pastors, explored our history, and invited former staff members back home to join in the reverence. It was a wonderful year! One of the true highlights of the celebration was a months-long worship emphasis on the hymns that have encouraged our congregation throughout the generations.
If you had completed a “favorite hymns” ballot last year, what are some you would have chosen?
It probably comes as no surprise that a particular John Newton classic would find its way to the top, as Amazing Grace, predictably, dominated the vote. Perhaps many other responses were predictable: How Great Thou Art, It is Well With My Soul, Blessed Assurance, and Come Thou Fount rounded out the top five.
The entire line-up was chock full of beloved classics our congregation has sung for generations.
A few themes emerged as our hymn series, The Faith We Sing, rolled along through our anniversary year. First and foremost, we discovered that knowing the stories behind the hymns adds to the depth and richness of the music in exponential ways. Songs like Great is Thy Faithfulness and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night were inspired by the words of the Bible itself.
Another familiar hymn, In the Garden, arose from C. Austin Miles’ encounter with Scripture and the moving scene in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene’s name on Resurrection Day. Unsurprisingly, many of the hymns we love were inspired by phrases taken directly from the Bible.
There are other hymns, however, whose inspiration comes from a different place: personal experience. We learned that while we find hope and encouragement in hymns of all varieties, we appreciate them even more when we have a clearer picture of the context that gave rise to their lyrics.
For example, perhaps you’ve sung, “It is well, it is well with my soul,” in moments of heartache and stress. How much more poignantly do those words resonate in our spirits when we understand the author Horatio Spafford’s circumstances?
Spafford’s wife and four daughters journeyed across the Atlantic when their boat struck another vessel – sinking it to the bottom of the ocean. Tragically, all four Spafford children were lost at sea. When Horatio himself heard the heartbreaking news and traveled to meet his wife abroad, the words “It is well with my soul…” fell on his heart as the ship sailed over the place where his children lay to rest. What a powerful image!
Stories like this one – and many others – add richness and depth to the hymns that shape our faith.
When all was said and done, perhaps the aspect of our celebration that this hymn-loving pastor appreciated most was the opportunity to explore the “less-sung” verses of our favorite hymns. There are wonderful lines and phrases in the latter verses of the songs we enjoy that paint pictures, teach theology, and more fully form us as people of God.
I’m reminded of the phrase from the third verse of Come Thou Fount: “Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.” I have borrowed these candid words from Robert Robinson to serve as a steadfast prayer.
Or, how relevant in this 2024 election year are the lyrics of the seventh verse from the Christmas hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel: “O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind./Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease/fill all the world with heaven’s peace.”
Indeed, what a heart-felt request for these chaotic times.
No doubt, as we head into the Advent season, the music of Christmas will be a highlight – warming our spirits with the story of God’s love made incarnate for us in Christ Jesus. For many – myself included – it’s the best time of the year!
This season, why not consider filling your soul even more deeply by diving headlong into the carols? Read the Scriptures that go along with the hymns. Find the stories of their beginnings. Sing (with gusto!) those second, third, and fourth verses.
Brothers and sisters, the songs of our faith are much more than notes and lyrics on a page – they are the story of our very lives.
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Pastor, First Baptist Church, Forest City, North Carolina.
