Welcome to the 108th Old Fashioned Sunday Hymn Sing!
I miss the old hymns that I remember from my childhood - there were no drums, no electric guitar and no mind numbing beat. It was just voices and maybe a piano or an organ. The choir led the congregation in singing - and the words of these hymns are poetic. I realize that there is a need for the modern "seeker oriented" worship music - but it is also necessary to have deeper songs (no offense intended to anyone who prefers the newer church songs).
I miss the old hymns that I remember from my childhood - there were no drums, no electric guitar and no mind numbing beat. It was just voices and maybe a piano or an organ. The choir led the congregation in singing - and the words of these hymns are poetic. I realize that there is a need for the modern "seeker oriented" worship music - but it is also necessary to have deeper songs (no offense intended to anyone who prefers the newer church songs).
I decided to have an "Old Fashion Sunday Hymn Sing" once a month on this blog.
I personally do NOT have a great singing voice - I used to play the guitar & piano but my voice is NOT an instrument. That's the great thing about this digital hymn sing, you can warble along without being embarrassed or without offending anyone else.
The hymns that we will be studying are taken from an old hymnal from a Baptist church that is no longer in existence - "The North American Hymnal" published in 1956 by "THE ROGER WILLIAMS PRESS"
I will also try to find a version of the featured hymn on "YouTube" to share with you each month.
Since tomorrow is the 4th of July I thought it would be a perfect time to featured this beautiful patriotic hymn - "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies" written by Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) & composed by Samuel A. Ward (1847-1903).
The author graduated and eventually taught at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She had books of her poetry published, as well as religious themed books on Shakespearean dramas. The featured hymn today has the most beautiful descriptions of the different regions of the U.S.A. Katharine Bates wrote the lyrics to "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies" hymn on a trip out west in 1893.
(Click HERE to view "A Decade of Blogging - JULY")
I have included 2 videos below the lyrics. The second video is a jazzy version performed by the Navy. Enjoy!
Turn with me to number 519 in your hymnals and let's sing:
O Beautiful for Spacious Skies
written by Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) & composed by Samuel A. Ward (1847-1903)
1. O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.
2. O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whoose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.
3. O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every grain divine.
4. O beautifl for patriot dream That sees, beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.
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