Worship

John Piper needed “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to match a sermon, so he wrote two new Reformed verses. Many of writer Thomas Chisholm’s fellow Methodists, who “sing their theology,” couldn’t sing along. - CToday

“The Trinity Psalter Hymnal (2018) contains versions of all 150 Psalms in metrical form, but fewer hymns than either the old ‘Blue’ Trinity Hymnal (1961) or the new ‘Red’ Trinity Hymnal (1990).

“We are experiencing something of a Psalm-singing resurgence in our day. Resources abound online for people who would like to learn more about psalm singing. Churches are making strategic plans to train their members in singing the psalms. Blogs buzz with excitement over the Psalter.” Ref21

“The nuanced personal, practical, theological, and spiritual dynamics of Christian musicians negotiating their professed faith while pursuing careers in popular rock music is the subject of Mark Joseph’s meticulously researched book Rock Gets Religion: The Battle for the Soul of the Devil’s Music.” National Review

“Church leaders affirm the profession of another person’s faith when they allow that person to have a public, leading role during the church gathering. And that affirmation is easily misunderstood, especially by unbelievers.” CPost

Ron Hamilton never set out to be Patch the Pirate. A serious composer of formal church music, Hamilton never dreamed he’d become a children’s musician wearing the uniform of a ship’s captain and talking about scurvy and doubloons. But he lost his eye to cancer in 1978 and children began to see him as a pirate, so he became one and sold a boatload of records.

“The text has its origins in the ‘O Antiphons’—a series of refrains sung on each day from December 17-23 during the evening Vespers service. Each one focuses on a different name of Christ in anticipation of the Incarnation.” Ref21

Ligonier: The anemia of evangelical worship—all the music and energy aside—is directly attributable to the absence of genuine expository preaching.