Singing through the Hymnal: week 43!

Verse: 1 Samuel 7:12

Hymn: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing


                We move from hymns of praise to hymns of confession this week. This is one of our family favorites. It is important to sing through every doctrine of Scripture and is important to sing praise, but also sing confession to God. It is good for us to sing together that we are prone to wander and that only God's redeeming love can bring us back. Praise God for His faithfulness.

           
                                                                  Fun Facts

Text: Robert Robinson (1735-1790)

• Robert was apprenticing to be a barber (in London) and went to an evangelistic meeting of the preacher George Whitfield. God began working in his heart.
• Three years later he became a Christian and then later became a minister.

Tune: NETTLETON

• NETTLETON is attributed to two different men 
• John Wyeth included this hymn in a book of folk tunes called Repository of Sacred Music (1813)
• Asahel Nettleton was an evangelist at that time - some think that a friend of Mr. Nettleton's wrote the tune and named it after him.

To Think About....

• just like you would ask a piano tuner to come into your home to tune your piano, you are asking the Holy Spirit to tune your heart to sing God's praises. 
• Our sinful hearts wander from God's melody - we often want to write our own melody that doesn't fit with God's. God's Holy Spirit is the "fetter" that takes our wandering melody and tunes it back to fit God's glorious and beautiful one. 
• Make sure you talk about what "Ebenezer" means (1 Samuel 7:12). It means "the Lord helped us." As you sing this phrase, think about a time and place when and where God has helped you. Tell your family about it so they can share and rejoice with you in God's help! 
• Point your children to the Gospel as you tell them that the greatest way God has helped them is to send Jesus Christ to die on the cross for their sins.
• In your home, maybe set up a place of remembrance or an "Ebenezer." Have something tangible your children can look at to be reminded of the Lord's help. 

An extra hymn for this week is Jesus Lover of My Soul. A good verse to read along with this one is Romans 5:8. Charles Wesley wrote this beautiful text and it is called "the finest heart-hymn in the English language." This hymn points our focus towards God's immanence (He is present with us and protects us). He wrote this a year after his conversion and is one of his most famous hymns. It was first published in 1740 and called "In Time of Prayer and Temptation." This is a hymn of petition.
Joseph Parry (1841-1903) wrote this tune ABERYSTWYTH (can you tell it's Welsh!!!??). This tune was chosen for this hymn because the key of d minor matched the storms of life and power of sin. This was named after a town in Wales. He became a professor of music at the University of Wales and wrote operas, oratorios, cantatas, piano pieces, and hymn tunes.



Remember to order you copy of the hymnal we are singing through if you still need a hymnal!

    

RESOURCE CORNER

This is a great series if you are wanting to have more of these hymn stories in your home. I am really enjoying reading through them and using them as resources.