Dear Friends and Family,
This week was packed with fruitful ministry. During VBS I was in the Bible room where kids and their crew leaders learned that God has the power to provide, comfort, heal, forgive, and love us forever. It was an exciting time as Miss Fran and I taught them about how God worked through the prophets Elijah and Elisha and how Peter could receive forgiveness for his denial of Jesus. Truths about the Gospel and the implications it can have in our lives were taught, and the message of Salvation was clearly presented. I had a blast, and I think the kids did too. Please pray for me as I look ahead to this week’s ministry opportunities. I return to work at Dunham’s after a hiatus for VBS. Please pray that I will be a light of Christ there. This Tuesday night, in Bible Study, we will discover a little more about what exactly is meant by God’s glory, and we will learn how we ought to glorify Him. During Summer Spirit on Wednesday night we will be exploring the Biblical accounts of Peter and John’s apostleships, and through these accounts we will be taught that the power to do God’s will comes from the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Also, please pray as I prepare for my upcoming Sunday Night of Praise. On July 19 I will be presenting a night of music and teaching to direct our hearts and minds to the history and Biblical teaching of congregational singing.
I would like to take some time and tell you about Martin Luther (1483-1546). Not only is Luther a great theologian and reformer, but he has had a great impact in the world of hymnody. He himself translated many Latin songs which were used in his time into German, so that the people of his congregations could sing them with understanding. He also translated many psalms into German, and wrote many original hymns and chorales. We have been blessed by several English translators that have brought these treasures of song to our common vernacular. Luther had an apparent desire that the people of his congregations be able to sing songs in their language. Until the Reformation songs were exclusively sung in Latin, but Luther desired hymnody that would be in the tongue of his congregants. It was plain to him that people would minister to one another in song only if the song was understandable. He also prayed that God would raise up gifted poets in order to produce new songs in the German language. We too could take his example and pray that God would continue to raise up Godly men and women who would wright songs of substance in our vernacular. Luther states in Formula Missae et Communionis (1523), “Also, I wish we had more songs in the vernacular for the people to sing during mass, either immediately after the gradual of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. For who doubts that once the voices of all the people did this, which now only the choir sings or responds to the blessings of the bishop? In fact, the bishops may arrange these songs thus, either after the Latin songs, or alternately in Latin on one day and sung in the vernacular on another, until the whole mass is brought out in the vernacular. But poets are missing among us, or are not yet known, who can produce devout and spiritual songs (as Paul calls them) [Colossians 3:16] [.]” Also, in a letter to Georg Spalatin in 1523, he writes, “Grace and peace. It is our intention, following the example of the prophets and ancient church fathers, to write vernacular psalms for the masses, that is, spiritual songs, that the word of God may continue among the people even in song. Therefore, we look everywhere for poets. Since you are certainly gifted with both fluency and elegance in the German language, and have refined it through much use, I beg you to work with us in this cause, and try to transform any of the psalms into songs, just as you have in my present example. However, I would prefer that you omit new words and those used at court, in order to appeal to the masses of plain people, yet at the same time using words that are choice and proper to be sung, having a clear meaning and related as closely as possible to the psalm. Accordingly, exercise your freedom, keeping the meaning, abandoning exact wording, arranging your translation by using other words.” This is a wonderful example to songwriters today of how we should approach writing songs based on Scripture. Martin Luther had a passion for people to sing in their native tongue, and he had a mind to encourage others to produce songs for his congregants to sing.
This week’s psalm is the second part of the one that I presented last week, Psalm 19. Again I suggest singing it to the tune ST. THOMAS which accompanies “Stand Up and Bless the Lord” (65), “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord” (405), and “Rise Up, O Church of God” (433).
I hear Thy word with love,
And I would fain obey;
Send Thy good Spirit from above
To guide me, lest I stray.
O who can ever find?
The errors of His ways?
Yet, with a bold presumptuous mind,
I would not dare transgress.
Warn me of every sin,
Forgive my secret faults,
And cleanse this guilty soul of mine,
Whose crimes exceed my thoughts.
While with my heart and tongue
I spread Thy praise abroad,
Accept the worship and the song,
My Saviour and my God.
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