We sing to ourselves songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Dad fights back tears as we sing “Jesus Paid It All.” Some choruses evoke memories: My father serves communion while “Jesus Keep Me near the Cross” plays faintly in the background. And now, as a husband and father and pastor, whenever I stand and sing these hymns, I can barely contain myself. This repetition built in my heart a deep reservoir of theology.
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If the sovereign Lord has created us as creatures of habit, why should we think repetition is inimical to our spiritual growth? We willingly embrace repetition as a good in all kinds of other sectors of our life- to hone our golf swing, our piano prowess, and our mathematical abilities, for example. Virtue formation takes practice, and there is no practice that isn’t repetitive. There is no formation without repetition. Smith talks about the way our hearts are formed: In his book, You Are What You Love, James K. As a young child enduring the routines of our Baptist church, I didn’t realize what was happening to me. These are just a few of the hundreds of hymns that were cemented in my heart from week after week of “boring” church services. The hymns of the blind poet, Fanny Crosby. When I feel insecure, I recall the lines of the Methodist hymn, “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”: The passages of Scripture we stood and read aloud.ĭuring times of fear and anxiety, I drift back to the words of hope from Martin Luther’s epic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:Īnd though this world, with devils filled, The verses I memorized on Wednesday nights in my Awana class. In dark and stormy seasons, what comes into my head first? The lines of hymns I learned as child in church. Those events were important, but now I realize that, more often, God changed my life using routine worship services in which I sang hymns I didn’t quite understand and heard messages I didn’t quite grasp. God’s primary tool to transform my heart was not the conference speaker or the travelling revivalist or the worship concert. It didn’t save me in the ways you might expect: a spectacular Sunday service, a homerun sermon, or a gripping worship set. I still believe this, more strongly now than ever, but I also believe that in some ways church does-or did-save me. Only a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ will do that. Church, I was told, will not get you to heaven. Ironically, one of the axioms of my childhood evangelical faith was this: Church is more than the service or a building it is the called-out people of God, living on mission every day. But for most of my life, including my years as a pastor, I did pretty much the same thing every week: singing familiar hymns or choruses, standing up and reading Scripture, listening to a sermon. Sure, there were some life-changing, soul-stirring messages at summer camp or a special service. Up through my teenage years, I thought of church as a bit boring. I was required to sit up straight-no fidgeting. Since the age of five, I sat in church services: Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday night prayer meetings. My mother volunteered, worked as a secretary, and later served as a preschool teacher. My father, a plumber, volunteered thousands of man-hours helping build church buildings. We went every time the doors were open-and many times when they weren’t. My parents, first-generation Christians, were devout church-goers.
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I was born into, raised in, and baptized in church. My parents got engaged and married in the church. Just click on the title to get to the PDFs of the descants listed below.I’ve never really had a moment in my life-39 years-when I wasn’t going to church. And a night one.īut if you send me a single request, I probably will see it as an interesting challenge. Please note, however, that bulk requests - more than one descant at a time - tend to make me less interested in pursuing the project. If what you want isn't here, please drop a line to me here: I might be able to come up with something for you. Everything is listed here if you need to do a search, please use your browser's FIND function ( CTRL-F or CMD-F).
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JESUS KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS, GAITHER FREE
These original descants by Jeff Whitmill are offered for your use, free of charge.