This whole online church presence thing is constantly evolving. One of the things that only now is finally falling into place is when to post some hymns for folks to sing at home. I’d done some before, but it was early in the pandemic and I recorded them more to have something to do at 3 a.m. when I couldn’t sleep because of worry. Now, however, it seems that what I did then is what to do now: have a hymn or two mid-week as sort of a mid-week touching base.
So, this is the first hymn posted purposely mid-week for you to enjoy and sing along to if you wish. NCH stands for New Century Hymnal. If you don’t happen to have one, often you can find the words at hymnary.org, perhaps under a slightly different title. You can also look there for all the hymn texts that fit that hymn tune. The hymn tune name for this hymn is PLEADING SAVIOR (melody from The Christian Lyre, 1831).
1831 definitely qualifies this tune as “old timey!” Even though I’m a conservatory trained composer/organist and a retired music professor, my roots are in deep, deep Southern Illinois…Snuffy Smith country, down where Illinois meets Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. In fact, if you’re up on Lookout Mountain, you can see all four states.
My father was a Methodist minister and I was pressed into playing for Wednesday night prayer meeting and Sunday night services. Those must have been very patient parishioners because I was doing this long before I really was able to do it proficiently. But…before long I was good enough to do the big camp meeting at summer church camps under the giant circus tent. I learned how to jerk all the right emotions for altar calls and whoop’em up happy-dance hymns.
I guess I’ve never lost the fondness for those kind of hymns even though I adore a good Bach chorale. This hymn is definitely old-timey. Just play the video below and sing along…
All this week, there has been a series of daily Advent and Christmas songs from my collection of organ pieces, published by Concordia Press: “9 Seasonal Voluntaries. This is #5 in that lead-up to tonight’s Christmas in July Zoom, the Christmas favorite, “What Child is This.”
This is yet another in the series of daily Advent and Christmas songs from my collection of organ pieces, published by Concordia Press: “9 Seasonal Voluntaries. This is #4 in that lead-up: the old Christmas song, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” These recordings were all made at the Bayshore Baptist Church in Tampa, FL, back in 1993. Click on the following link to listen via free, no-download listening: 
This is #3 in lead-up to the Christmas in July Zoom, the famous Christmas carol, “Angels We Have Heard on High.” Actually, the term, “carol,” is quite specific in that carols combine a venacular language (in this case English) and Latin (the familiar “Glorida.”)
This is #2 in a series of lead-up pieces to the Christmas in July Zoom, the fun Yuletide song, “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.” On July 24, Lakewood UCC will have a Zoom gathering with the theme: Christmas in July. This series of daily Advent and Christmas songs is from my collection of organ pieces, published by Concordia Press: “9 Seasonal Voluntaries. These recordings were all made at the Bayshore Baptist Church in Tampa, FL, back in 1993. Click on the following link to listen via free, no-download listening: 
Lakewood United Church of Christ 