This Sunday's hymn...

More and more, I am loving the church I've been attending recently. It's small, but warm and welcoming - and we sing out of the hymnal! It's been so long since I've been in a church that uses and appreciates its hymnal. So, I'm learning new hymns and really enjoying the God-focus in them. Yes, my voice may waver off tune, but the music and the meaning help me lift my eyes to God in praise and true worship.

Each week, one hymn seems to leap out and grab me, so I'm going to try and post it so my readers can enjoy it, too. Thanks to a query by my friend David of Third World County, I've found a wonderful site called Timeless Truths, an online library which has a whole HOST of old hymns as well as mp3-type files so you can hear the melodies - and often sung by real people! Love it, love it, love it....

So this week's hymn is "Higher Ground," written by Johnson Oatman in 1898, and set to some music written by Charles Gabriel in 1892. Make sure you click to listen at the site!

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

UPDATE: Wow, I didn't realize, but Charles Gabriel also wrote the music for "His Eye is on the Sparrow," which is another hymn I love, and Johnson Oatman wrote the lyrics to "Count Your Blessings," which I mentioned the other day and which is another favorite hymn! There are so many fantastic old hymns, it's a shame they appear to be fading away...  And however much I love contemporary Christian music, there are very few people out there who really write good music that is doctrinally sound and God-centered...

Comments

[Vivian J. Paige]

1.

Good choices of hymns! I actually collect hymnals and have a number of them. I try to find time each Sunday to play the piano and sing a few hymns.