“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord (Psalm 150: 6)!”
It is no accident that this Psalm is the final song of the book of Psalms. The purpose of the Psalms is to teach God’s people to sing and pray and worship God in the Temple, the Church, and in daily life with whatever instruments they have!
This Sunday marks the start of our new Traditional Worship Experience at Lakeside at 8:30 in the morning! I’m so excited! One of things I am excited about is getting to sing the old hymns I grew up with. Whether you like contemporary worship songs or traditional hymns or both, whether you are young or old, rich or poor, black or white or yellow or brown, the Psalmist shouts at everything with breath to “praise the Lord!”
So what’s so great about the old hymns?
1. Many of them used to be bar tunes sung with friends, neighbors, and family in the local pubs of England. Charles Wesley, in an effort to encourage more people to sing praise to God, wrote poems of faith in Christ to go with familiar tunes.
2. They communicate a rich understanding of Christian life. Pay attention to the words of these songs and you will find words that encourage, challenge, and inspire us to live with and for Jesus Christ today!
3. They are familiar. Many Christians, like me, have sung these since they were children. So the words and the tunes hold a deep connection to our personal stories of faith.
4. They are easy to learn. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard them! The tunes repeat each stanza. So, if you don’t get the tune right at first, by the second or third stanza, you will catch onto the tune and can join right in!
So come one, come all! Let’s “Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness (Psalm 150: 1-2)!”