I want to start off and say how truly excited I am to have the chance to reach out to the congregation and have you share your favorite hymns with me. Hymns are the heartbeat of worship. Each hymn enhances the service in its own unique way. They have the ability to set the pace, tone, and mood of the worship experience along with enhancing the theme and message of the day. Crafting worship takes on many components and the way that the hymns, liturgy, and music working together with God’s Word, creates a sense of community and connectedness throughout the worship experience. I look forward to embracing this list of hymns and sharing them with all of us in worship.

God gave us the gift song so that we can lift our voices together and glorify His holy name. Years ago, back in 1994 at the Kutztown Fair I had the chance to visit an artist’s booth where he had just finished a painting with the text “Music is the greatest joy we mortals are to know, a little sound from heaven shared with us below.” Thirty-one years later, this framed art is a daily reminder to me of the many joys and gifts God shares with us…a gift that connects us together and inspires us to share those melodious sounds of joy! This joy He creates forms a full circle by drawing us closer together by giving us the chance to unite and lift our voices on high singing songs of praise together as one body of believers…returning that joy and praise back to Him… the never-ending song, that “little” sound from Heaven that fills each of our hearts with His special joy. Amen!

HYMNODY

One of the first hymns I received for Our Favorite Hymn List is the hymn Draw Nigh and Take the Body of the Lord is based on the text of Psalm 34:8 and sung to hymn tune OLD 124th from the Genevan Psalter of 1551. The text is dated back to c 680 and was composed at Bangor Abbey, Northern Ireland and was first translated by John M. Neale in 1851. This communion hymn appeared in church hymnals starting in 1874 and first appeared in the 1941 edition of “The Lutheran Hymnal” Concordia Publishing House. The closing line of the final verse reads “In this Thy feast of love be with us now.” Each time we commune and come to the Lord’s table, we come as one body of believers. We thank God for the gift of salvation through His son’s ultimate sacrifice. At His feast He shares with us and reminds us of His love for us through the Spiritual nourishment.

Rob Varner 

Director of Worship Arts