Category Archives: music

To Thy Holy Name

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There’s a record I used to listen to during my time at South Nutfield Free Church. A few years later, when I started work as a computer programmer, I had a colleague who had been a musician on the album. I have only just realised the connection now I look at the sleeve notes. I picked up the record at a charity shop today for £1. At the time, I wasn’t committed to my faith, and I probably wouldn’t have appreciated the significance of knowing him. But, a song from the record would sometimes pop into my head after I came back to belief. Just the line “Not to us, oh Lord. But to thy Holy name give honour and glory.”

Now I know the record name, I have found it on youtube. For anyone interested in exploring old Christian ‘pop, rock or folk’ music, the YouTube channel CCM Preservation is a treasure trove.

Have you Heard God’s Voice

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Often we don’t have a musician and sing along to a recording or video. We sang to this video at church on Sunday. It is a reminder that there is a cost to being a Christian. That there will be sacrifices. We are not living to please ourselves but wanting to please God. That we must get up again and try again with God’s help.

To be a Pilgrim

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For 5 years I worked in Bedford where John Bunyan lived and was imprisoned. There was a statue to him, and a museum, and a Bunyan Trail. I found the place where he was baptised and visited Elstow, the site of Vanity Fair and the wicket gate. I read both Pilgrims Progress, 1 and 2, and Grace Abounding. He thought himself the greatest sinner for thoughts he had. His life was a pilgrimage and he wrote about the pilgrimage of life.

Last Monday, the Evergreen group, a group of people in their seventies who meet every month, chose and sang songs of praise for their meeting, including this one. As a result, we also sang it yesterday, on Palm Sunday at the end of the service.

How Sweet The Name of Jesus Sounds – Lor

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This hymn has held a special place in my heart for over 60 years. Singing it as a young boy sparked a love for singing hymns that has stayed with me ever since. Though much of the service went over my head back then, the name Jesus was sweet to me.

Yesterday, we sang it again. This time, a particular verse that spoke directly to Jesus, acknowledging his many aspects, struck me. In this version by LOr she repeats that verse at the end.

O Jesus, shepherd, guardian, friend,
my Prophet, Priest, and King,
my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
accept the praise I bring.

I am a New Creation

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This song is from Songs of Praise in 1997 in Eastbourne with Dave Bilbrough and Lou Fellingham singing. Stuart Townend is on the keyboard. This performance has a wonderful breezy effect sung outdoors near the sea. It is a song we sang on Sunday at my current church, based on 2 Corinthians 5, where verse 17 in the NIV says ‘ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!’