The last verse of "O Canada" reads:

Ruler supreme, Who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion in Thy loving care.

Help us to find, O God, in Thee
A lasting rich reward,

As waiting for the better day,
We ever stand on guard.

Doesn't this Adventist Theology blow you away?! Canadians, indeed, can sing about the Blessed Hope while trusting in God today. No wonder the discerning church bretheren included this National Anthem in our one and only "real" 1941 Church Hymnal.

(Why isn't it in the "new" Hymnal? I guess it joined "Sitting at the Feet of Jesus" in that great bin of music history)

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"He Restoreth My Soul"

Pastor Andrew

I also wondered the same thing!

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl Fawcett :)

To many 'modern' up to date musicians in charge, I guess.

Have to purchase old tapes to hear the old favorites again.

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Is what you're living for worth Christ dying for?

Gerry B.

They refused to admit (that they didn't) "Yield Not to Temptation" so they were "Almost Persuaded--But Lost."

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"He Restoreth My Soul"

Pastor Andrew

Well Pastor A, not haveing Laurie's (now departed) relative Dave Crawford around like we did in Academy one year to call out # 209? "Oh Canada" in morning worship. I don't get to sing it anymore.

But I am somewhat disconcerted when I go to church and they have these little chant handbooks. With repetitive "praise" chants. The good old hymns of old were good "Praise" songs too....many times with melody from the "great Masters". These new "Celebration" style songs, have about as much melody as "Three Dog Night" did. More like a wail, going up and down about a 4-5 note scale. And just repeating themselves over and over, and over and over again. Sometimes I think that some power or force is trying to numb our brains!

My wife who loves to play the Piano, once tried to look up some of her favorites in the "new" book, not to find them. I think it's the one and only time she used it. And loves the "Old" Hymnal. All they really needed to do, to up-date the old Hymnal, was to simply paste Wayne Hoopers, "We Have This Hope" in the front flyleaf of the old hymnal!

Use to be a time, that at Campmeeting, they'd have "Gospel Melodies" as the songbook. And any youth meeting used the old oranged covered "M.V. Songbook" We had a lot of fun, back in those days with even some of the lighter melodies for campfires and outings.

J.R.

Even simple, popular Campmeeting standard tunes like "Love Lifted Me" aren't found in the "new" hymnbook. What were these musical types thinking?

I'm all for having more (musical) standards!

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"He Restoreth My Soul"

Pastor Andrew

I've been trying to figure out what they were thinking ever since I found Sitting at the Feet of Jesus was left sitting somewhere else. I have a couple of copies of the old hymnal that I intend to hang onto. I love a lot of the songs in there that aren't in the new book.

And what about some of the songs in there that shouldn't be like "When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun..."?

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Even so come, Lord Jesus
Linda

The only thing I can remember about the preparation of the new hymnal was peering into the campus Chaplain's office at Kingsway. The pastor had a list of "options" in front of him. I wonder who got to decide what got in an what didn't? Ehy are some of the songs completely in Latin? I'm glad that "Be Thou My Vision" made it--but the rest is amazing!

Another thing. They put all of the songs in a mid-range key to make it "easier to sing." Anyone with music sense knows that there are at least 3 notes in everybody's mid-range that cannot be reached without extensive training. My range blind-spot is about 5 notes, so I'm hopelessly lost! With the old hymnal I would simply raise my voice up an octive or down an octive to sing along with the congregation.

Now I'll stick with playing the instrument while others struggle with the tunes.

Could somebody please hold my hand? I can't take the trauma!!

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"He Restoreth My Soul"

Pastor Andrew

I didn't get to use the old hymnal very much, it was changed just after I joined.

We have the MV hymnals here, and the youth use them extensively for special music.
We also still have the sabbath school song books.
A lot of old favorites in there.

We have an elder here that is in his late 90's, and he shares a lot of old songs with us ( the names and he sings, too).

I miss a lot of the old songs I heard as a kid growing up in the Lutheran church, praise songs, songs that draw you up towards God, not down towards men.

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Is what you're living for worth Christ dying for?

Gerry B.

[This message has been edited by Gerry Buck (edited August 01, 2000).]

Gerry,

Could you give an example of those praise songs? I enjoy playing the piano. Maybe I've seen them in some of my music books and my congregations could benefit from learning them.