A Fair and Glorious Gift (Luther)

I wish to see all arts, principally music, in the service of Him who gave and created them. Music is a fair and glorious gift of God. I would not for the world forego my humble share of music. Singers are never sorrowful, but are merry, and smile through their troubles in song. Music makes people kinder, gentler, more staid and reasonable. I am strongly persuaded that after theology there is no art than can be placed on a level with music; for besides theology, music is the only art capable of affording peace and joy of the heart . . . the devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God. —Martin Luther, Hymns for the Family of God

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Once I moved to Madison, WI in 1975, I joined a Plymouth Brethren-style house church. It was a bit of a culture shock in some ways. I was raised Wesleyan-Arminian and considered myself a charismatic (this is before the health and wealth people stole it), and here I was joining a Calvinist, cessationist church! But I loved it!

One of the things it did was broaden my knowledge of hymns. They were coming from a totally different hymnological heritage that was just as rich as the one I had been raised in. That's also where I met Debbie, my wife of 46.5 years. When we got married—actually even before—we purchased a hymnal that was nondenominational and quite popular at the time, although it's now out of print.

On our honeymoon, which was spent camping around Lake Superior, we would sit around the campfire and sing. Debbie played guitar, and we would figure out the chords to the hymns in that hymnal. We still own that battered copy. I'm not sure we ever got more than halfway through figuring out chords, but we had a grand time.

All that to say, I'm starting through that hymnal in a systematic way today. It intersperses readings with hymns, so that's why we start with a quotation from Martin Luther. Again, I won't be publishing duplicates from the other three hymnals (at least not intentionally!), so there will be days without a posting.

I hope you enjoy it!
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