Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

There are two musical situations on which I think we can be confident that a blessing rests. One is where a priest or an organist, himself a man of trained and delicate taste, humbly and charitably sacrifices his own (aesthetically right) desires and gives the people humbler and coarser fare than he would wish, in a belief (even as it may be, the erroneous belief) that he can thus bring them to God. The other is where the stupid and unmusical layman humbly and patiently, and above all silently, listens to music which he cannot, or cannot fully, appreciate, in the belief that it somehow glorifies God, and that if it does not edify him this must be his own defect. Neither such a High Brow nor such a Low Brow can be far out of the way. To both, Church Music will have been a means of grace: not the music they have liked, but the music they have disliked. They have both offered, sacrificed, their taste in the fullest sense. But where the opposite situation arises, where the musician is filled with the pride of skill or the virus of emulation and looks with contempt on the unappreciative congregation, or where the unmusical, complacently entrenched in their own ignorance and conservatism, look with the restless and resentful hostility of an inferiority complex on all who would try to improve their taste–there, we may be sure, all that both offer is unblessed and the spirit that moves them is not the Holy Ghost. – C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections, On Church Music

 

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God – Colossians 3:16

 

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is one of my favorite hymns. For me, it is the epitome of why hymns are better than most, if not all, of today’s worship songs. It engages my intellect, my imagination, and uses diverse and biblical imagery that tells a story that is focused on the gospel. It only serves to remind me that these lyrics and songs were written by theologians and pastors (not “musicians/artists”) who knew their Bibles better, and probably knew God better, than us.

 

Various influences over the past century have seemingly brought about a decline in the Biblical, theological, poetic, and artistic depth of worship songs, which is exemplified with all the contemporary “Christian” songs that are published and marketed today, generally lacking solid and good theology, and promoting self over the work of Christ. That is why it is helpful to incorporate songs into a Sunday morning song service that have been around for a while (both text and tunes). This helps to remind us of and root us in history, as well as keeping us humble.

 

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty was written in 1680 by Joachim Neander. Neander was born in 1650 as Joachim V, the fifth Joachim Neander to become a pastor in the Bremen area of Germany. At age 24, he became head master of a grammar school owned by the Reformed Church in Dusseldorf. The school did well, but Neander could not confine his interests to work. He enjoyed the woods and the hills, and frequently wandered in the valley where the school was located. There was a cave in the hills that he especially enjoyed, and he would conduct meetings there to discuss the Bible and various beliefs espoused by people such as Luther and Calvin. These meetings had not been approved by the local elders, who arrived at the school one day in 1678 to publicly remove Neander from his post. After that, Neander spent even more time at the cave. He was so closely associated with this place that the area came to be known as the “Neander Valley,” and the cave itself as “Neander’s cave.”

 

Neander’s life was tragic in the classic sense, a life of great potential cut short by an untimely death in 1680 from tuberculosis at the young age of 30; however, he wrote 60 hymns, most during his tenure at the Latin School. Most are hymns of joyful praise, even though they were written during a time when Neander was living under considerable stress and sickness. Today Neander is considered one of the finest hymn writers in the German speaking church since the Reformation.

 

One interesting page in history is Neander’s roots, and the later use of his name. Two hundred years after his death, the valley area that he lived and worked in was owned by a man who mined some of the valley for limestone. In the process, there were some bones discovered. Since the German word for valley is “thal,” the bones became referred to as “Neanderthal” man. One wonders what Neander would have thought of this development!

 

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is a free paraphrase of Psalm 103:1-6, and Psalm 150, and is a joyful, triumphant expression of praise to God for his sovereign care over his creation and for his people. It calls God’s people and all creation to praise God for his mercy towards us.

 

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near
Praise Him in glad adoration

 

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth
Hast thou not seen how thy longings have been
Granted in what He ordaineth

 

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
If with His love He befriend thee

 

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before Him
Let the Amen sound from His people again
Gladly forever adore Him

 

Shelby out!