Songs We Sing (10.25.2009)

We occasionally get asked what this or that song was after services. So, I thought I'd provide a small service to CCJ'ers and the general lurkers out there. I'll list each song and give you the original artist and/or songwriter and a few details. If you'd like to purchase the original song, I suggest using iTunes or Amazon's MP3 Store.

For the services of October 25, 2009, we sang:

Victory In Jesus
Written by Eugene M. Bartlett, 1939. I told everyone this morning that I have sung this song since I was a little kid and had no idea until the other day what the word 'ere' meant in the chorus ("O victory in Jesus/My Savior forever/He sought me and bought me/With His redeeming blood/He loved me ere I knew Him/And all my love is due Him/He plunged me to victory/Beneath the cleansing flood."). The word 'ere' simply means 'before.' It is awe-inspiring that He loved us even when we were His enemies and dead in our own sins.

We Are Called
Written by Daniel Ross, 2009. This song is taken from I Peter 2 (we often read I Peter 2:9-10 before we sing it). Once again, it is awe-inspiring to know that we are a "chosen people, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that we may declare the excellencies of Him who called us from darkness into His marvelous light." I hope you are encouraged by this song.

Blessed Be Your Name
Written by Beth Redman and Matt Redman, 2002. The main theme of this song is from Job 1. One of my favorite lines is that "my heart will choose to say 'blessed be Your name.'" As Job 1 says, "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." This song is available here for purchase. There are other good versions by other artists out there as well. Feel free to suggest your favorite in the comments.

I Need Thee Every Hour
Written by Annie S. Hawks (music by Robert Lowry), 1872. A young housewife wrote this in the 1870s. Awesome. The story behind the song (as found here - link will have an audio file playing so turn your volume down):
"One day as a young wife and mo­ther of 37 years of age, I was bu­sy with my reg­u­lar house­hold tasks. Sud­den­ly, I be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that, won­der­ing how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Ev­e­ry Hour,” were ush­ered in­to my mind, the thought at once tak­ing full pos­sess­ion of me."
After writ­ing the lyr­ics, Hawks gave them to her pas­tor, Ro­bert Low­ry, who add­ed the tune and re­frain. The hymn was first pub­lished at the Na­tion­al Bap­tist Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, in No­vem­ber 1872. Some years lat­er, af­ter the death of her hus­band, Hawks wrote:
"I did not un­der­stand at first why this hymn had touched the great throb­bing heart of hu­man­i­ty. It was not un­til long af­ter, when the sha­dow fell over my way, the sha­dow of a great loss, that I un­der­stood some­thing of the com­fort­ing pow­er in the words which I had been per­mit­ted to give out to others in my hour of sweet se­ren­i­ty and peace."

Enough
Written by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio, 2002. "You're my supply my breath of life/Still more awesome than I know/You're my reward worth living for/Still more awesome than I know/" You can buy this song here. As with nearly all Chris Tomlin songs, many, many people have done their own versions.

It Is Well With My Soul
Written by Horatio G. Spafford, 1873 (Music by Philip Bliss, 1876). This hymn has a great/horrific story behind it. If you've never read it, check it out at Wikipedia.