Sunday's Hymn

During this morning’s church service, we sang this hymn. It’s translated from the Welsh, and our hymnal has the “great Redeemer” translation.

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
[or Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer…]
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

Lord, I trust Thy mighty power,
Wondrous are Thy works of old;
Thou deliver’st Thine from thralldom,
Who for naught themselves had sold:
Thou didst conquer, Thou didst conquer,
Sin, and Satan and the grave,
Sin, and Satan and the grave.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to Thee;
I will ever give to Thee.

Musing on my habitation,
Musing on my heav’nly home,
Fills my soul with holy longings:
Come, my Jesus, quickly come;
Vanity is all I see;
Lord, I long to be with Thee!
Lord, I long to be with Thee!

—William Williams

Watch it sung enthusiastically by a Welsh congregation:

Prefer something in a more contemporary style? Try this.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Who Trusts in God, A Strong Abode at Hiraeth
• The Mighty God, The Lord at Field Stone Cottage
• Lord’s Day 43, 2008 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Absent From Flesh! O Blissful Thought at joythruChrist
• Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing at Conjubilant with Song
• Who Is On The Lord’s Side? at Whatever Things…
• Indescribable at The Happy Wonderer
• Come Thou Fount at Practicing Theology
• “Take Up Thy Cross,” The Saviour Said at Nova Scotia Scott

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Things That I Like: LibraryThing

LibraryThing has got to be one of the best free things available on the internet. What is LibraryThing? It’s an online book catalog where you can list your own library for free (as long as you have less than 200 or them), or, as in my case, your whole church library for $15 per year.

It’s simple to use. All you need to do is type in the ISBN number of a book, or author and a few key words, and there you have it, everything you need to add the book to your online library. Much easier than cataloging on cards with pen and ink, and I should know, because I’m cataloging the books in the church library that way at the same time I’m adding them to LibraryThing.

And your library is searchable—and alphabetically-arrangeable—by author, title, and subject (aka tags). The biggest plus for a church library like mine, as I see it, is that the catalog is available to any member of the congregation while they’re at home during the week, as long as they have web access.

So far, I only have 300 books catalogued—it’s the index card and ink thing that’s holding things up—but I’ll let you take a peak anyway. Just click on either button at the top left to choose whether you view by list or by covers.  And the column heading you click—author, title, or tag—will determine the feature by which the book list is alphabetized.

Yes, we have some books I’d be happier without, but we’ve got some good ones, too. We get our books by donation, so what we have is what we get. You can’t look a gift book in the mouth. And you shouldn’t judge a library by it’s book covers. Or something.

And the best is yet to catalog.

It's the Gospel: October 24

The Apostles Preaching the Gospel by Gustav DoreYes, we are still celebrating the gospel.

Kim of Hiraeth quotes one of the great reformers on God’s kindness in Christ.

Dorothy of Field Stone Cottage quotes a contemporary teacher on the preliminary lesson that must be learned before we can grasp the whole of the good news of the gospel.

I’ve been quoting, too. I’ve quoted Horatius Bonar on The Glorious Spectacle of All Things Done. I’ve also recommended some gospel listening to fill your weekend with gospel reflection.

Update: Here’s one you must read: John of While We Sojourn shares Lessons Learned from my Papaw.

At Rebecca Writes, we’re celebrating the gospel during the month of October. Twice a week, at least, I’ll be posting something pertaining to the gospel, which, in a nutshell is the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sin and was raised from the dead, so that through faith, we are united with Christ and receive every blessing merited by his work. Still not sure what the gospel is? There are a few links in this post that might help.

As always, you are invited to participate with me. On Tuesdays and Fridays throughout the month, I’ll post a collection of links to gospel related posts. If you post a quote, verse, poem, story, book review, or essay, etc. on a subject connected in some way to the gospel, send me an email with your link (You’ll find the address by clicking the contact button in the sidebar.) and I’ll link back to your post (or posts) on the next Tuesday or Friday. There are no limits, really, on the form or number of your post, just the subject. You may want to to contribute a link to a post on someone else’s post, too, and that’s okay by me.

I’ll be posting the next round up of gospel themed posts will be Tuesday, October 28.