CD Review: Great Hymns of the Faith

Volume 1  by the St. Olaf Choir.

I’ve always liked hymns sung by choirs, but I haven’t had much success finding recordings of choir-sung hymns that met my standards. They were either boring (You know, all done in four parts, straight out of a hymnal with organ accompaniment), or bad (Bad singing, bad recording, you name it.). But this CD done by the St. Olaf Choir measures up in every way.

The 75 voice St. Olaf Choir, according to their information page, is  

the premier choral ensemble of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. St. Olaf College is a four-year, co-educational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)…. [This choir] is the pioneer a cappella choir in the United States. For more than three-quarters of a century, the choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. 

And the singing the St. Olaf Choir does is excellent. As you’ll see, I have a few complaints about the selections and the arrangements, but never about the performance of the choir.

On Great Hymns of the Faith Volume 1, you’ll hear

1. Holy God We Praise Thy Name. Otherwise known as Te Deum. Gregorian chant-like for the first verse, then full parts with organ accompaniment, and back to chant-like for the end. I liked this one a lot.
   
2. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Unadorned arrangement: four parts with organ, then a cappella, and back to organ again. Very nicely done, but also very Lutheran.
   
3. Praise to the Lord.  An interesting and very pretty a cappella arrangement, but lacking the “oomph” that this glorious hymn warrants.
4. Rise Up, O Men of God. Men’s voices only, appropriately enough, sung a cappella. Straight forward, strong, just right.
   
5. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. This hymn is the highlight of this CD, I’d say. Lutherans singing Luther’s anthem with a whole orchestra and lots of percussion, and a third verse that sounds like battle. You can’t get more exciting than that.
   
6. Children of the Heavenly Father. A hymn from the Scandinavian Lutheran heritage. If A Mighty Fortress weren’t the top one for me, this would be, since this is one of my own top-ten hymns. A cappella and like a lullaby. You can hear this one for yourself here, although it sounds much better on the CD.
7. We Praise You, O God.  Another unadorned arrangement, but never boring.
8. From Heaven Above. Another of Luther’s hymns, a Christmas hymn. (“O Lord, you have created all. How did you come to be so small…?”) Party pooper Rebecca did not like this one: Way too much loud organ and, worst of all, talking crowd sounds.
9. O Day Full of Grace. Another Christmas hymn with Lutheran roots. I’m not crazy about having a few Christmas songs plopped into the middle of a CD of hymns, but I do like this arrangement of this hymn. I’ll be listening to it more when Christmas rolls around.
10. Thy Little Ones, Dear Lord. A Scandinavian Lutheran Christmas song again. Simply done, just as it should be.
11. Beautiful Savior. This is a signature piece of the St. Olaf Choir, arranged by the choir’s founder, F. Melius Christiansen. It has an alto solo that seemed too straight and a little lifeless because of it.
12. Blessed Assurance. Sung right out, exactly as a gospel hymn should be, accompanied by a swingy, clangy piano. 
13. Abide With Me. I’d like to say this one is very Lutheran, but I already used that phrase, didn’t I?
14. What a Friend We Have in Jesus. A plain, a cappella rendition of my least favorite hymn. Ho-hummish.
    
15. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Another of my favorite hymns and another highlight of the CD. Reverently soft to start and full-voiced to finish with organ accompaniment.
    
16. Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ. Folk dancy or Jamaicanish or something. A nice change from all the organ.
    
17. Praise His Holy Name. They’re going for black gospel on this one. I’m not sure they quite make it, but it’s fun, anyway.
    
18. Here I Am, Lord. Very pleasing song,  pretty piano, and exceptional singing.
19. Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Ending with full orchestra and full voice. Perfect choice.

I ordered Great Hymns of the Faith, Volume 1 from Singers.com. It came within a week and there were no extra charges for duty, etc.

How is the sabbath or the Lord's day to be sanctified

The sabbath or Lord’s day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all the day,[1] not only from such works as are at all times sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful;[2] and making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to betaken up in works of necessity and mercy)[3] in the public and private exercises of God’s worship:[4] and, to that end, we are to prepare our hearts, and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose and seasonably dispatch our worldly business, that we may be the more free and fit for the duties of that day.[5]

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Theological Term of the Week

 

Wrapping up the series on the five solas. The previous solas were sola scriptura, solus Christus , sola gratia and sola fide.

 

soli Deo gloria
Literally, “glory to God alone.” The reformation slogan meaning that all the glory is due to God alone. It is the overarching or summary sola in the five solas, for it is because our salvation is by grace alone (not earned or merited by us, but given to us by the Father), in Christ alone (grounded completely in the merit or work of Christ), through faith alone (by the instrumental means of  faith in Christ and his work, with this trust in Christ itself being given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit), that all the glory for it goes to God, since it is He alone who works it.

 

• From Ephesians 1:3-14:

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
  
  

  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

• From 1 Corinthians 1:27-31:

  God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”(NASB)

• From a sermon of Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man’s Dependence:
  

  Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory of redemption. Let us endeavor to obtain, and increase in, a sensibleness of our great dependence on God, to have our eye to him alone, to mortify a self-dependent and self-righteous disposition. Man is naturally exceeding prone to exalt himself, and depend on his own power or goodness; as though from himself he must expect happiness. He is prone to have respect to enjoyments alien from God and his Spirit, as those in which happiness is to be found.—But this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone: as by trust and reliance, so by praise. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord. Hath any man hope that he is converted, and sanctified, and that his mind is endowed with true excellency and spiritual beauty? That his sins are forgiven, and he received into God’s favor, and exalted to the honor and blessedness of being his child, and an heir of eternal life? Let him give God all the glory; who alone makes him to differ from the worst of men in this world, or the most miserable of the damned in hell. Hath any man much comfort and strong hope of eternal life, let not his hope lift him up, but dispose him the more to abase himself, to reflect on his own exceeding unworthiness of such a favor, and to exalt God alone. Is any man eminent in holiness, and abundant in good works, let him take nothing of the glory of it to himself, but ascribe it to him whose “workmanship we are, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
  

Learn more:

1. James White on the practical implications of the teaching that salvation is all God’s doing. (video)
   
2. J.I. Packer: The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion (mp3)
3. John Piper: Is God for Us or for Himself?

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.