What is your favourite hymn?

arctic lemur

What is your favourite hymn?
Mine is 'Be thou my vision'

Excelsior

Be Thou My Vision and They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love are both beaten out, for me, by the ultimate modern hymn, In Christ Alone.

BrianCalgary

I love 'Be Thou My Vision' but my favourite has to be 'How Great Thou Art'.

I also have to include 'Amazing Grace', especially the part:

When we've been dead ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.

Not quite a hymn: The Doxology to end a service is wonderful. I think what makes them great is the level of participation in the singing of these hymns by the congregation.

I find that contemporary songs are not sung by whole congregations with any gusto.

Puck

Well a lot of contemporary songs are absolute rubbish. People seem to think they can get away with producing crap as long as they throw a few "Jesus"s on to it.

"Lalalala, blah blah, Hey, Jesus, hey! Lalalala"
Oh please shut up.

BrianCalgary

The top of my worst list is:

Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord,
Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord,
Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord,
Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord,
Amen

Then we do it 6 times just in case you don't get the great theological lesson contained there-in.

Puck

Hahahahaha! Lame! There really should be a Tacky Christendom thread.

bmoferrall

I'm rather partial to Andy Abraham's version of 'O Holy Night' :rolleyes:

If I may extend this a little - not very knowledgeable on hymns (not even sure of their exact definition) :

I treasure my copy of 'Ultimate Gospel' by Elvis, of which 'How Great thou Art' and 'Lead me, Guide me' are spine-tinglingly good. (Pity it doesn't also include his wonderful rendition of 'In the Ghetto'.)
A friend lent me his own compilation of various christmas carols sung by the late great Mahalia Jackson - very moving stuff.
Not quite a hymn , but the Staple Singers' hymn-like rendition of Dylan's 'With God on our Side' is stunning.
...oh, and my better 3/4s sings a pretty mean 'Above all Power'

How about some recommendations for Gospel/Hymn compilations?

UU

Hey I love that song from Blues Brothers James Brown "The Old Landmark" where they are in the flipping coolest church ever! I'd actually become Christian again just to dance and sing like that! Come one you can't get cooler than a neon Latin cross! Actually, James Brown's gospel song as really good. I'm quite a fan of Black American gospel culture - it's so funky!

The song "John The Revelator" from Blues Brothers 2000 is brilliant as well as my all time favourite "Amazing Grace".

It is said that singing in praise is the same as praying twice! It's true you know as Allah (God) has an ear for music!

Hermione*

'O holy night' preferably by Leontyne Price
Kyrie eleison from Verdi's requiem
Ag Chríost an Síol

arbeitsscheuer

Abide With Me, by Sir Henry Francis Lyte.

Always brings a tear to my eye. F**king love it.

wolfsbane

Currently, Day by DayKarolina W. Sandell-Berg, 1865
tr. by Andrew L. Skoog http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Day_by_Day/lofi/

CathyMoran

Do not know if this counts but I love Pia Jesus.

lowdenclear

Only In God.

Good stuff.

Puck

Ugh! Another thing I don't like about some hymns is stuff like this:

"How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear."

Now that's a pretty old and favorite hymn of many people but I just don't like it. I mean if I'm depressed and all you do is say "Jesus Christ" to me it's not going to fix anything. I mean give me a hug at least for crying out loud! So either that hymn is saying that I'm not a believer or it's just a big lie. There are so many hymns which are just lies in my opinion, lets not all pretend to be perfect when we sing praise.

I better give my favorite hymn I suppose. I've been all Mr. Negativity so far. My favorite is "How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place" based on Psalm 84. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2084;&version=31;) Nice and tree-hugger-y.

pbsuxok1znja4r

These aren't exactly hymns, but I do enjoy some of the christian lyrics from punk and hardcore bands. There's a great song by Thrice called "Image Of The Invisible" that I'd reccomend to anyone. Lots of rousing group shouting
Or else a song called "Wake The Dead" by Comeback Kid. What a great name for a christian hardcore punk band, though: Comeback Kid! Geddit?
Great stuff. I'm not much of a fan of the traditional hymns, though. Boo-urns to most of those...

Talliesin

I love Amazing Grace. It's funny that I should like that one so much, there are Christian hymns where I would have something in common with the sentiment, but which I dislike, but while the concept of Grace is completely foreign to my way of thinking it's still a song that moves me.

Not really a hymn, but I love how Johnny Cash can re-do "Personal Jesus" as a Christian singing sincerely what was originally written archly (but then I also like how Marilyn Manson can re-do the same song as a Satanist, it's a pretty flexible song really).

Not really a hymn either, but there are many beautiful Latin Masses with everything but the blessing of the host (since that has to be done by the priest) sung by the choir.

panda100

Hermione* wrote:

'O holy night' preferably by Leontyne Price

Me too,specially the 'fall on your knees' part...send shivers down my spine:)

I used to love when I was in primay school the hymn'If I was a butterfly'It was so sweet and cute.

Hermione*

panda100 wrote:

Me too,specially the 'fall on your knees' part...send shivers down my spine:)

For me, it just sums up the majesty of Christmas.

arctic lemur

Thers this Sydney Carter Hymn I like and my mind's gone blank. Its not lord of the dance ...what is it?

PS i like the old wooded cross. I dunno, its a hymn that stirs something in me.

hiscan

Hermione* wrote:

'O holy night' preferably by Leontyne Price
Kyrie eleison from Verdi's requiem
Ag Chríost an Síol

the best

fade2black

On Eagle's Wings

wb

I love 'How great thou art'

Have it on an old record at home. A real powerful version - Great rolling drums etc in the background. Always reminds me of being a kid, as my mam would play the record at Christmas.

Great stuff

arctic lemur

Or O Holy night at Christmas too

ISAW

arctic lemur wrote:

Or O Holy night at Christmas too

Christmas lets see.
I Like that one.
And Veni veni Emmanuel.
I also like Verbum caro factum est. and Gaude te christus est natus.
Whats the english version of Veni, creator Spiritus himm. come oh creator spirit blest and in my soul take up thy rest. Both versions are good.

arctic lemur

ISAW wrote:

Christmas lets see.
I Like that one.
And Veni veni Emmanuel.
I also like Verbum caro factum est. and Gaude te christus est natus.
Whats the english version of Veni, creator Spiritus himm. come oh creator spirit blest and in my soul take up thy rest. Both versions are good.

Prefer the latin version!.

Here are the english lyrics:

Veni Creator Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost


Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
and in our hearts take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O Comforter, to Thee we cry,
Thou heav'nly gift of God most high,
Thou Fount of life, and Fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.

O Finger of the hand divine,
the sevenfold gifts of grace are thine;
true promise of the Father thou,
who dost the tongue with power endow.

Thy light to every sense impart,
and shed thy love in every heart;
thine own unfailing might supply
to strengthen our infirmity.

Drive far away our ghostly foe,
and thine abiding peace bestow;
if thou be our preventing Guide,
no evil can our steps betide.

Praise we the Father and the Son
and Holy Spirit with them One;
and may the Son on us bestow
the gifts that from the Spirit flow.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth

ISAW

Take a look at this service:
http://www.isands.ie/htmls/prayer.html

Most of the hymns mentioned are in it.