Here’s a bit of church trivia that not everyone will know. At one time, the church used hymnals to provide the words for the hymns sung by the congregation in our song services.
Now, for some, I am quite sure that I need to translate the previous sentence. This is what I was saying…
- At one time – not today or yesterday
- Hymnals – books containing a collection of songs
- Hymns – anthems or songs of praise and worship to God
- Congregation – people present in the church service
- Song service – worship service (the time for singing)
Let me take it one step further. Here is a quiz dealing with a few hymns from the hymnals. Can you identify the song using just the first line of the hymn?
- What can wash away my sin…
- Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it…
- Come, ye sinners lost and hopeless…
- On Calvary’s hill of sorrow, where sin’s demands were paid…
- Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing p’wer…
- There is a fountain filled…
- Would you be free from the burden of sin…
So, how did you do? Here are the song titles for those who need a little help.
- Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
- Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It
- Yes, I Know
- I See a Crimson Stream of Blood
- Are You Washed in the Blood
- There is a Fountain Filled with Blood
- There Is Power in the Blood
These are hymns that hold a special place in my heart, songs that I learned and fell in love with in my childhood and youth. On so many Sunday mornings, it wasn’t uncommon for Brother (the first name of all of the men in the church) Carlon to include one or more of these hymns in our song services. (Do yourself a favor and look up some of these songs on YouTube.) The church would come alive with praise as we focused on the song’s common denominator: the shed blood of Christ.
Perhaps you, too, have noticed that the mention and message of the blood, once common among the songs sung Sunday after Sunday, preached sermon after sermon, and testified about over and over again, are absent in today’s church. We as a church have lost sight of the precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19) shed to provide redeeming (Colossians 1:13-14), liberating (1 John 1:7), and overcoming (Revelation 12:11) power. Many today are totally oblivious to the reality that the blood poured from His body from the stripes, piercings, and thorns still has “p’wer, p’wer, wonder-working p’wer” that will keep Satan in his place of defeat! Know that each drop of blood wasn’t wasted for it contained our freedom from Satan’s grip
There is much to share, but too little space in this post. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is good at revealing what needs to be known.
I honestly tried to close out this post, but I just can’t until I share the words from the chorus of Lanny Wolfe’s wonderful “Precious Blood.”
“For His blood was not just blood of another spotless lamb;
But His blood was precious blood for it washed the sin of man
And His blood it heals my body and it sets my spirit free
I’m so glad His precious blood still flows from Calvary.”
