Hello OCBC family,
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:3-5).

Today, I want to share the story behind a very popular hymn, “To God Be the Glory” whose author is Fanny Crosby. She was born on Putnam County, NY, 1820 and died on Bridgeport, CT, 1915. You know that Fanny Crosby has a talent for writing poems that became hymns, and you know that she was blind from childhood. When she was a little girl, she had some problems in her eyes, and a “doctor” tried to help her, just making her completely blind for the rest of her life.

She went to a school for blind people, and after her graduation, she became a teacher of the same institution.

She was very proud of her reformed heritage, and you can see through the words of her hymns about her security of salvation in Jesus Christ.

This hymn is different from other gospel hymns, because its focus is not on the personal experience of the believer, but the attention is on God’s glory and God’s work of redemption. Read the first stanza,

“To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate that all may go in.”

God so loved the world that he gave us his Son to make atonement for sin. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

Second stanza says,
“O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
to ev'ry believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

All who believe in Christ will receive pardon. “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43).

And the third stanza declares,
“Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be
our wonder, our victory, when Jesus we see.”

We will rejoice now and through all eternity because of the "great things he has done.” “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.” (Psalm 126:3).

What a wonderful thought, just to have the assurance that our salvation depends on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Please, use this hymn as a part of your quiet time, read it, sing it, pray it, and give to God the whole glory.

“Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:1-2).

This is a very powerful psalm, no doubts about this. Even classical composers used this psalm for many of their compositions. Felix Mendelssohn, Heinrich Schütz, and Leonard Berstein created wonderful pieces of this psalm to bring glory to God, to be thankful for his faithfulness.
But let us focus on the setting that we are more familiar with. The hymn that we know very well is “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” by Willaim Kethe.

William Kethe was from Scotland, but we do not know the year of his birth or the date of his death. What we know from history is that he left the island to go to the continent because of the hard persecution that Queen Mary had in England in the late 1550s. Kethe was protestant, and his life was in danger.

He spent time in Geneva, where he works as one of the scholars that created the English-language Geneva Bible (1560). But also, he wrote many psalms in metrical form. Let me share with you what a metrical psalm is.
According to the dictionary, “A metrical psalm is a version of a psalm from the Bible that has been rewritten into rhyming, metered verse, typically intended to be sung as a hymn. Essentially, it's a way of adapting the prose of the psalms into a form that's suitable for congregational singing.”

This form of worship style was very popular among reformers and Calvinist tradition, and William Kethe started his own collection of metrical psalms, and the first one that he wrote was the 23rd Psalm. But his most popular one is the metrical version of Psalm 100.

“All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
Him serve with fear, His praise forth-tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.”

The melody was composed by Louis Bourgeois, a French musician. He went to Geneva while Calvin was living there and Louis became the cantor of St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. He prepared choristers to teach the congregation new tunes of psalms. The popular melody that we know is called, “The Old 100th” because is related to the lyrics of William Kethe, and even if this melody is used for another psalms setting or even for the popular Doxology, we still call this melody “The Old 100th.”

Let us praise our Lord with this Psalm, from the version in your Bible or singing Kethe’s metrical setting.

“O enter then his gates with praise,
Approach with joy his courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless his name always,
For it is seemly so to do.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!” (Psalm 148:1-4).

About this psalm, we don’t know who the author is or when it was written, but we know that the Holy Spirit, the real author of the psalm, is encouraging us to praise the Lord, not just to us, humans, but for the whole creation.

This psalm is the base for a very popular and very familiar hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King.” The author of this hymn is Francis of Assisi. We know that he was born in 1182 in central Italy, son of a rich merchant. He received some education, but he joined the army and was captured in war. After his release, he became Christian, and his desire was to preach the gospel, to every creature. Here is where legends and fiction started. Some people say that he took this commandment very seriously and literally, that he even preached to birds on the field.

“All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Before his death in 1225, he wrote a hymn called, “Cantico di fratre sole” – “Song of Brother Sun.” This hymn exhorts all creation to worship God. The sun, the moon, the birds, the whole earth, the man, must praise God the Creator.

The first English version that we have is from William H. Draper in 1919. He translated this hymn to be used in a children’s festival for Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Easter Sunday.

Some people might say that Francis of Assisi was a catholic man, and it is true, but because of his life, his service, his ministry, and his desire to serve and love the Lord, Francis could be an evangelical Christian in our time.
The last stanza has a deep theological true; the God that we praise is a Triune God.

“Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humble-ness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
Halleluiah! Praise the LORD!
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” (Nehemiah 9:5).

“Stand up and bless the Lord,
All people of His choice;
Stand up and bless the Lord your God
With heart and soul and voice.”

The passage of Nehemiah was the inspiration for this hymn, “Stand Up and Bless the Lord.” The author was James Montgomery, who was born in Scotland in 1771, son of Moravian parents. They were missionaries in West Indies while James was in boarding school.

Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He wrote against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries.

This hymn was written for a special meeting, the Sheffield Red Hill Wesleyan Sunday School Anniversary, held on Mar. 15, 1824. Became very popular and a year after this hymn became part of “Christian Psalmist.”

“God is our strength and song,
And His salvation ours;
Then be His love in Christ proclaimed
With all our ransomed pow'rs.”

He was not just a fervent missionary, but also he supported the British Bible Society. It is very clear that his parents’ influence on missions was strong. Also, Moravians were popular for their love for music and wonderful poems, always singing metrical psalms, that is why James Montgomery wrote over 400 hymns. He published three hymnals. He died in Yorkshire, England, 1854.

“Stand up and bless the Lord;
The Lord your God adore;
Stand up and bless His glorious name,
Hence-forth forevermore.”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, use it as a prayer, and stand up and bless the Lord.”

“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” (Revelation 15:2-4).
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” (Isaiah 63:16).

This week, during my quiet time, I read this passage, and this verse has a powerful message: God never abandons us. God will be with us during our trials, troubles, problems, and hard situations. Today’s hymn makes an echo of this passage, “We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer.”

The author of this hymn is Julia Cady Cory, from New York. She was born in a Christian home, and her father was an architect and a Sunday school superintendent. He was an amateur hymnologist, and he was Julia’s influence to write hymns. She was a member of a Presbyterian Church in Englewood, NJ.

Her hymn teaches us how faithful is God in the present, past, and future of the believer. Read the first stanza, a humble call to praise our God.

“We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring;
We lay it before You; we kneel and adore You;
We bless Your holy name: glad praises we sing.”

The second stanza tells us how good God has been to us.
“We worship you, God of our fathers and mothers;
Through life's storm and tempest our guide you have been;
When perils o'ertake us, you never forsake us,
And with your help, O Lord, our battles we win.”

The last stanza is painting a wonderful picture of our glorious future with our God and Savior.
“With voices united our praises we offer,
And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
With You, Lord, beside us, Your strong arm will guide us.
To You, our great Redeemer, forever be praise.”

The melody is a Dutch Folk melody, and we are very familiar with it, because we sing this tune with the hymn “We Gather Together.”

Are you in deep trouble? Trust in the Lord, because He is faithful.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
​
In His service,
Israel