Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs to Help You Worship at Home
For this week’s Weekend Playlist I had a look back at what we sang on the second Sunday in May last year. In the list below I’ve included some of those hymns and also two newer hymns by CityAlight which are well worth listening to.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
My Lighthouse
I Saw the Light
Shine, Jesus, Shine
Power in the Blood
Jesus Strong and King
Hymn of the Weekend
Your Will Be Done
This hymn was released by CityAlight in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. In a short explanation of the hymn the group said:
We offer this simple song, simply played, in the midst of this present trial, so that you might be able to pray these words along with our Saviour. There is a God who is still ruling on the throne, and He is our good and loving Father. If there is anything in which you can put your trust at this uncertain time, let it be the will of your loving Father.
This weekend let us lift our voices in prayer and sing, “Father, not my will but Yours be done!”
One Hymn Explained
Be Thou My Vision
The origins of this ancient hymnal shrouded in mystery. What is known for definite is that it originated from Ireland. Some people attribute it to Saint Patrick but the author is unknown.
The format of the hymn is that is a prayer addressed to God and the prayer is essentially this: that we would put God first and focus on Him. The individual verses give us variations on this central theme.
This weekend we’re thinking about the next part of Ecclesiastes and we’re going to see that there is no true satisfaction in earthly things. As the hymn reminds us, we would do well not to heed riches or man’s empty praise. Instead, it should be our prayer that the Lord alone would be our treasure.
The final verse of the hymn like so many moves our attention to the goal of the Christian life – eternity with God. The final verse is a summary of what has come before. Bringing together some of the pictures that have been used, the hymn climaxes with the moving words:
High King of heaven, my victory won;
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
The good news of the Gospel is that we can reach heaven’s joys through what heaven’s Son has done for us on the cross. This weekend as well as praying the words of the CityAlight hymn above, let’s make Jesus our vision and our focus.
Rend Collective have released a modern take on the hymn which you can listen to below.
Over the weekend, take some time to meditate on the truths of this hymn. A fruitful exercise would be to take a note of the themes of the hymn and then to find Scriptural references to match them.