If you’re in Indianapolis, be sure and tune in to Redbud Radio at 1:00 am every Saturday night/Sunday morning. Those aren’t the hours you keep? You can always listen to the most recent show on the Redbud Radio website.

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to pick and sing Shanty in Old Shanty Town and I Am a Pilgrim with these fine folks.

At Saturday’s jam, I met a 12-year-old picker who I think will make a name for himself some day.

I miss playing with these guys. Our last show together was part of the Otterbein Community Concert Series. Maggie, also called When You and I Were Young, is a staple for The Champions. It seems like we don’t get together without that wonderful old tune coming out.

Here’s the rendition of Maggie that we did for the Otterbein Series.

Over the Rainbow, by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, was written for the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, and Judy Garland’s performance of the song became classic. It’s hard to separate Over the Rainbow from Garland’s portrayal of Dorothy in the film. Garland said of the song:

It’s so symbolic of everybody’s dreams and wishes that I’m sure that’s why some people get tears in their eyes when they hear it.

So this version of Over the Rainbow is for Nolan, to wish him everything good and to hope that all his pleasant dreams come true.

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Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

That text concludes the first verse of Come We That Love the Lord, a hymn text written by Isaac Watts in the early 18th century. Watts (1674-1748) has been called the “Father of English Hymnody.” He wrote over 600 hymns. Among them is the classic usually associated with Christmas, Joy to the World.

Come We That Love the Lord preaches. The section of verse above invites us to join in singing praise to God. In singing, we not only unite as a community, but we also come into the presence of God.

This rendition sets Come We That Love the Lord to St. Thomas, also from the 18th century and one of several standard meter tunes that fit the text. It was not until after the Civil War that Robert Lowry composed a new tune with a refrain, and the text became the gospel hymn Marching to Zion.

The text is included in the video, so please feel free to sing along.

This video was used in DisciplesNet Church worship number 137 on April 21, 2013.

The quote came from a conversation earlier in the day, but it was attributed to Barton Warren Stone. It was, at best, a loose paraphrase of what Stone said, and so I want to provide the actual quote and a little bit of the context because it does point to the importance of singing as an act of worship.

Barton Stone was a Presbyterian minister at Cane Ridge, Ky., in 1801. On the first weekend of August in that year, over 10,000 people came to Cane Ridge for a Great Communion. These gatherings brought together people of different Christian persuasions, and the weekends were filled with preaching, culminating in a communion service on Sunday.

The Great Communions were part of the Second Great Awakening in the United States and also were a forerunner to the camp meetings that became popular along the 19th century American frontier. As such, ecstatic religious expressions were common, including singing exercises. Stone described the singing thus:

The subject in a very happy state of mind would sing most melodiously, not from the mouth or nose, but entirely in the breast, the sounds issuing thence. ¹

Those caught up in the spirit would sing with a voice that emanated from the very depths of their being, or, as it was expressed in conversation, they did not sing from the throat; they sang from the soul.

An important piece of assessing the health of a congregation for me is looking and listening to how they sing. Do people participate in singing? Does the congregation’s voice in worship emerge from deep within? If not, something is off kilter.

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