Favorite Hymns?

I think the sound great in Arabic too. No webpage found at provided URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qou3FMlB1g&feature=relatedhere is Ave Maria in Syriac/Aramaic
No webpage found at provided URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg43NTytAt0&feature=related

Almost forgot.What has become the unofficial National Hymn of the USA. Simple Gifts

How Great Thou Art - This one is by the StatlersAlthough most aren't hymns, they also put the Bible stories to song, which I like.Old favorites my Dad and I used to sing:
Amazing Grace
I Love To Tell The Story
What a Friend We Have In Jesus
Rescue the Perishing
Do Lord
Sweet of PrayerMy Two Favorites:
In the Garden
Precious MemoriesMakes me want to pull out my old records.

One thing that we love about our church is that we still sing the old hymns from the pew hymnals. One of the reasons for leaving the former church is that they went to screened "praise" songs which were more or less repetitive chants, ending with "one more time," containing little substance, void of doctrinal content and dumbing down worship to Jehovah, god and his son Jesus, lord and savior.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

though church hyms are not on my usual play list i do like the Gregorian monk songs/chants like this oneGregorian - Nothing else matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7csvgL-G3E

I prefer the original version of that song: Nothing Else Matters

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"What can be asserted without proof, can be dismissed without proof."-Hitch.

I wouldn't call it "dumbing down". Music appeals to people on a completely different level than "doctrinal content". Why else would atheists enjoy hymns? By all means, get the doctrinal content the hell out of our music. -------------When I saw the topic, the first thing I thought of was "Shall We Gather At the River?". Another favourite is "The Holy City".

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"It appears that many of you turn to Hebrew to escape the English...." -- Joseppi

Way back in the mid to late sixties I was lucky enough to have jobs that moved me all over the US. Around that time Philips also release the Missa Lube. It was at the time astonishing to my ears and played a big part in breaking the ice a few years later.One of the places I got to visit around then was Dafuskie Island. Back then the only access was by ferry, the people still spoke Gullah, the most significant resident was a witchin' woman and strangers unwelcome. A few, very few, places had electricity, one being the dock master-bait shop-general store-post office-sheriff-judge-coroner-mechanic-hardware store that sat near the dock. He also had the one record player on the Island. One evening I pulled out the old vinyl and we played it. Gradually a crowd gathered and soon, voices rose from the crowd, sing along in perfect harmony. I must have played the record forty times that night and still folk wanted to hear it again.From that night on though I was welcome in most every home.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

I remember about 15 years ago when my brother-in-law's family joined a Lutheran church in order to enroll their daughter in its school (they had been fundamentalist before that) and the extended family supported them by attending their daughter's dedication, which was part of regular Sunday service. Their hymns were all of the "Yeah Jesus! Ra! Ra! Ra!" variety which in my mind I likened to Amida Buddhism, consisting of nothing but calling out their god's name (in AB, the more times you chant Namu Amida butsu the more likely the Amida Buddha will intercede for you). I remember our son's reaction to their hymns, a mixture of "WTF?" and "Dad, please tell me that this is a joke." You see, he'd grown up in a Unitarian church where all our hymns have content and try to provoke thought, so that mindless chanting was nothing short of bizaare.Similarly, a friend at a local mega-church once roped me into sitting in on a service that night (they have several independent ministries) and it was yet again nothing but mindless chanting. And the music wasn't even any good.So I agree with you. Hymns should have actual content, should be able to make you think or to remind you of something. Otherwise, why have them?Edited by dwise1, : refined description of son's reaction

I enjoyed the instrumental but couldn't make out the message from the chants which were pretty well smothered out by the drum beats.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

I had this ready to go last night, but then the forum downtime happened. Grooveshark link to Ani versionsThe "Dilate" version is OK, but it is the "Living in Clip" live with orchestra version that ranks high on my all time (all genra) favorite tunes list. It's one of those relatively rare tunes that consistently gives me the "chills up and down the spine" affect.Anyway, a backstory of the "Amazing Grace" origins.An rather militant atheist friend tells of his cynicism about that piece - You know, the "Grace of God" thing.Then he found out that it was written by a slave ship captain, who came to realize what a wretch he was, and turned the ship around to return the slaves to their African home.And the song strikes me as not having any direct connection to "grace of God". Rather, it's at most a vaguely implied "grace of God" thing - A gaining of moral enlightenment. Which to my friend and also to me, puts Amazing Grace on a whole higher profundity plane.Moose

Sorry not quite true. He was a typical christian of the era that put profits over morality.

quote:

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He was pressed into the Royal Navy and became a sailor, eventually participating in the slave trade. One night a terrible storm battered his vessel so severely that he became frightened enough to call out to God for mercy, a moment that marked the beginning of his spiritual conversion. His career in slave trading lasted a few years more until he quit going to sea altogether and began studying theology.

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Amazing Grace - Wikipedia
Snopes also has a great article on the hymn.
Was 'Amazing Grace' Penned By a Repentant Slave Trader? | Snopes.com

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

The Beat Farmers: Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus?Dylan: Man of Peace.Violent Femmes: Jesus Walking on the Water.Capt.

Another lovely story shot down by ugly facts.I've sent the snopes link to the person I got the story from.And I still really like Ani's live version of "Amazing Grace".Moose

On the one hand, I agree that hymns at their best shouldn't go "Jesus Jesus Jesus! Rah Rah Rah!"On the other hand, I'm not sure I that I agree with you about "doctrinal content".A hymn or a prayer is meant to be a communication to God, either of praise or supplication. Now, obviously God does not need theology explaining to him. The people who need that are the congregation, which is why sermons exist.It always made me deeply uncomfortable when the pastor, leading the congregation in prayer, would say something like: "... and we thank Thee that Thou hast delivered us from the heresy of quintipunctalism, and led us in the true doctrine of periscopy". Because then he's only pretending to speak to God --- he's actually adressing his congregation, usually on the same subject that he preached his sermon on.It reminds me of that thing parents of small children do --- one remarking to the other in a loud tone: "You know, I don't think little Timmy wants any pudding, because if he did he'd finish up his greens". They're really talking to little Timmy, not to one another.So I always found doctrinal content in prayers and hymns rather worrying. The people who write such things are being underhand, and being underhand in the very activities which (as I thought then) ought to be done with the greatest sincerity.It seems to me then that the message of a hymn should be something much like "Jesus Jesus Jesus! Rah Rah Rah!" It should just be better written. You do not, after all, object to the Psalms, do you? And yet they are basically saying "God God God! Rah Rah Rah!" --- they're just expressing it better than that.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.