The Evolution of Worship Music (560-2017 A.D.)

Dear God, the link above is to a YouTube video I saw on Facebook this morning. It got me to thinking about the thousands of years of worshippers of you with whom I’m linked.

First, I didn’t realize “Be Thou My Vision” is from 560 A.D. on my phone’s “Christian” playlist it is the first song. I only knew it was Irish because I heard Rich Mullins reference it once. Well, when I checked and say that St. Patrick did his thing in Ireland about 150 years before this, the timing of the writing of the hymn fits. So for nearly 1,500 years Christians have embraced the poetry of this song, asking you to be their vision.

One thing that these worship songs do is help us to build community. They give us words and thoughts to sing to you together with others and they give us a connection to other Christians, both of our own time and from past generations. “Amazing Grace.” “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” “Pass It On.” All of these songs join me with other Christians from around the world. In fact, the one thing that can be frustrating when I visit a church is when they either sing hymns I don’t know, sing different words to a familiar tune, or sing the words I know to a strange tune. In those moments, I’m looking for that comfort that comes from community.

Community. I could go on for a while about that, but I won’t here. Maybe that’s for another day. But Father, I do want to thank you for music. Thank you for the ones who wrote these songs to contribute to your kingdom. Thank you for teaching so many of them to me through community. Help me to carry them into my daily life and use them to bond me to the body of Christ.

I Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen