Featured SongA New Project from Eric & David
Home » Blog » GeneralPosted by David L. Ward on May 22nd, 2009
Update - the finished hymn texts are now available
We’d like to let you in on a project that Eric and I have begun and also make a request for your support of this endeavor. We have begun writing hymns on God’s attributes. Why write hymns on God’s attributes? Aren’t most good hymns about some facet of God’s character? I have been involved in choosing songs for corporate worship for nearly fifteen years and have often had a difficult time finding songs that taught much about a particular attribute of God. Eric recently preached through the attributes of God and for every sermon was on the lookout for hymns that tied into the specific attribute he was preaching on but to little avail. There are many wonderful hymns about God’s character in general, but they normally mention a few different aspects of God and do not explore one in detail. An example of this is the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It teaches that God is holy (the title), merciful, mighty, glorious and worthy of praise (this is inferred by the picture of heavenly worship), everlasting, self-sufficient, loving, and all-powerful. It does mention both the moral and distinctive aspects of holiness, but does not give us any applications of God’s holiness or what it has to do with Jesus and the gospel. What’s more, there are some attributes of God that are rarely addressed in hymns like His jealousy or wrath.
The idea to write a series of hymns on God’s attributes was born out of a sense of need. These hymns could be very useful to both ourselves, our immediately families, our church families, and possibly even the global church. Here are the details for our project:
Project: Hymns on God’s Attributes
Description: A series of hymn stanzas, set to a popular and well-known tune, that teach on each attribute of God, show us how it relates to the gospel, and includes personal applications.
Tune: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Each attribute shall have three stanzas (we may shorten this to contain all three elements in one stanza)
1) Explanation of the attribute (doctrine) - stanza shall begin with "The Lord is"
2) It's relevance to the cross (gospel) - stanza shall begin with "The Lord has"
3) Personal application (application) - stanza shall begin with "The Lord will"
Attribute list:
God is one (He exists, and exists as one in three persons)
God is holy & glorious
God is loving
God is self-sufficient
God is eternal & immutable
God is omnipotent & sovereign
God is omnipresent
God is omniscient & wise
God is truthful
God is good & merciful
God is gracious
God is patient
God is righteous
God is jealous
God is wrathful
Here are some teasers from a few hours that we spent on this together (some of these are rough, we know):
The Lord is one, the only God - the Father, Spirit, and Son
The Lord is holy, free from sin, unmatched in all his splendor
The Lord is not in need of us or anything created
The Lord is constant, without change in nature and in purpose
The Lord is sovereign over all, supreme in His dominion
The Lord is present ev'rywhere, the earth cannot contain Him
The Lord is good in ev'ry way; His mercy is forever
The Lord is righteous, judging all
How can you help?
First off, you can pray for our work:
- That we would accurately reflect God’s character in our stanzas
- For personal discipline to work on the project
- For the ability to work quickly
Second, we need a significant amount of time and a secluded place if we are going to make real headway, and to do that we would like to stay at some kind of conference center for several days. There is a cost factor, and if you like our previous work, agree that this is a worthwhile project, and have the means to give, we welcome any donations that will help us pay for the conference center and any materials we might need for our stay. If you'd like to give towards this project, please use our donation link, give to the general fund, and add a note about the hymns project.
Thanks so much in advance for your support!
For Christ and His church
David (and Eric)
[...] you follow our blog, you know that last week Eric and I carved out some time to work on our Hymns on God’s Attributes project. We had a very enjoyable time together catching up with our lives and ministries. Both of us were [...]
[...] day tomorrow and hope to finish all 15 three stanza hymns on God’s attributes, as outlined in our original project post. We would appreciate your prayers for a productive and enjoyable time and that we be filled with [...]
[...] to think it’s top secret). Eric and I have met a couple of times this fall to work on our Hymns on God’s Attributes project, and we have drafts of all 15 hymns completed (though several of them might not deserve the term [...]
[...] That’s for several reasons, including the fact that Eric and I are continuing work on our Hymns Book Project. We were unable to secure a co-author so have begun the process of writing the content ourselves. [...]