Day 17: I Sing the Almighty Power of God

This week I've been focusing on hymns that have special parenting significance to me, and so far I've written about hymns we sang when the kids were little, little. As the years went by our bedtime routines started to change. With three kids at different ages, they all needed their own bedtime routines with us. Reading and prayers were still part of the bedtime routine, but our hymn singing moved to dinnertime. After dinner we would sing a hymn as a family and work on memorizing some catechism questions and answers from Catechism for Young Children.

One of the hymns we learned during those years was I Sing the Almighty Power of God. We went through a phase where that was pretty much the only hymn we sang for a couple months, so the kids knew every single word by heart.

I love the hymnal my church uses (Trinity Hymnal by Great Commission Publications) -- it has several helpful indexes, over 700 hymns, and many have been reworked into keys that non-singers like me can actually sing. But they have the wrong tune for I Sing the Almighty Power of God. Our poor kids had that hymn down and were all excited the first time they got to sing it at church, until the music started and it was the wrong music. Oh, the looks of confusion the kids gave us! It makes no sense either, because "our" tune is used way more often than the other one. In fact, according to Hymnary.org "our" tune is used more than twice as often as the one printed in our hymnal. They even have a fancy pie chart to prove it.

Even with the wrong tune it's an amazing hymn that gives glory to our Creator. But you will always catch Marc and I giving each other the knowing look. ; )

A word about the video... do you love the a cappella multi-tracks popping up all over the internet? I'm fascinated by them! The first one I ever saw was the Star Wars themed John Williams medley, which my kids still sing often, but were crushed when I told them it was lip-synched. In recent weeks I've seen several fabulous videos. My daughter's Latin teacher introduced us to the physics version of Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't understand a word he sings about, but it was totally incredible. And now I'm seeing all kinds of people using the multitrack format for hymns -- love it! I hardly spend any time on Facebook these days, but I've already seen three people share the I Need Thee O I Need Thee video, so chances are you've already seen it too. Amazing! That hymn did not make my 31 Days list or even the initial 79, but I almost changed my list after I saw that video.  So you can imagine how excited I was to find today's video! And he uses the right tune. : )

Lord, how thy wonders are displayed
Wher e're I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread 
Or gaze upon the sky!

His wonders are displayed not only in His beautiful creation, but in the many talents of His people -- people who write the lyrics to the hymns that point us to Him, composers who weave together melodies and harmonies to bring those lyrics to life, and now even the youtube generation who can make a quartet with just one person. To God be the glory!

I Sing the Almighty Power of God
Issac Waatts, 1715

I sing th'almighty pow'r of God 
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad 
And built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained 
The sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at his command 
And all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord 
That filled the earth with food,
He formed the creatures with his word, 
And then pronounced them good.
Lord, how thy wonders are displayed 
Wher e'er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread 
Or gaze upon the sky!

There's not a plant or flow'r below 
But makes thy glories known
And clouds arise and tempests blow 
By order from thy throne;
While all that borrows life from thee 
Is ever in thy care,
And everywhere that man can be, 
Thou, God are present there.