Thursday, October 31, 2013

Day 31: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

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This hymn has it all -- rich doctrine, powerful tune, written by Martin Luther, sung by generations of Christians. And, of course, I saved it for the last day of this series in honor of Reformation Day.

What you don't know is this hymn also represents the peak of my skills on the piano. When the kids used to take lessons, I tried to learn along with them, even taking lessons of my own for a little while. My crowning achievement was learning how to play A Mighty Fortress in Bastien's Popular Hymns, Level 3. It was the last hymn in the book, which in my opinion actually makes it harder than Level 3, thank you very much. All I know is that it took me about 1.8 million tries to finally get it, so I was quite proud of myself. Of course, once the kids stopped taking lessons, I didn't play much either, so I'm sure I can't play it anymore. I might have to give it a whirl later today.

Aren't you glad I shared that? Just humor me a little -- I have blogged 31 days in a row!!!!

Woo hoo! This series has been so much fun! Thank you for all your sweet comments along the way. It helped knowing that others were being ministered to, although it would have been worth it just for the effect it had on my soul. Ultimately, however, this whole series has been about praising our Lord, because He alone is worthy of all these beautiful lyrics and tunes.

To wrap things up, I've compiled my Top 10 list as promised. The first two are my absolute tied-for-first favorites, and after that they just appear in the order they were presented in the series.

  1. And Can It Be?
  2. I Know Whom I Have Believed
  3. From Every Stormy Wind that Blows
  4. I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord
  5. May the Mind of Christ My Savior
  6. God Himself Is With Us
  7. Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah
  8. Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul
  9. More Love to Thee, O Christ
  10. God Be Merciful to Me
And now it's your turn! Did I cover your favorites in this series? Remember, when I first went through my hymnals I had 79 hymns written down as candidates, so it's likely I still love your favorites, even if they didn't get mentioned this month. Do you have a Top 10 list? Or maybe you have a hymn that has sentimental significance you'd like to share. I'd love to hear from you in the comments! 

The series, 31 Days of Hymns I Love, may be over, but I pray our hearts will always be full of praise for our Mighty God and Savior.

Soli Deo gloria!




A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Martin Luther, 1529

A mighty fortress is our God, 
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper he amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great;
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is he,
Lord Sabaoth his name,
And armed with cruel hate,
And he must win the battle.

And though this world with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow'rs,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also; 
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever.

8 comments:

  1. I KNEW you would pick this one for today!

    Thank you for this wonderful series. I will post a top ten soon.

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  2. I did a Top Ten Hymn series almost five years ago. I have way too many favorites to narrow it down to ten. :) http://naughtbutgood.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-ten-hymns-1-christmas-edition.html

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    1. Thank you for sharing your list! It just goes to show you how many wonderful hymns there are out there -- I wasn't familiar with Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord or Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare, although both are in my church hymnal (both with different tunes). Love your list!

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  3. Here's my top 10 (plus a few). ;-) http://homeschooldawn.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-favorite-hymns.html

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    1. Oh, Dawn, thank you for taking the time to write up a post! I love your choices! More comments over at your blog...

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  4. You hit many of my all time favorite hymns....I blogged about it here: Http://gracefulornaments.blogspot.com/2012/09/psalm-961-2.html?m=0
    I especially love A Mighty Fortress...it was sung in a service right after 9/11 that was attended by then President Bush...the words "the body they may kill, God's Truth abideth still" was very much a comfort to hear at that time, especially live on national television.

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  5. now that I have gone through the favorites from the other replies, I could make a top 100 list, I'm sure of it. Thanks for sharing these wonderful hymns! I could sit for hours just singing them on my own. : )

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    1. When you mentioned you had done a post on your favorite hymns before I thought I remembered it, but now having read it again and seeing that I didn't comment on it before, I wonder if I missed it the first time. : ( So I was struck by how similar we are in our thoughts about hymns in general and even specific hymns. Thank you so much for linking back to that post. And, yes, I'm sure I could make a top 100 list too -- I had to really work to first limit it to 79! Amazing to think, since I didn't know any of these for at least half my life!

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