Monday, May 28, 2007

Hymns, iPods & Car Washes!

Hello All,

I was cleaning out the car, readying myself for the early morning commute. On my iPod was the newest album from Fernando Ortega, "The Shadow Of Your Wings, Hymns and Sacred Songs." At the end of the vacuuming, the song Crown Him With Many Crowns came on. As is usual, Fernando's rich symphonic arrangement caught my ear, but then the words just filled my spirit with praise to the Lord. I wanted to share the words with you at least.

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save.
His glories now we sing, Who died, and rose on high,
Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.

Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;
Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.

These hymns blow your mind spiritually when you read them alone. The theology is brilliant across the board and it's rare to find GOOD arrangements that can be put into a contemporary setting, so it's my highest endorsement to recommend Fernando's albums, because he always does an excellent job of fusing the two together. The other hyms album that Fernando produced, "Hymns and Meditations" is also worth the investment.

One day, I want to do a night of hymns with my favorite musicians and invite a whole group of people to come out and sing these wonderful professions of faith, perhaps in a living room near you.

These songs are our heritage and teach us the wonder of God. I hope that you will be able to come to an appreciation of them as I have. Some of you may even want to buy a hymnal and just read it. I have 3 or 4 that I have collected and I love reading through them.

For now though, check out Fernando's efforts to bring attention to these magnificent songs of faith. I can't imagine you would be sorry.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You and JoJo could have good conversation on this subject. Attending HIU and the Passion conference has been such an enriching experience for him in this area. We have great, in depth discussion on this subject.