This past Sunday we had the joy of preaching from Psalm 122, a message entitled Jerusalem, City of God.  At the end of the sermon we sung with new meaning the song, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.” It is an old hymn written by John Newton.  I am sure that most of our younger attendees (and many of our older ones for that matter) were not familiar with the hymn, yet after the sermon we all could understand why John Newton had written it.  One really encouraging word concerning the hymn, however, came from my wife.  She told me that when the hymn was announced she did not recognize it, until we began to sing.  Then, suddenly she recalled us singing this song in our Family Worship time and it began to come back to her.  She began to sing it as if it was a well known, well worn song.

I remember well the first time we tried to sing “Glorious Things…” in family worship.  It was not received well.  No one really knew it and the kids were wondering why we would sing a song we did not know when there are so many we do know.  Yet, I insisted and we fought through it, paying close attention to the words more so than the singing.  It was not the melodious sound, but it was worth it.  On this past Sunday it paid off.  I was reminded that what we do in Family Worship actually enhances what we do in corporate worship.  So don’t be afraid to dust off the old hymnal during family worship and sing some of the old, tried, and true anthems of the faith.   It may not be easy.  Yet, you never know how the Spirit might move and encourage you heart by calling for a hymn you just learned during your family time.