Category Archives: Hymn Study

People around the world associate Handel’s great masterpiece “Messiah,” with Christmas.   But it was originally an Easter composition in three parts.  The oratorio’s structure follows the liturgical year.  Part 1 corresponds with Advent, Christmas, and the life of Jesus.  Part … Continue reading →

Christians around the world mark the end of the week prior to Resurrection Sunday (a better title for it than “Easter”), with special services drawing meditative attention to the conclusion of that week in Jesus’ earthly life.  One of the … Continue reading →

England’s cathedrals have been the sites of some of the most wonderful preacher/theologians of all time.   Among them must be named John Donne (St. Paul’s, London) and J. C. Ryle (Liverpool). Others who never served in cathedral positions would certainly … Continue reading →

This is a revision to the previously released study on this hymn – ed. We all have childhood memories of coming into church on Palm Sunday, waving palm fronds.  For me, growing up in Miami, we had access to plenty … Continue reading →

One of the most precious doctrines of the Christian faith is that of atonement.  Some of us will remember learning as children in Sunday School the simple definition that comes from dividing the syllables of the word to spell “at-one-ment.”  … Continue reading →

When a loved one or a dear friend dies, we who know the Lord experience what Paul wrote to the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “We grieve but not like those who have no hope.”  As Christians we know that … Continue reading →

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”  We are carefully self-conscious in making sure that we don’t glory … Continue reading →

None of us feels that we have achieved the prayer life that we want to have, or that we ought to have.  Even the disciples instinctively knew that was true, as they were with Jesus day in and day out, … Continue reading →

None of us experiences a life free from trials.  They come in many forms and at many times.  Some are from without, as we experience loss or opposition.  Some come from within, as we are weighed down by discouragement and … Continue reading →

How many of us remember singing as a child, wondering what an ebenezer was, and how to raise one?  The word comes from 1 Samuel 7:12, where we read that “Samuel took a stone and set it up … and … Continue reading →