These are in no particular order, and this list is not exhaustive. I may even come back and add more later. Some of the video links are better than others; the state of non-flowery hymn recordings on youtube is not what it ought to be. In putting together this list I’ve found that my preferred interpretation of any hymn is one sung by a group of 12-20 signers who are good but not overly impressive, in a room with decent acoustics and not much echo. This makes sense, as it’s how I’m used to hearing most of them.
Regardless, I love these and so many others. Feel free to play them all at my funeral.
Sweet, Sweet Spirit
Favorite line:
Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly dove,
Stay right here with us, filling us with your love.
The Summons (pro tip: almost everybody plays this song too slow for my taste. If you use the settings gear in the youtube player to bump the playback speed on this video to 1.25, it’s just about perfect)
Favorite line:
Lord, your summons echoes true
when you but call my name
The Irish Blessing
Favorite line:
May the rain fall soft upon your fields
Amazing Grace
Favorite line:
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shinning as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun
Nothing Separates Us (I couldn’t find this song online at all, and I only know it from youth conferences growing up. This means there’s a decent chance it was written by someone I know and I never realized it.)
Favorite line:
When I’m afraid, when I’m alone
When life is cold and darkness falls
I need to know that someone is there
And nothing separates us from the love of God
I Sing a Song of the Saints of God
Favorite line:
They were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
O Come, O Come Emanuel
Favorite line:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel.
O Holy Night
Favorite line:
Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices!
Now the Green Blade Rises
Favorite line:
When our hearts are saddened, grieving, or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat that springs up green
Here I Am Lord
Favorite Line:
Here I am Lord
Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (again, bump up the playback to 1.5 speed for preferred tempo)
Favorite line:
I want to walk as a child of the light
I want to follow Jesus
God Has Spoken to His People
I don’t really have a favorite line, I just love this tune. I also love this video of little kids playing percussion instruments with such incredible focus.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Favorite line: (really the whole last verse, but especially)
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
“Nothing Separates Us (I couldn’t find this song online at all, and I only know it
from youth conferences growing up.”
Your parents’ band played this at Father Eston Collins’ funeral. I can never hear it without going back to that evening in my mind … and crying.
Thanks, Steve. That was a very special service indeed! I’m pretty sure we played Sweet, Sweet Spirit at that event as well. Holy music for a holy man. We feel so honored to have been even a small part of Eston’s life.
One of the reasons I love Sweet Sweet Spirit is because mom and I sang it at his bedside when he was in the hospital.