My other favorite traditional hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” This is a really cool version by Sufjan Stevens. I love it. Quirky and open and vulnerable.
I even like the video here. Although the images have nothing to do with the song, they’re gorgeous.
The lyrics below are the more modernized version. I prefer the original lyrics.
Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God’s unchanging love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
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.
(An Ebenezer or Eben-Ezer, found in 1 Samuel 7:12, which says: Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.†It’s a stone of remembrance and fresh beginnings, acknowledging God’s help. Pretty cool, huh?)
We hardly ever sing this song anymore because — ::heavy sigh:: — “people don’t know what an Ebenezer is.” Thus rendering, I guess, the ENTIRE song irrelevant.
I guess it’s too much to, you know, let the leader EXPLAIN what it is, or just sing the song anyway and let people freaking LOOK IT UP.
/am too old
//and irrelevant
Tracey, I love, love Sufjan Stevens. I first discovered him when he popped up on Pandora when I was listening to some folksy Christmas music last year. He has some great Christmas stuff.
Lisa, our songs books always have the definition right at the bottom of the page the song is on.
I prefer the original lyrics too.
I always sing the original lyrics loudly, despite what’s on the page. We don’t sing it much anymore either.
Lisa — /am too old
//and irrelevant
Hahahahahaha. I shouldn’t laugh, but I know how you feel.
Mandy — I’ve recently discovered some of his Christmas stuff! It’s wonderful.
tracey, I too love this old song…old like me, I guess. One of my pet peeves in church today is that we sing too many “praise” songs, which I think of as “spiritual candy”. They do make you feel good, and have “a” nice thought, but there’s just not that much depth to them. I like to sing the old standards at least sometimes, because they have some MEAT to the meaning…something to “sink your teeth into”…and your brain.