The Wittenberg Hymnal was comprised of songs that were inspired by the Psalms and other parts of the Bible, but they were not as close word-for-word as possible. Nor did this songbook have a song and tune for every Psalm in the Bible. When John Calvin fled to Strasburg, Germany in 1538, he set out […]
Before the Reformation, singing in church was often done by a group of performers instead of the whole congregation. The Reformers believed that the whole congregation should sing to give praise to God together and be an active part of worship. By 1524, only seven years after the Reformation began, Martin Luther, working with a […]
It was the summer after my senior year of high school. I went to the Young People’s Convention. Perhaps you’ve heard stories about the convention from your older brothers and sisters? I enjoyed the conventions, but my favorite memory is not the banquets or hanging out with friends or the games or anything you’ve probably […]
You young people for whom Beacon Lights is published will determine what we shall sing in the worship services of our churches in the years to come. Whether our churches will continue to use the Psalter exclusively and limit ourselves to these versifications of the Psalms and a few Scriptural passages from other books of […]
God’s people are a singing people. Both in the Old and New Testaments, the Lord tells us that His people sang of their joys and sorrows, of their struggles and victories. We, God’s people in the Reformed tradition, sing from the time we are tiny tots until we stoop with old age. Together we sing […]