HYMNS REMIXED--OLD WORDS, NEW TUNE

ONE DAY
by J Wilbur Chapman
& Charles H Marsh

Verse 1
One day when heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men; my example is He!

Chorus:
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sings far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He's coming, O glorious day!

Verse 2
One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree,
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected,
Bearing our sins; my Redeemer is He!

Chorus:

Verse 3
One day they left Him alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o'er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!

Chorus:

Verse 4
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!

Chorus:

Verse 5
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
One day the skies with His glory will shine;
Wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!

My daughters love this song, the new one that is.  They came back from Super Summer two weeks ago and began telling me about this amazing song done by Jeff Johnson.  They were amazed at the lyrics and even more the tune.  I popped open the cd case and began to read the words as they played it for me.  I noticed that the words were the familiar text to ONE DAY by Chapman (old Baptist Hymnal tune to me).  I began to sing the old song and my girls shrieked "Dad, stop!  That's not the tune".  I began to tell them that this was an old hymn but with a new tune.

Little did they know that the church is returning to the practice of songs that are separate from the tunes.  That's they way we used to do church.  Texts were on one page and tunes on another.  The leader would call out the text and then a tune number.  Don't believe me?   Get ahold of a Scottish Psalter (the early hymnal of the church) and you'll see.  I have a copy of one in my office.

Long before tunes and texts were glued together, we interchanged texts and tunes pretty regularly--and seemed quiet comfortable that this or that tune didn't necessarily have to go with that text.

What new hymns are you hearing?  Time to dust off those old hymn books and rediscover some of those lyrics.  Most of them a still public domain and they are waiting for a new coat of paint for a new generation to enjoy--like ONE DAY--retitled GLORIOUS DAY.

So--enjoy this song.  Michael Bleeker from The Village Church in Flower Mound is responsible for this hymn.