Monday, August 24, 2026

It is the 24th of August 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday to you- as is the case on this program, we will head to the mailbag. Quick question for you- let’s say I’ve received thousands of emails over the years- what do you think are the most prevalent questions? I think it’s pretty easy- either questions about the differences between denominations and questions about worship- and using “worship” to refer in particular to congregational singing.

 

So I got two questions within minutes of each other- Tim in Brooklyn, Michigan, and Garret in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Tim’s question had to do with how certain songs are approved for “divine service”- that and a reference to the “red” hymnal are one way I know he must be Lutheran. Garret asked about the history of one of the 19th century's most curious hymns that became a strange staple in American protestantism.

 

Tim- the Lutheran Churches, like many other denominations, have hymnal committees- these are the ones who decide which songs are approved for worship and which are not. Of course, the key issue is going to be church polity- that is, if you are truly “congregational,” then a hymnal committee will only be advisory- you can pick and choose as you like. With the growth of easy printing and now screens, we are more free to choose at will. But ask anyone who has sat on these committees, and they will tell you that the amount of work going into compiling hymnals is enormous. I don’t have a dog in this fight- I was honorably discharged after being wounded in the worship wars of the last century.

 

Technology is changing everything. Some will push back, others will fully embrace the new, and still others try to follow a middle path (which is what it sounds like you are doing). But as technology and language change, we do make amendments. Such is the case with the curious hymn that Garret asked about- he was at his parents' United Brethren Church, and they sang “Faith of Our Fathers”… he thought that was… well, a decision. It is a 19th-century hymn written by a former Anglican who became Catholic and wrote it as part of his desire to bring together Protestant-style hymnody with Catholic theology. “Our Fathers” refers to Catholic martyrs in the English Reformation. The original text has been altered by hymnal committees for years- for instance, the Lutheran Book of Worship omits the line “Mary's prayers shall win our country back to thee”. And “our country” is England. Some hymnals omit the stanza altogether- others will speak of “all nations”.

 

The author, Frederick Faber, wrote a number of hymns that emphasized particularly Catholic theology- he was a part of the Oxford movement- the high-church Anglicans who got so high they became Catholic (wait, that sounded weird). It was published in “Jesus and Mary: or, Catholic Hymns for Singing and Reading” in 1849.

 

It became a strange hit amongst American Protestants when it was performed at the funeral of Franklin Roosevelt- himself an Episcopalian.

 

Let me wrap this up with one of my favorite free online resources for digging into the history of worship and hymns…. Hymnary.org. It’s a site that allows you to pull up hundreds of different versions of hymns- side by side- to see what words have been used, which tunes are most popular, etc. The number of times I go to it on a Sunday afternoon to look up what we sang in church- which version we sang- which words were changed or omitted. I can’t recommend that site enough. I also highly recommend the online Cambridge Dictionary of Hymnology; for a small donation, you have the history of hymns at your fingertips. I think we’re about ready to do another “strong history” of hymns weekend edition- so if you have a particular favorite “behind the hymn” story or would like to know more about a hymn- OR, if you have any questions, send them to me at Danv@1517.org.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 8:

Lord, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
 in the heavens.

2 Through the praise of children and infants
 you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
 to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
 the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
 which you have set in place,

4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
 human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels[e]
 and crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
 you put everything under their feet:

7 all flocks and herds,
 and the animals of the wild,

8 the birds in the sky,
 and the fish in the sea,
 all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 Lord, our Lord,
 how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of August 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whom I’m guessing used the Red hymnal? Blue? Maroon? He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who likes to speak of the worship wars like Obi-Wan spoke about the Clone Wars in A New Hope…. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.