“In christ alone my hope is found…Then sings my soul my saviour God to thee…I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene…”

We often sing these hymns. These weighty songs are full of theology and deep lyrics that enhance our understanding of God and speaks praise to God for all he has done.

We tend to associate the word Hymn with some of those older songs like ‘In Christ Alone’, ‘How Great Thou Art’ and ‘How Marvellous’, however a hymn is defined as ‘a religious song or poem of praise to God or a god.’ Singing ‘Jesus, You Have Won Me’ is just as much a hymn as those mentioned before.

In the past few weeks I’ve been listening to mostly songs that are quite the opposite to the above. I’ve been enjoying simpler songs that help me reflect on just one aspect of God.

To me, singing ‘In Christ Alone’ is like reading the whole book of Romans in one go. There’s so much in it and sometimes you can miss important parts just trying to keep up. Then again I know that singing ‘Our God Reigns’ 12 times can sometimes seem too much. It’s a hard balance.

One of the benefits of being the one who edits and uploads the podcasts is that I get to hear them before Wednesdays! Wendy said some challenging things yesterday morning. She talked about how we are here for God’s benefit. Not the other way around. It reminded me that Jesus gave his life to pay for mine. He has bought me.

I’ll leave you with a song. It’s call ‘I am not my own’ by Will Reagan & United Pursuit. It’s simple lyrics have helped me reflect on the cost Jesus paid for me, and that I am not my own.

“You bought my soul with Blood and Water,
Now I am yours God,
Now I am yours God.

Now I am yours,
Now I am yours,
I am not my own,
I am not my own.”