Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
Psalms 98:1 NIV
New Song
School principal Alexander Muir was interested in submitting a poem to the patriotic poetry contest of the Caledonian Society of Montréal. He and his friend George Leslie were walking when a fallen maple leaf became lodged on Leslie’s coat sleeve. “There Muir, there’s your text!”, Leslie exclaimed. “The maple leaf is the emblem of Canada! Build your poem on that.” Muir wrote the poem and dispatched it to Montréal a few hours later. He would then write some music to match his poem, and a new Canadian patriotic song, the Maple Leaf Forever, was born.
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Every now and then we hear a new song and it really resonates with us. I remember that happening when I was at a Michael Card concert and heard him sing “Love Crucified Arose.” I had never heard that song before and it struck something deep inside me with the words “the heart that sin and sorrow broke is beating once again.” It’s no wonder that Christianity has a long and storied history of music in worship. God is the Creator of all that is beautiful and He continues to inspire songwriters to create music that expresses praise to God and our gratitude for all that Jesus has done in our lives through His life, death and resurrection. When we have experienced the goodness of God, we want to express it in song. The Psalmist understood this when he wrote, in Psalm 98:1: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Take time today to express your love for the Lord in music. And if you are so gifted, write a new song.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley