Matthew Smith & Indelible Grace held a concert at New Covenant last Thursday night. I was very pleased that they not only performed music, but truly led in worship. My soul was brought nearer to Christ and strengthened.
Indelible Grace is known for putting the words of very old hymns to new tunes. Matthew Smith, who led the evening, commented that these old hymns provide words for him when he doesn't know how to pray. I concur. While hymns, at least to older tunes, are sometimes hard to appreciate, they pay large dividends if we are willing to learn a new prayer language: a language written by men and women who lived in an age unlike our own.
My favorite Indelible Grace song, written by John Berridge (1716-1793), begins with these words:
Jesus, cast a look on me
Give me sweet simplicity
Make me poor and keep me low
Seeking only thee to know
All that feeds my busy pride
Cast it evermore aside
Bid my will to thine submit
Lay me humbly at thy feet...
I greatly appreciate contemporary praise, even with its blindspots. I also appreciate hymns, especially as they teach us how to pray in new - or rather, old - ways.
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