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Hymn: “Why Do I Sing about Jesus?” – Words & Music by Albert A Ketchum (1894- ?)
Tune: KETCHUM
With so little known about its writer, this has become a favorite gospel song for many… including me. I guess I’m partial to all hymns about singing, but I remember being drawn to this one early on in my church life. Perhaps the skating-rink-waltz attracted me!?
The refrain that asks why I sing about Jesus and why he is so precious to me provides a straight-ahead answer: “He is my Lord and my Savior. Dying, he set me free.” There are times we need to sing the truths of our salvation experience, sharing with any who might need to hear.
Today’s hymnline opens the second stanza. “What would it take for you to believe in Jesus?” is a question we may have uttered while sharing our faith with a seeker. For Ketchum – and for many of US – all it took was observing how wonderfully good Jesus is. We saw that in scripture, we heard about it from Sunday School teachers and pastors; some of us observed it in great works of art… even music!
However, the place most people will get a glimpse of the goodness of Christ is through his followers: us. We are constantly under observation by those who have yet to come to a personal faith experience. For some of those who scrutinize our actions and attitudes, our consistency may be all they need; our non-verbal witness may be sufficient to usher them into the Kingdom.
Then, those new believers can stand and sing this hymnline… and mean it!
Not a lot to choose from for online videos,
but here’s one!
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