Baptism

Sunday's baptism was a great occasion. Rachel( the one being baptised) spoke wonderfully and had chosen a whole range of hymns/songs for the service. As you would expect from a 16 year old for whom Soul Survivor has played a major part in her Christian journey, most of the music was contemporary. But two of the hymns she chose went back to the beginning of the 20th Century -
'All to Jesus I surrender' by J.W. Van De Venter which I can remember singing as part of a Junior Choir in Larkhall. The cyber hymnal website quotes the words of the author - ' For some time I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing. The song was written in 1896.
and
'I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene' by Charles H. Gabriel who was a profilic evangelistic song writer in the early 1900's. It is a hymn which I must have sung from the Sankey hymn book we used in Larkhall at the evening services.
Maybe some of the older hymns will make a comeback, but perhaps only if they are sung in a way that has a more contemporary feel.