First Hymn, The (2025)

[bunniefuu]

We sing our hymn, amen.

Man, I love the energy.

When the vocals

start to layer,

particularly on that last

chorus, I think that's like,

Those guys are the hit

machine singer songwriters,

Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding.

And that's not just any

song they're working on.

They're rearranging the

oldest Christian hymn

ever discovered, complete

with a nearly 2000 year old

lyric and melody.

It's ancient, it's in Greek,

and it's been buried

in Egypt a long time.

Our plan is to

bring it back to life.

We're on a historical

and musical journey

from the sands of Egypt

to America's music capital,

from Australian creative spaces

to English thinking spaces.

With the help of people who

know what they're talking about,

we'll be exploring sacred

songs and modern hits,

ancient history and

contemporary markets.

We'll learn from

time-honoured traditions

and state of the art production.

Our goal is to

give back to the world

a song the church hasn't

sung for almost two millennia.

This is The First Hymn project.

My name's John Dickson.

Now I'm a professor specialising

in the history of Christianity.

But before I was a nerd,

I was a wannabe musician,

touring and recording

full-time with my best mates

in a very 90s rock band.

You don't need the details.

All that to say,

I have both an academic

and a personal interest

in seeing this

ancient hymn resurrected.

Our story begins

in one of the most

ancient cities in the world.

Cairo is the modern-day

capital of Egypt.

It was officially founded

just a thousand years ago,

but at its edges are

the ruins of Memphis,

Egypt's ancient capital.

That part of the city

goes back 4,000 years

to the days of the pharaohs.

I love an old cafe and

this one takes the cake.

This is El-Fishawy in Cairo,

and it's been managed

by the same family since 1773.

That's when America was

still a British colony.

It's a small reminder of

just how old this country is.

The region has been

strategic for centuries,

partly because it's at the

juncture of the Nile Valley

and the Nile Delta.

That's upper Egypt in the south

and lower Egypt in the north,

where the mighty Nile River

concludes its 4,000 mile journey

at the Mediterranean Sea.

People have flocked here for

centuries, and they still do.

More than 20 million people

live in the

Cairo metro area today,

making it the Middle East's

demographic centre for Islam.

This is the Great

Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha,

a governor appointed

by the Ottoman Empire

to rule Egypt in

the early 19th century.

It's also called the Alabaster

Mosque, for obvious reasons.

Egypt has a long and

varied religious history,

but nowadays 90% of

the country is Muslim,

100 million worshippers.

But the country is also home

to one of the oldest

branches of Christianity.

Only about 10% of

Egyptians are Christians,

and most of them belong to the

very ancient Coptic Church.

St Mark's Cathedral is named

for St Mark the Evangelist,

the author of the Gospel of

Mark in the New Testament.

He was a companion of both

the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Church tradition says Mark

arrived in Alexandria from Rome

around the year 60 during

the reign of Emperor Nero,

who was no fan

of Christianity.

The oldest Christian school

or university that we know of

was established at least

as early as the year 180.

We even know the names and

still have some of the writings

of the heads of this school;

Pantanous, Clement and Origen.

These were all highly

trained philosophers

who converted to Christianity,

and in the face

of staunch opposition

from Roman authorities,

tried to demonstrate

that Jesus Christ

was the fulfilment

of everything

Greco-Roman

culture was longing for.

They had mixed success.

Roman authorities

found Christians in

this period really annoying,

not just because Christianity

was rapidly expanding,

but because Christians

refused to worship

the local Greek

and Roman gods,

and so they were

seen as culturally

subversive, even disloyal.

And sometimes this

annoyance spilled over

into actual violence.

We know of one

major riot here in Egypt

that resulted in the clubbing

to death of many Christians,

including the local

bishop named George.

They grabbed

George out of his church,

strapped him to a camel

and beat him to a pulp.

And then they set him on

fire, along with the camel.

Stories of early Christian

persecution and martyrdom

have sometimes been exaggerated,

but all historians agree

things reached a fever pitch

between Emperor Decius

in the year 250

and Emperor Diocletian in 303.

Many Christians,

both leaders and laypeople,

were ex*cuted in this period,

including here in Egypt.

One of Emperor Diocletian's

decrees targeted what he thought

was the key to Christian

growth: their writings,

"All Christian books",

he said,

"were to be seized and

destroyed".

This is an ancient

Christian codex,

the precursor to the book.

It's basically

papyrus leaves cut to

shape, sewn together,

and then bound in

something sturdy, like

these leather book covers.

The interesting thing is

we know that Christians

were the first to

popularise the book form

over the scrolls

we normally associate

with the ancient world.

And the reason

for this is that books

were far more transportable

than a box of scrolls.

And one thing we know about

Christians in this period,

they were constantly

on the move,

trying to transport

their faith and their

books to further lands.

And on one piece of

papyrus from this period,

we have a Christian hymn,

complete with musical notation.

We not only know

what Christians were

teaching in

these early centuries,

we know what

they were singing.

But for this,

we have to travel south.

Our destination is Oxyrhynchus,

about another 100 or

so kilometres from here.

And I don't deny,

I'm pretty excited.

For years, I've been

reading about this place

and the stuff they've found

there, and now I get to go.

It was a thriving

metropolis in Roman times,

but I'm preparing myself for

nothing but sun-baked ruins

and ancient rubbish dumps,

which I still quite like.

Oxyrhynchus has a long history,

stretching back to the

20th Pharaonic dynasty

of the New Kingdom

period, roughly 1100 BC.

The town was originally

known as Per-Medjed

At first, it was a

kind of military station

designed to protect

vital caravan routes.

Dr. Esther Pons

is the head of the

Department of

Egyptian Antiquities

and the Near East at Spain's

National Archaeological Museum.

Archaeologically speaking,

she's the boss here

and a wonderful host.

Alexander the Great

conquered Egypt in 332 BC.

It was a cultural

turning point,

transforming Egypt

and cities like this one

into thoroughly

Hellenistic or Greek domains.

Local Greek speakers call

this place Oxyrhynchopolis,

the city or polis of the

sharp-nosed fish,

the Oxyrhynchus.

And you can just make

out the little guy here.

Now, locals actually

worship this fish as a god,

and there are some

bizarre ancient myths

about what he got up to.

But it's not

exactly family-friendly,

so I'll leave

you to Google that.

The original city went

about two kilometres this way

and another two

kilometres that way.

Over 50,000

people once lived here,

making it the second-largest

city in Egypt at the time.

The population

enjoyed a fusion of

Greek language and learning,

combined with Egyptian

funeral rites and deities.

Sometime in the

second century,

Christians arrived here

with their strange notions,

not only that there's

just one god,

but that this god had entered

the world in a concrete way

in the life of a man from

Nazareth, 400 miles north.

And it remains one of the

mysteries of ancient history

that Christians without

any power or armies or wealth

were able to

persuade so many people

to abandon the

traditional gods,

Serapis, Osiris,

the long-nosed fish,

and worship Jesus Christ.

In the late Roman

Empire,

the so-called

Byzantine period,

a number of monasteries for

monks and nuns

were built

outside the city walls,

making Oxyrhynchus a

significant Christian centre.

All of that changed with

the Muslim conquest of Egypt

in the 640s AD.

It brought to an end

seven centuries of Roman rule.

Oxyrhynchus began to shrink,

and by the Middle Ages, it was

little more than a ruin.

The British

conquered Egypt in 1882,

partly motivated by

protecting their interests

in the shipping

lanes of the Suez Canal.

British control

paved the way for British

academics to research,

some would say to plunder,

Egypt's hidden treasures.

In 1897,

two Oxford scholars,

Bernard Grenfell

and Arthur Hunt,

decided to mount

an expedition to the

once great city

of Oxyrhynchus.

Grenfell and Hunt were

particularly interested

in finding papyri,

the basic writing material

of the Roman world.

So, the locals brought them

out here to the edge of town,

to the rubbish dumps.

Grenfell wasn't

super impressed.

In fact,

he wrote in his diary,

"My first impressions on

examining the site

were not very favourable.

"The rubbish mounds were

nothing but rubbish mounds."

He soon realised, though,

that he had chanced upon

the greatest discovery

of ancient texts ever.

Those first few scraps

of papyrus quickly revealed

an entire

discarded ancient archive.

"The flow of papyri soon became

a torrent," Grenfell wrote.

"Merely turning up the

soil with one's boot

would frequently

disclose a layer".

Hey, Siri,

what's the high today?

"The high temperature will

be 36 degrees Celsius today".

And it feels it.

This was the key to the

discovery of these documents.

Paper dies in the damp,

but it thrives in the

hot, dry conditions of Egypt.

I'm no fan of 100

degrees Fahrenheit,

but papyrus loves it.

Grenfell and

Hunt employed locals to

carefully store the papyri,

but they could hardly keep

pace with the rate of discovery,

and they were

running out of containers.

In the end,

they uncovered more than

half a million

scraps of papyri,

spanning the Greek,

Roman and Islamic periods.

This historical gold mine

included letters, contracts,

official records, plays,

poetry and philosophy,

as well as pages

of the New Testament.

It's impossible to overstate

how much the Oxyrhynchus papyri

have helped us understand

the ancient world.

Our focus is on just

one scrap of papyrus,

uncovered here in 1918.

It's not even a page, really,

it's just 30 centimetres

by 5 centimetres,

but it provides

amazing early evidence,

not only of the beliefs

and spread of Christianity,

but also of its music.

Oxyrhynchus is

the home of what we've

come to call The First Hymn,

the earliest Christian

song with musical notation.

Its Greek words

and melody sound strange

to our 21st century ear,

but the song

must have been popular

amongst Egypt's

early Christians.

It might have

been sung in people's

houses, in marketplaces

and, of course,

in churches like

this giant basilica,

built to hold 1,000 people.

The song hasn't been heard

around here for many centuries.

I thought I'd have a

go at bringing it home.

At the time,

Grenfell and Hunt

had little idea of

what they'd uncovered.

The fragment was

catalogued - number 1786 -

packed in a biscuit tin

alongside other papyri

and sent here to the

University of Oxford.

The University of

Oxford is one of the

oldest in the world.

It's been educating

English speakers

and Latin speakers before that

for over 900 years.

These lovely doorways were

once the actual entrances

to the various subjects

taught here at Oxford.

This, of course,

is the School of Logic.

And next door is the School

of Astronomy and Rhetoric,

which is a very weird

combination of subjects.

I love this

guy's face right here.

This is now the Bodleian

gift shop next time you're here.

And over here is the Schola

Musicae, the School of Music.

Now, Oxford's medieval

setting is our doorway

to something much,

much older,

to the first Christian

hymn with musical notation.

Scholars call

it Papyrus Oxyrhynchus,

catalog number 1786,

P. Oxy 1786.

Along with literally

thousands of other bits of paper

from the ancient

world, our P. Oxy 1786

is stored safely here

at the Sackler Library,

or more precisely, up in the

papyrology rooms of Level 1.

This is home to

the world's most

extensive collection

of ancient Greek papyri.

Although they recently

changed the name

to the Bodleian Art, Archaeology

and Ancient World Library,

because of

the billionaire Sackler

family's association with the

opioid crisis in the US.

The official

custodian of the papyri

is the

Egypt Exploration Society,

and their collections manager is

Dr. Stephanie Boonstra.

The fragments range from

about the late first century BC

up until the seventh century AD,

and we have information

about ancient cities,

about the people,

what they were doing,

but also of things

like their religion,

and it was a monastic city,

so we have this

Christian evidence as well.

And I think

I recognize this one.

Yes, yeah, this is one

that you'll probably know

a lot about as

well as your viewers.

So here we have

a few fragments of

New Testament fragments.

So here we have one that

was most recently published,

and it's a fragment

from the Gospel of Mark.

It's the opening

paragraph, isn't it?

Yes, yeah, it's Mark 1.

Pretty much a couple of

paragraphs.

Yeah, and so it's gotten a

lot of buzz in recent years.

It's one of the earliest

examples of a fragment

from the Gospel of Mark.

The New Testament

texts themselves,

some of which are among

the Oxyrhynchus papyri,

regularly refer to

the singing of songs.

The Gospels say Jesus and the

Apostles sang hymns together.

The letters of

Paul to the churches

urged the faithful to keep

singing and making music.

The words of P. Oxy 1786

provide a unique window

into the content of

ancient Christian singing.

And it wasn't all happy clappy.

This song is

actually a bit nerdy.

And what do we sing?

Patera, Huion, Hagion, Pneuma,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now, scholars often say

this line is of some interest,

and what

they mean is it's amazing.

This is the doctrine

of the Trinity,

the Christian

idea that the one God

is Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit.

And you sometimes

hear that that idea

was only invented much later,

say in 325 at

the Council of Nicaea

when Emperor Constantine

forced this

doctrine on the church.

But the thing is,

here's the idea in a song

from the previous century.

Eventually

as the church received

Israel's witness and Scripture,

and reflected

profoundly on the significance

of Jesus Christ,

his dying and rising,

his presence among us,

and the Spirit

poured out on all flesh,

they came to see that this

was the life of Trinity

turned toward the world.

Katherine Sonderegger

was educated

at Yale and Brown Universities,

and is now one of the

most celebrated names

in that strange

field known as Theology.

Okay, let's talk about Trinity.

Can you give me the dummies

guide to what is the Trinity?

Trinity is eternally

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

even if there were no cosmos,

a God would be the living God

who offers himself in the Word

and receives that

Word back in the Spirit.

That would be true of

God's life regardless.

Wouldn't it have been

simpler for the early Christians

just to go down

the Greco-Roman path

and say that the Trinity is

really three different gods,

or maybe three manifestations

of the one God?

It would be possible

to look at the relation

between the emperor

and the junior emperors,

and get an idea that there

is a high God, the Father,

and then these

subordinate Caesars,

but only a doctrine that

saw all of these elements

as one and as fully

God actually captured

what it means to say

God is the living God.

The New

Testament didn't begin

with an abstract

concept of deity,

or even the Greco-Roman deity,

and say Jesus is like that.

What they actually did

is say Jesus was like

the one God of Israel.

Esau McCaulley says the

first Jewish Christians

didn't see Jesus as another God,

but somehow as the

God of Israel in person.

And so what you see then

is not the Jewish Christians

saying, "Oh,

Jesus is like Zeus."

They're saying that somehow

within the one divine identity,

you have the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I can give you an example.

There's this passage in

1 Corinthians 8, verse 6,

where it has the Shema.

Shema is one of the most holy

passages for the Israelites.

"Hear, O Israel, the

Lord your God is one."

And you should worship

the Lord your God only.

And so, one God,

that was it.

But when Paul

quotes it, he says,

"You might have

many gods, but for us,

there's one God the Father

and one Lord Jesus Christ."

It's clear

Christians were

reflecting on the Trinity

and singing about it

long before the concepts

were formalized in

the famous Nicene Creed.

Here's how

the hymn in part puts it,

"Let all be silent,

shining stars not sound,

as we sing our hymn to the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

the only giver of all good

gifts. Amen."

But what adds to the

interest in P.Oxy 1786

is that it contains

more than words.

You can see these little

squiggles above the words.

That's ancient

Greek musical notation.

It tells us

the melody of the hymn.

And what's so fun about this

is that the tune

isn't the stodgy stuff

we often associate

with chanting monks.

It's pop music.

It's the kind of

melody you'd expect to hear

at an ancient Greek pub or at

some theater performance.

Whoever composed this song

was trying to take

serious Christian ideas

and give them to the masses.

This is not just theology,

it's public Christianity.

As far as we know,

there was music everywhere,

just as there

is in today's world.

The main musical

fragments that have survived

relate to such things

as music in theater,

so music of tragedy.

There's something

called a skolion,

which is a drinking song

with an epicurean theme,

"Live Now Because We All Die."

There's music from

performances

that might have taken place

in large-scale

open-air theaters,

but also stuff that might have

been sung in smaller venues.

Armand D'Angour

is a world authority

on the music, text, and

culture of ancient Greece.

Now you've had a chance

to look at our P.Oxy 1786.

How does it compare melodically

to other bits and pieces

of music we've found?

Interestingly, I think

it shows very clearly

the influence of

Greek musical tradition

going back all

the way to the earliest

document that we have.

And the Christian hymn

is a remarkable discovery

because it's the only

Christian piece of music

using the ancient

pagan notation.

More recently, scholars

have recognized that

it isn't really any different

from that earlier music

in terms of the way it

uses the melodic structures.

The writer of this

first hymn seems to have had

one eye on pagan,

that's Greco-Roman,

religion and culture.

One of the lines

contains not just a

straightforward piece

of Christian teaching,

but what looks

like a bold comparison

between Greek gods

and the Holy Trinity.

My favourite bit

is here at the end.

We sort of lose

the words over here,

so it's a bit of guesswork

knowing what was there.

And then we can just make

out the top of the words

to "the only giver

of all good gifts",

Panton Agathon.

God is described as

the great gift giver.

And with that theme,

the hymn ends in

good Christian fashion

with the words, "Amen, amen".

Which is a way of saying,

"we really believe this".

Experts have pointed out

the expression "giver of gifts"

was a stock description

of a god like Zeus,

the chief of the gods whom

the Romans called Jupiter.

Our Christian hymn

calls this into question.

The one true God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

is said to be the only

giver of all good gifts.

It's confident,

even a little cheeky.

Love it or hate it,

Jews and Christians

have always said

there's one God and he's Lord of

everywhere and everyone.

P.Oxy 1786 is a musical

rendition of this same idea.

So we've set

ourselves a challenge.

As interesting

as the history is,

our hope is to go

beyond the ancient,

to see if we can

replicate here and now

what those early Christians

were trying to achieve

through this song.

Well, if architecture is

for admiring,

food and wine for tasting,

songs are for singing.

We've talked to the ancient

experts about P.Oxy 1786,

but if we wanna resurrect

this hymn for a new audience,

we've gotta talk to a

couple of my friends,

some of the most accomplished

Christian songwriters

in the world today.

Our first stop is

my hometown of Sydney.

I managed to grab

some time with friend

and musician, Ben Fielding.

Ben and his co-writer,

Brooke Ligertwood,

won a Grammy for

their 2018 song

What a Beautiful Name.

If you've ventured into

a church in the last few years,

there's a pretty good chance

you've heard it.

Then there's the gold record

making song, This I Believe,

where Ben took

The Apostles' Creed,

an ancient statement of

Christian belief,

and turned it into

a cracking song.

Last time I checked, it had

more than 130 million plays

just on Spotify.

Ben didn't need much

convincing to help us bring

the first hymn back to life.

I fired off the lyrics

and some of my

singing to inspire him.

Hopefully.

It seems Ben was

sold on the project

without my powers

of persuasion.

Mate, this is such

an exciting project.

Anybody that I mention it to,

they're fascinated

by this idea that,

that firstly,

the hymn's been discovered,

and then the idea of

bringing it back to life.

I think, of course,

everybody always says,

"What happens if

the song's no good?"

I can't get away from that.

That's every single person.

But I think that

there's still just something

in the journey of

bringing this back to life.

Ben's been thinking his

way

through the original melody.

He reckons songwriters,

whether ancient or modern,

face similar challenges.

The melody

range is quite narrow.

Rhythmically, it's not

too complicated or complex.

You can imagine a lot of people.

What about the little

trills over the Amen's, though?

- Well, those are cool.

- They are so cool.

Yeah.

But I imagine

ancient congregations

trying to pull that off,

because you wouldn't

have that kind of trill

in a modern hymn.

Have you ever

put a trill like that?

I haven't.

I know that there's some

more elaborate melodies that,

and sometimes you gotta be

careful that you don't dumb down

a melody too much,

and you just

assume no one can sing it,

because I think if

it's well-structured

and it is memorable,

people go along to a

concert from

their favorite artist

and sing along to

stuff that's quite complex.

And I think if it's memorable,

that you can

get away with a lot.

Thankfully, Ben's

already brimming with ideas.

Let everything

that has breath

Come and praise Him

Praise Him

Praise to the Father

To the Son and the Spirit

Let everything

And then you could kind of

build off something like that.

It often happens

with writers,

whether composers or authors,

a passing thought

suddenly leaps out.

I'd love to find

an Egyptian singer.

Yeah.

Can you imagine if we

can find an Egyptian singer

who can do, like maybe,

a little, amen at

different points through.

It could be really haunting.

Well, and to get that

trill sounding authentic.

We'll come back

to that idea.

For now,

we need a collaborator.

Ben put me in touch with

American singer-songwriter,

Chris Tomlin.

I was excited.

Chris has sold

over 12 million records,

and he has over 7

billion streams to his name.

He's a Grammy winner

with over 30 top 10 hits.

It's estimated

that 30 million people

sing Chris's music in

churches every week.

Time magazine

described him as,

"potentially the most often

sung artist in the world".

I love the idea that you

might wanna be involved

with this, Chris.

I love it.

- Oh yeah.

I mean, Ben, you know,

I've known Ben a while,

and I just,

I really trust his writing,

and I trust his heart.

And when he

mentioned your name,

and then I remembered all

the songs you've written,

I thought, oh my goodness,

this could be

very, very special.

Yeah, what a moment.

What an opportunity.

Just incredible.

I am so honored to

be brought into this.

Thank you, Ben,

for reaching out.

Thank you, John, for saying,

"okay, let's do this",

because I love it.

If we can somehow,

sorry, let me correct myself.

If you guys can somehow

bring a beautiful melody

that honors this ancient melody,

and honors,

obviously, the words,

you know, some anonymous

theologian put together,

what a gift this will be to

the church to sing this again.

And that's kind of

what we're trying to do,

is go like, could

the people of God today

join the people of God

back in the, you know,

the second, third century,

in these really early

formative stages of the church?

Could we sing that same hymn?

I'd already sent Chris

an image of P. Oxy 1786,

with my translation of

the hymn. He had questions.

Is that the whole of the song,

or is that just

a piece that was found?

It's all we've got,

that's all we've got,

because, you know,

I sent you a photo of the

manuscript, right?

That is literally

all we've got.

Yeah, so sadly,

there's no more.

I mean, in terms

of songwriting,

you guys have to

honor these words,

but come up

with some other ones.

We can't just slap

an English translation

onto an ancient Greek tune.

With all due respect to

the original composer,

the melody is a little

weird to the modern ear.

We have to find

a fresh way forward.

John, is your vision that

we try to stay right

there with that,

so we're really singing like we

were 1800 years ago,

I don't know.

No way, no, I wanna

hear a song that's like,

the kind of anthemic

song you both have written,

that's got a pop sensibility

with a hymnic gravitas.

It's a balancing

act, a creative puzzle,

and we need both these musical

brains to make it happen.

I'm really open to

messing with whatever,

like I'll send

you what I've got,

and then we can start again.

Yeah, send me what you got.

I just think

there's anything in there.

I mean, I was

like looking around,

I was kind of

writing some things today,

as I was thinking about

this, just some thoughts down,

so I look forward to like

maybe hearing what you have

and see if it is kind of

matching what I was thinking.

It'd be interesting.

I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go.

Ben, send that to me.

I'm ready, I'm ready to go.

Cool.

Ben and Chris have

their work cut out for them.

We'll leave them to it.

We have other puzzles to solve.

Musically,

the first hymn isn't what

we've come to expect

from sacred music.

Christian hymns like

this one have been sung

for a mere 280 years.

Do we know how far back

Christians were singing

and writing songs?

Well, that's probably one of

the easiest questions to answer

because we actually have songs,

to Jesus in the New Testament.

We have Philippians chapter 2,

verses 6-11, which is a hymn.

There's another one in

Colossians 1:15 - 20,

another hymn to Jesus.

And so the easiest way to

answer that question is,

we know there's a lot of

hymns that the Christians sung

because they're

hymns in the Bible,

the Christian that we have as

a part of our ongoing record.

Sadly, the musical notation

didn't also get passed down

with the manuscript.

Exactly. Anytime you

have a poem

or anything that's translated

into English, some of

the rhythm and the things

that mark it out as

poetry and as music are lost.

But it's pretty clear to

anyone who takes a close look

at those passages and

maybe 1 Corinthians 13,

it was poetic about love.

You have this reality,

the early Christians

were creating art

related to the person of

Jesus in particular,

and a praise and worship of him

that speaks a lot about

his divinity.

The first

Christians were all Jews,

and we know

Jews were monotheists.

- They believed in just one God.

- Yes

So my question is, were

the Christians departing

from their Jewish

roots in saying that

Jesus was somehow also God?

Well, I don't think so.

One of the things that

often you can

discover in a text

are the things

that people fought about.

And so you can tell

by reading the text of

the New Testament, there's

a lot of fights about the law.

Christians were

trying to figure out,

should I keep the Torah or

should I not keep the Torah?

There was a lot of fights

about the place of the Gentiles,

how the Gentiles

and Jews lived together.

There's a lot of fights, a lot

of discussion about ethics,

how do we live

together as Christians?

You know what you don't

see them fighting about

a lot in the New Testament?

The divinity of Jesus.

It actually seemed to be

something that, in other words,

you never hear Paul having to

argue Jesus is actually divine.

He usually assumes it for most

cases throughout his letters.

You see the exact same

thing by the time you get

to the Gospel of John,

they're not fighting about it.

You see it narrated

in the synoptics.

And so it seems to be the

case that pretty early on,

the Christians

began to think about Jesus

and the Spirit as divine.

So it shouldn't

surprise us that the Christians

behind P. Oxy 1786

would sing about God

as the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit.

It seems from the beginning,

the most important ideas

weren't just proclaimed and

written down, they were sung.

Our modern idea of the

Christian hymn has more to do

with early modern Europe

than the ancient Roman Empire.

During the 16th century,

the so-called Protestants,

who got their name from

protesting what they saw

as certain church excesses,

split from the Catholic church.

Whatever else we might

make of the tumultuous events

of this Reformation period,

it resulted in

a lot of new songs.

Some groups,

and I won't name names,

said we should only sing

the very words of scripture,

particularly the Old

Testament book of Psalms,

which was kind of the

ancient Israelite songbook.

Anything else they said was

unbiblical and unacceptable.

Other groups were a little

more relaxed and creative.

They said, so long

as our words reflect

the general truth

of the Bible,

we're free to explore the

joys of melody and creativity.

And the result was an

expl*si*n of Christian hymns.

Wherever the

Christian faith is gone,

people are singing.

There's an organization called

Wycliffe Bible Translators

that has emphasized

in recent years,

ethno-musicology,

and have found that

when the Bible is

translated into a new language

that perhaps it had not

even been written before,

there is some interest, some

enthusiasm, some excitement.

But when that same

text, the Bible translated

into a new language,

is set to music,

there is much greater resonance

and much deeper appreciation.

And that worldwide phenomenon

has been true in the West.

So Western Christian

history is at the same time

a history of music and

a history of hymnody.

There's such a back catalog of

hymns through the centuries.

Do we need any more?

The answer is definitely yes,

with a couple of qualifications.

Hymns are designed

to express truths,

but also to ground

those truths in emotions,

to make them memorable.

If there are not

new hymns being written

that reflect the needs,

the desires, the outlook,

the standpoint of the

present, then the churches

will be antiquarian

and will have nothing

to say to

the world around them.

Chris and Ben

have been hard at work

creating a new first hymn

from the building

blocks of the original.

From these small beginnings,

Chris and Ben went into

their own creative wonderland.

Meanwhile, we've

come to Chicago

to talk to someone

I've admired ever since

I first came across

P. Oxy 1786.

The first hymn

uses a kind of music

that is very

familiar to Westerners.

It's diatonic music.

And all that means is it's

made out of the whole steps

and the half steps

that our music is made of.

When you go to a piano, if

you play keys on the piano

in a row, you're playing

whole steps and half steps.

And our scales are made out of

combinations of those.

Charles Cosgrove is a

kind of triple threat

of classical education,

expert linguist,

historian, and musician.

And he literally wrote

the book on P. Oxy 1786.

Perhaps strangely

to the modern ear,

the original

lyrics of the first hymn

tell all creation

to be silent.

The beginning of this is

the Greek cultic concern

that when a cultic

act was being performed,

someone might say an

inauspicious word

that offended the god.

And so there would

be a call to silence

or to watch your tongue.

And then that call to

silence would start the ritual.

So silence falls, and then

the ritual could begin

with prayers and maybe

a hymn and so forth.

And in the hymns,

it often announces

that the god is

approaching the temple.

And so "Fall Silent

as a God Approaches"

and then the boys

choir will sing the god.

It seems our ancient

Christian songwriter

knew his Greco-Roman

context well.

Was he trying to make his pagan

contemporaries comfortable

before offering his

controversial message?

My favorite

line is the last one,

that God is "the only

giver of all good gifts".

Am I right

that Zeus was actually

said to be the

giver of good gifts?

But here the author of

this song is saying that

God is the only

giver of all good gifts.

So what is

the songwriter doing?

Is this just copying?

Is he being critical?

Is he evangelizing or what?

Yes, well, the hymnwriter

is doing two things.

One is to speak

in a neoclassical way

by taking up the language

of a venerable tradition

and dignifying the hymn

and God with this language.

At the same time,

the hymnwriter is asserting

that Christian idea

that only one God

gives all the good things,

not many gods.

Ben and Chris

have been hard at work,

and the first hymn project

has made its way to Nashville.

Nashville is the

mecca of Christian music

to mix my religions.

It's home to

a baffling number of

Christian music

publishing houses,

record labels and

production companies.

This is where big names in

the Christian music industry,

like Amy Grant, Michael

W Smith, got their break.

But it's also the home

of more recent artists

like Lauren Daigle

and Anne Wilson.

And Nashville is the

home of the Dove Awards.

They're not quite

the Grammys,

but in the US,

a very big deal.

So this feels like

the perfect place to

try and revive P. Oxy 1786.

Chris Tomlin

invited us to The Barn,

his writing and rehearsal

space just outside Nashville.

The plan was to lock these

guys in a room for a few days

and let them hash

out their best ideas

for the new first hymn.

- John!

- I like this. Can I have one?

Can I have one?

- You can.

Hey, buddy.

Wow, nice to

meet you in the flesh.

- I know. Good to see you.

- And my friend. Wow.

Good to see you.

So this is happening?

- Yeah, it's happening.

- It's on.

Right.

Some pleasantries,

admiring their awesome

writing space,

and then it's

down to business.

How do you feel it's been going?

You should probably ask Chris.

I feel like

it's been going well,

but Chris might be

seething in the background.

How did I get into this?

No, absolutely. It's

been really beautiful.

I love working with Ben.

We've worked a little bit

together over the years.

And so, you know,

going back and forth

through from Australia to

Tennessee, it's been wonderful.

I really enjoyed it because

we'll just how about this idea

and send it and

then I'll wait for him to

wake up eight hours later.

And then by

the time I'm asleep,

I wake up and

there's something else,

you know, because

the time changes.

And so it's just been beautiful.

OK. And then it gives it's

been an interesting process

because it just kind of

gives me the day

to think through it and then.

And to delete

anything you don't like.

I shouldn't have said that.

- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then I and

then I send back to him

and just us just talking about

how do we really capture this

in the best way we can.

These beautiful, beautiful

words and these ancient words.

And it's just such a

I feel such responsibility too.

- Yeah

- Massive.

I mean, this there's this

is not just another lyric.

This is so special.

And so I've

really, really loved it.

What's the difficulty

involved?

Like, what have

you found hard about it?

The only thing

I've found hard is

I just second guess myself.

Is this good enough?

Is this good enough?

Yeah, that's a

huge part of it.

You know, because it's your.

But is that the same

with every song you write?

No, but this feels

different because it's

like you're just you're holding

something that's

it's already been.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

It's already been sung.

It's already been.

And you're like,

I know you want to.

But obviously

you want to bring it into

this this time period and this

this generation.

And so you're like, am I do

are we doing are we

holding this the right way?

- And the responsibility to

try to capture what it was that

unified the church

way back then

and to be able to

take those elements,

but try to modernize them

and thinking about, well,

what would a chorus be like?

You know, would that ancient

hymn have even had a chorus?.

But I think in the modern

version of the hymn, it would.

So trying to work out where to

put emphasis in the song.

- Yes

- All of that

is just kind of like it -

it's the challenge of taking

something that was

and making it

something that is now.

But I couldn't think

of anybody I prefer to

be doing this with than Chris.

And when you got involved, just

the enthusiasm that just

got breathed into this

was just fantastic.

And so I was blown away.

Chris is like firing messages.

I'm trying to keep up

and like fire back.

It's like it was

a really sweet kind of

part of the process.

To kind of wake

up and find like,

you know, three or four

different kind of verses

and just keep that

creativity going on the song.

I think I think

it's been really special.

Now, you need to

understand that I had

no idea just how

much these guys had been

working together online.

So nothing prepared

me for what came next.

The question is,

how long 'till you think

you've got a full song?

- OK

- A complete song.

So we got we got a little

bit of a surprise for you.

And that is we think

we finished the song.

What?!

Yeah, it

happened so fast.

How did that happen?

I don't know. I mean, I've

written lots of songs,

Ben's written

lots of songs and rarely

do they just...

I think it was the lyric

was so much there that

just several times

back and forth,

like this feels

really, really special.

So we'd love to

play it for you.

Oh, man.

- Yeah.

- OK.

Now I've got shivers.

Let all be silent

The shining stars not sound

The rushing rivers still

Let the mountains bow down

In awe and wonder

In reverence we come

Who is worthy of all

worship?

Who is seated on the throne?

All powers cry out

in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God, the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit

Amen

We sing, Amen

Let all be silent

I was stunned.

Not just because they

secretly finished the song,

but because even in

its raw form,

I could hear how masterfully

they'd revived the message

and the mood of the first hymn.

Wow, that is a gorgeous tune.

And the lyrics are virtually

the definition of classic.

But what makes

a good worship song?

A song designed to be

sung by millions of people

around the world in church?

I suppose it has to be

singable by regular humans.

And it also has to capture

the head and the heart.

But what would I know?

I wanted to find

out more about how this

mysterious world of contemporary

Christian music works.

A great worship song

is one that

articulates the heart

of every worshipper

and directs their

attention to God.

In 2024, Christian

contemporary music

was the fourth fastest

growing genre in the world,

up 60 percent over

the last five years.

Labels like

Capital CMG, Centricity,

Hillsong Worship and Integrity

preside over

a market that now accounts

for more internet

streams than jazz

and classical music combined.

The thing about

a song is that,

especially one you enter into,

it's one that you're

giving yourself over to and

you're participating in

the song and

what the song says.

And so the context

of the song and in the

direction that it

takes your heart

and your mind is really

important.

And so to have

an accurate theology,

a good understanding of

who God is, of the work of

Jesus on the cross,

all of these things,

they actually

actually do matter.

Do you think

Christian music has anything

to offer people who don't know

what to make of Christianity?

To the wider world?

- It certainly should.

But part of the issue,

the historic issue with

why it doesn't often is that

it isn't always believable.

We only tend to write in like

superlative and hyperbole

about God answering all of my

you know, answering all my

prayer, meeting all my needs.

And it's and that's a

really foreign concept

to somebody who

isn't a person of faith

or raised within the church.

The first hymn was

lost to the world for centuries

and rediscovered

100 years ago.

Experts have

studied its musical and

historical

significance for decades.

For the last

two years, we've been

working to give

it back to the world.

I don't know what

the original composer

would think of what

we're doing,

but it's time to lay this thing

down again for posterity.

Dark Horse Studios, nestled in

the countryside outside

beautiful Franklin, Tennessee.

This is where

songs by Hunter Hayes,

Keith Urban and

Taylor Swift were recorded.

Now it's the first hymn's turn.

Hey! It's been a long time.

And this is where

we meet Jonathan Smith,

the two time Grammy

multi Dove Award winning

songwriter and producer.

He'll be shepherding

us through this

crucial stage of

reviving the first hymn.

And then we don't

have to be bound by that.

Yeah.

Here. We. Go.

To the only

giver of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God

to the risen king

To the one

who died and rose again

Amen.

We sing Amen

All powers cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God

The Father, Son and

Holy Spirit

Amen, we sing Amen

So that's it.

Job done.

Save file, send to Spotify.

Not really.

The first hymn

project was never about

just resurrecting

an ancient song.

It's about giving

that song back to

a new generation of

believers and doubters.

And for that,

we need a lot more help.

Greek speaking Egyptians first

composed and sang this tribute

to the only giver of all

good gifts.

So it only seems right to ask

a descendant of these ancient

people to help us put the

finishing touches on the hymn.

This is Music City Walk of Fame.

It's pretty

cool, but it's not where

we're going to find

what I'm looking for.

From the beginning

of this project,

I had the crazy idea of

bringing the song full

circle by including

an Egyptian singer,

someone who can capture

the feel of the place

where this hymn

was first sung

and then lost

and then found again.

And you know what?

Nashville has

given us that as well.

The Coptic Orthodox Church

in America is

a branch of one of

the oldest continuously

existing churches in the world.

The first Copts,

as they're called,

arrived in the US in the 1940s.

They were foreign

students who brought

their ancient ways with them.

Today, there are

several hundred churches here

and all of them are committed

to preserving their heritage,

including their music.

Katy Fayck Eskander

is a native Egyptian

and the choir director

at St Mary's Coptic Church

in Nashville.

She's recorded five

studio albums and 25 singles.

And every week she helps keep

alive her ancient tradition.

- Hey, I'm John.

- Nice to meet you.

We are thrilled

to have you on board.

Thank you so much.

We've come to speak

with Katy on the morning of her

recording session for

the new first hymn.

I'm nervous.

I don't know how she's feeling.

What drew you to

sing worship songs,

not just performance music?

The first part was the

genetic part from my mom.

She has amazing voice.

And the second part was my dad.

When I was three years old,

he kept teaching me Coptic music

and Coptic songs

and recorded it.

Then he let me

listen to my voice.

"This is your voice. You have a

good voice. Keep doing it".

The magic word here

is the relationship

between you and God.

I feel like

this is a gift from God.

My voice is a gift from God.

And the only person

deserves it is Him.

So if I like to

enjoy that, the amazing gift,

I would enjoy it with him.

So I feel like

I'm praying in my way.

- Jonathan, how are you?

- I'm good. How's Australia?

It's beautiful.

It's always beautiful.

Chris and Ben have

already given Jonathan

a good idea of what they hope

Katy can bring to the song.

So what are you thinking?

I know we've

talked about maybe having

that sort of at

the top of the song.

Like, how are you hearing it?

I think starting the song

with that motif,

with her singing it

is what's going to

really set the tone that

this song isn't

like any normal song, right?

Like it's not,

it's going to instantly

sort of give it an ancient feel.

Western music usually

operates with just 12 notes.

C, C sharp, D,

D sharp, E, F and so on.

Middle Eastern music,

Arabic, Coptic and so on,

has 24 notes made up of

microtones.

Very subtle pitches between the

traditional Western notes.

The result is a melodic

wonderland rich in emotion.

It doesn't take long before Katy

transports us to another

time and another place

to centuries ago in Egypt.

- Wow.

- Yes, fantastic.

That "all powers

cry out in answer."

The line you do

there is like, wow.

And all be silent

Back when music

was pretty much my life,

I loved and hated

the recording studio.

I mean, when you play live,

little mistakes,

they don't matter so much.

A wrongly placed finger here,

a slightly off note there,

and you can just call it jazz

and hardly anyone notices.

But here it's different.

In the studio, your performance

over and over and over

eventually has to be perfect.

All the while

trying to maintain the

sense of creative energy.

And that's why

you need a good producer.

I think of producers a bit like

Michelangelo, you know,

technically precise

and artistically brilliant,

and they can often

see the finished product

from the beginning.

I mean, a good

producer can hear what

a song really

wants to sound like

even better than

the original composers.

I know what moves my spirit

and what moves me.

And that's really the only

compass that I know to have.

And so I do think

as you as you work

and as you get experience,

your instincts get honed in

and you know what

you tend to love.

You trust that

there's going to be

other people out there

that love it.

Producers know exactly

what each instrument can

bring to a piece

and how to bring out the

best in every musician.

They guide the arrangement

and the performance.

And once it's all

recorded, they select,

arrange and layer the

dozens and dozens of

individual tracks

to fashion a coherent whole.

What did you put in

there to make that happen?

So I added that same

guitar part right here.

With some effects on it

like these right here.

Some pretty wide stereo

reverbs and things like that.

And so that was that was

what I started with

and then even added

some what I would call

kind of a world

sounds and rhythms

like this right here

to go along with it.

Again, just to put,

I want those

musicians first time they

hear it to be OK, this is not,

this song did not

come out of Nashville.

I want them to know

this is a an ancient thing.

And so even these banging

on a banjo and guitar.

- Huh, Yeah

- Yeah.

- Oh, that's gorgeous.

- Yeah. And so you play this.

And then what they're

So they're thinking world

music?

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

And you know what

I'm telling them is, hey,

I want you to still do the

thing that you do and do well,

but I want you to feel sort of

the heartbeat of the

song and not be guessing.

Just picture it's

going to sound like this,

you know, when it's all done.

So sometimes I'll

start with those sort of

more stylized things first.

I'm in awe of the

way a producer like Jonathan

can snatch one of those layers,

move it to the front

of the soundscape and change

the whole mood of the song.

Oh, yeah, no, this is this

is one of my favorite bits.

- Yeah.

- This was I saw this happen.

Like I remember

thinking, oh, man, he's

just replicated

the ancient melody.

Yeah. So we had originally

we had him playing over

the very beginning of the song.

Because we knew we

wanted that melody, right?

And so we weren't

exactly sure in the moment,

you know, is it going

to be a guitar?

Is it a piano? Is it a vocal?

Let's just get it all down.

And then sort of in the

editing process, we will decide.

So I think this was kind of

the first thing he played.

Kind of played

through the whole song.

Just beautiful tone.

But I think the moment that it

really counts would be this

section between the second

chorus and the bridge.

- Yeah.

- I'll solo it.

We can kind of hear

what he's doing, but.

Yeah

- Yeah, this is basically

the "amen, amen".

And everything

altogether comes in.

Yeah, so that's so good.

It's very like

an arrival moment.

It's a hook we've heard from the

beginning, a softer version.

And then that's more

of a triumphant version.

And how are

you feeling about this song?

I feel the most

excited about it.

I just cannot wait for

people to hear this song.

And the final

destination for all this?

Well, it'll be on

Chris Tomlin's next album,

which might already be out by

the time you're watching this.

But stay with us

and you'll hear

all these layers come

together beautifully

in a new version

of the first hymn.

And while all

this has been going on,

we've been getting ready

for something very special.

You know, it's

interesting.

1860, the school was founded,

started with eight faculty

members.

And one of those was a

professor of sacred music.

So from the very beginning,

the humble beginnings

of the institution,

music at the at the heart of

things,

not that surprising.

When you think about the musical

propensity of human beings,

music found in

every known culture,

music ubiquitous in our world

and so important

to human flourishing.

People, it turns

out, want to make music.

Wheaton College

was established in 1860

by abolitionist church leaders.

It was a well-known stop on the

famous Underground Railway.

Its main mission

today is to provide a

classic liberal arts education,

integrating

science, music, history,

literature and

the Christian faith.

This is also where I teach

the history of Christianity

and what we can

learn from the good

and the bad of the past.

The first hymn is

definitely part of the good.

Why is Wheaton College involved

in this first hymn project?

I mean, apart from the fact

that I just wandered over

one day to your office

and sprung the idea on you?

Well, I'm sure

you recall we were both

very enthused

about the whole thing.

What a compelling

story that we would link

with this writer of this music

so, so many years ago,

that we would join hands

with those

who sang this first hymn.

And now, so many

years later,

resonating with

the message, the music.

When the team at

the conservatory heard

about the first hymn project,

they were keen to

see the song brought

back to life in

multiple musical formats.

I think this is

such a mysterious and honourable

project and

our students and faculty

have really seized this story.

Which is why

these guys are here.

They're working on a classical

rendition of the first hymn,

both the Tomlin/Fielding version

and the original Greek one.

I am honoured

to be a part of it.

I love surprises.

And this is a complete surprise.

So I count it a privilege.

Dr Tony Payne is the

creative mind

behind the new arrangement.

It's really

another worldly kind of

experience to reach back

into hymnody

that wasn't notated

like we notate

and didn't have the form and

structure

like we have today in

a typical hymn

or Christian song.

And so I struggled

with it a bit.

It's like a gift that

comes in a time capsule

and we're suddenly confronting

it for the first time.

And I find

it really captivating.

I had a go at

singing the Greek original

in the ruins of Oxyrhynchus.

It was special,

but I'm pretty sure

this is how it's

really meant to sound.

They say music

can transport the soul.

I reckon I just visited

Roman Egypt in the 200s.

How I wish we could now bring

the original composer here

to watch what we're about

to do to the first hymn.

Let all be silent

The shining stars not sound

Rushing rivers.....

Tony is the kind

of musical scholar

that speaks multiple

musical languages.

He tells me

he just loves what Chris

and Ben's melody is saying.

You tend to

have thirds like this.

That's what our ear expects.

But in this newer

language that we're enjoying

and learning about.

So there it is just hanging.

And I don't think there

could be a more powerful use

of that suspended harmony

as the technical term for it.

Because normally we

might expect to hear this.

But that's not there.

But then you look at the text

and you realize it makes

all the sense in the world.

Let all be silent.

Shining stars not sound.

The thought of the stars

being silent is really powerful.

Amen we sing

Amen

Amen we sing

Amen

The big day approaches.

Chris and Ben have chosen Fort

Worth, Texas for the concert

that officially hands the first

hymn back to the world.

We've still got a bit of time.

And there's one more

person I wanted to speak to

about how this

whole project relates

to the broader

story of sacred music.

And I think

people remember

songs more than they

remember sermons.

And in that time, especially

when not everybody was reading,

there were not books everywhere.

So the words of the

songs would be some things

that will stay

deep in their memories.

We know from my own research,

how missionaries when they

arrive in different places,

new places, they were

very concerned

about publishing some kind of

collection of songs

because once they were gone,

until the next

preacher would come around,

the community could

hold on to those words

and remember what

they were by singing.

From the first

century to the 21st century,

Christians haven't just

preached their message

about the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit.

They've sung it,

inviting everyone,

whether believer or doubter,

whether in Oxyrhynchus or Texas,

to consider singing along.

I think so.

I think music is very powerful

and it moves

emotions and sometimes,

I think it's interesting.

We have eyelids,

but we don't have earlids.

So sometimes

we may hear something,

even if you are not

planning on, that's different.

We can always turn our

face and not see something,

but we can sometimes not take

a while for us not to listen.

And I think it's interesting.

I have heard stories of people

that they were just

attracted by the sound

and then they join in

and then they understand,

oh, this is what they're saying.

And people that have

told me in their own lives,

how they still remember

that was that one line

from that song

and they didn't understand

anything about doctrine,

about church, what's a

Protestant, what's a Baptist,

but that message of

the song spoke to me.

One reason thoughtful

people are put off

by this Christian message today

is the sheer

number of church brands.

With an estimated 3000

denominations worldwide,

it's no surprise that

people ask the question,

which version of Christianity?

That's what's so

special about the first hymn.

It was composed before

there were denominations.

It captures

the heart of Christianity

before there was Roman Catholic,

Greek Orthodox, or Protestant.

And Chris and Ben

have worked really hard

to highlight that core

so that all the brands

of Christianity today

can sing the new first hymn.

Well, it's now

time to test that idea.

And have we got

the crowd to do it.

There's over

10,000 people here tonight.

It's completely sold out.

When I was a musician, I

only ever played venues

about a 10th the size

of this on a good night,

but I remember

the feeling backstage

as the audience

filled the venue.

I wonder how Chris

and Ben are feeling.

Brings out both

new and old things

out of his treasure chest.

This is the cl*max of

an extraordinary journey.

We have traced the

rediscovery of P. Oxy 1786,

uncovered the significance of

the first hymn

with musical notation,

and witnessed master

musicians transform it

into a stunning

21st century anthem.

After two years of work,

we're ready to return the song

to its rightful place

on the lips of thousands.

The last time it was sung

was probably 1,800 years ago.

And we will sing it tonight

for the very first time.

And now, the

resurrected first hymn in full.

Let all be silent

The shining stars not sound

The rushing rivers still

Let the mountains bow down

In awe and wonder

In reverence we come

Who is worthy

of all worship?

Who is seated on the throne?

All powers cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit

Amen, we sing amen.

Let all be silent

The shining stars not sound

The rushing rivers still

The mountains bow down

In awe and wonder

In reverence we come

Who is worthy

of all worship?

Who is seated on the throne?

Who is worthy

of all worship?

Who is seated on the throne?

All powers cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit

Amen, we sing amen.

To the only

giver of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God

to the risen King

To the one who died

and rose again

Amen, we sing amen.

To the only

giver of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God

to the risen King

To the one

who died and rose again

Amen, we sing amen.

All power's

cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit

Amen, we sing amen

Amen.

Amen, we sing amen

Amen.

We sing our hymn, amen.

At the end

of all of this,

I just find myself thinking

about the original composer

of the first hymn and the

people who first sang it.

Here they were

trying to engage a culture

that was sometimes

trying to eradicate them.

They could never have imagined

what would become

of their song.

They could never have

predicted that their message

of the Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit

would one day cover the globe.

Although maybe that's wrong.

Given how

confident we know they were

in the only

giver of all good gifts,

maybe this is

exactly the sort of thing

they might have

dared to imagine.

To the only giver

of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God,

to the risen King

To the one

who died and rose again

Amen

We sing amen.

To the only giver

of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God,

to the risen King

To the one

who died and rose again

Amen

We sing amen.

All powers cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God, the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit

Amen

We sing amen.

To our God, the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit

Amen

We sing amen.

Let all be silent

The shining stars not sound

Rushing rivers still

let mountains bow down

In awe and wonder

with reverence we come

Who is worth of all worship?

Who is seated on the throne?

All powers cry out

in answer.

All glory and praise forever

To our God, the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit

Amen

We sing, Amen

To the only giver

of all good gifts

Amen

To the only one

who forgives our sins

Amen

To the only God,

to the risen King

To the one who died

and rose again

Amen. We sing Amen.

All powers cry out in answer

All glory and praise forever

To our God, the Father,

Son and Holy Spirit

Amen.

We sing Amen.