The Neighborhood Podcast

Songs Of Faith And Memory (November 2, 2025 Hymn Sing)

• Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

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A roomful of voices, a handful of scriptures, and a stack of hymns become something larger than a program: a living prayer. We open with Psalm 100 and Colossians 3, then move through beloved songs—some requested in hard seasons, others tied to service and family—each one carrying a name, a story, and a reason to keep singing. The energy is simple and human: sing a verse or two, honor a life, remember why the words matter, then keep going.

As we trace the thread from “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to “Eternal Father Strong to Save,” the memories fill in. A marching cadence from military training turns into courage for the present. A father who let his kids help pick the evening hymns teaches us that worship is participatory and joyful. We revisit John 3:16 and the Great Commandment, not as abstractions but as a lens for why music sticks—melody turns belief into muscle memory. The hymns become a portable prayer book you can carry anywhere: Blessed Assurance, He Lives, In The Cross of Christ I Glory, and the ever-steady Amazing Grace.

We also celebrate the writers who gave us language for faith—Fanny Crosby’s clear-eyed hope, Isaac Watts’ sturdy lines—and we make room for a new voice from our own community, a resident hymn writer offering fresh words grounded in Scripture. By the time we link hands for God Be With You Till We Meet Again, the setlist has become a circle. The takeaway is quiet but strong: singing binds us, teaches us, and holds space for sorrow and joy at once. If these songs have shaped your story, press play, sing along, and share the hymn you’d dedicate to someone you love. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell a friend who needs a song tonight.

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SPEAKER_02:

Welcome everybody. We're going to call this worship meeting to order. The worship committee said that we could have a little hamstring as another form of worship. So we have Ellen is going to share the word from the Bible and we're going to sing for the next hour. And if if uh the next hour comes up, raise your hand and we'll we'll say amen. But we got a lot of music in here. We'll probably just sing one or two verses of these. So Ellen, kick it off with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Good evening. I'll read Psalm 100, 1 through 2 very after this evening. Make a joyful noise to the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing. And join me as we read Colossians 3, 16 through 17. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. As you teach and admonish one another, as you sing songs, hymns, and spirit of song, with gratitude in your heart unto God.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, let's kick it off with over a thousand tongues to sing, or just to sing the first and fifth verses of that. This next one, I hope we all have the same program. We worked on this Jane Sharp worked to help me build it, so it uh I think it's in good shape for you. Arise Your Light Has Come used to be our theme song, Rise Up, O Men of God. We our men's chorus would sing that. So you know the tune. Let's try verses one and four of this one. Is the hymn tune that Stephen has composed his hymn that we'll use later in the program. So you're warming up with the singing of the first verse. We would sing that with a lot of enthusiasm. This is the next tune here is the only request that I got for this program. And it was Jan Haywood, and she was sort of in the dolgro. She had been about three weeks with a neurovirus and didn't know what was wrong with her, so she was she was pretty uh down. And she wanted us to sing Great Is I Faithfulness. We'll sing verse one in her honor. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee. We have a few of those throughout the program. This next one, the Eternal Father Strong to Save. Ernie Skillman and Reeves Liggins were military officers. And Ernie shared his story with me. They were in a training camp and they marched to get out of the Presbyterian church and they sang this song all the way, so as a group act like a soldier marching to uh to church. This one is dedicated to Ann and Harold Shelton. They were both solid members of our church that we looked up to. We were running ahead of schedule. Let's sing a couple verses of this. How about number one and number five? One and five. We're all singing our favorite. She's still hanging in there. Alright, here for the next one is uh dedication to her members of the horse when we got here. And his horse went out and singing to her. And we were shocked to hear that her favorite hand she wanted to hear was counter blessing. Sang verse one and a big long chorus. This is Charles Wesley that are in our handbook. And so Love was insane. So let's say the first and fourth verses of this one. And think back to the days when the the people were excited to be singing and and private days. Very good.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm I'm gonna interrupt the the flow just a little bit, but I want to tell you about something about my history. My dad was a church organist, the first Methodist in Athens, Georgia, and we had three services a day. So but we had a seven o'clock service in the evening, and my dad would pick the hens at that time. So we'd be at home on five o'clock in the afternoon, and he'd say to me and my brothers tonight. And we could pick anything. I mean, if we pick the presence, he'd probably say not tonight. So I think we'd be picking the hands for the evening or something. You did a good job for it. And the other thing I want to say is that I've been a teacher for a long time. If you can put something kids need to learn to a song, they can learn it so much aware. And for me, it's the same. I have songs on my head all the time. And it's like I can just worship God anywhere because I've got a song. I don't have to have a book with a song for all. John 3.16 is so familiar to us all. John loved John 3.16. God loved the world so much that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And join me as we read Matthew 22, 32 through 40, which is the greatest commandment of the law. Jesus answered, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart. And the second most important commandment is like it. You must love your neighbor as yourself. The word of the Lord for the people of God.

SPEAKER_02:

Anybody else want to throw in something in the program? We run it in good shape. As halfway, you'll talk about the football game. We reach halftime in this program. Again, we just want to dedicate some of these prayers to Dylan Love teaching us on prayer. So many of the hymns are a prayer. And you can open your hymn book if you have one at home and just use that. If you need a prayer tool, you know, just sit us right there in heaven. So, dear Lord, Father of Mankind, verses one and two. I dedicate to the memory of Martha Paul, who was Joe Browning's sister. He played the piano for us on for the music horse, and we appreciated all these volunteers that jumped in and games and why the hell is that Jordan wasn't here in those days, you know, so we had to uh recruit several ladies. Let's see. Blessed assurance. I'm gonna dedicate this one to the memory of Edith Phillips. And it's a uh Fanny Crosby hand, and she wrote a thousand hands as well, so she was blind, but she had a good hand on her shoulder and her right hand. So if you don't like Ellen I and the Methodist church, you had a lot of Fanny Crosby hands and handles a coachberry handle. Well, we all sing two verses. We're in good shape here. Which two? First first and third.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

We don't have much of a symbol of a cross to be something in a tragic place to be these days, or it was in Jesus' day. So let's let's sing uh verses one and four, please. I'm glad the mic is actually this is his favorite. Anyway. I'm gonna dedicate this with a big Lukas. Oh, yeah, so we can hear you better. Beautiful Savior was a lot of version of Ferris for Jesus. And that was one of their theme song up there. They say beautiful savior, you know. And one of their regular program songs. And so here we we're gonna try verses one and three. Beautiful Savior. Okay. We'll practice up on now and amazing grace. Back to the mic song. We sang this in urban ministry a few times, for sure. And if somebody off the top of the head was gonna say, What hell do you like? It'd be amazing, Grace. We used to sing Amen at the end of every hymn in the Methodist church. So be it. Okay, next. I hope I heard the lady correctly. I have a master lady. Thank you. That was Isaac Watch. We had 14 other hymns in the in our hymn, also. And this that was sung to the memory of Earl Hall. A fond memory to Earl Hall. We used to sit right back there all the time. Old Master let me walk with you, because that's the one I was trying to go ahead and do. That's another prayer. Okay. Verses one and three. This next hymn 213 is in the cross of Christ, I glory. And the pulling these hymns out, I remember the men's chorus going to the presbytery hall when we were in high school, and we sang a whole program on the cross song. And I thought that was a very meaningful since the cross of Christ is our marching banner in life. So anyway, this song I want to ask that it would be in the honor of Brian Pitts, who was leading our course in those days. Verse one, that next one he lives. This would be in his memory. Sing just one verse of it because the chorus is nice and long. And in parts, they good. Almost finish. One verse of six twenty-four three. See you there. Let's see. All right. Stevens is a is our resident hymn writer. And this next one. The Lord is stronghold of our life. We sang it before. I sing the mighty power. So let's sing verse one and four, and you read the other two verses because they're so strong two. Let's sing the last on the cover page. Phyllis suggests we figure out how to hold hands as we sing this thing. God be with you till we meet again. Is that possible with a rogue somehow or another?

SPEAKER_04:

God be with you till we meet.

SPEAKER_01:

There's your enemy and joy. Thank you, Joe. That was one broken shot. Well I had to slow it down. That was