Back in 1965, on this date, August 6, the Beatles released their fifth studio album, Help! The first seven songs became the soundtrack for the movie of the same name, while the second side featured several classics, including Yesterday, which has become one of the most-recorded songs in history.
The Beatles understood what every great songwriter knows: music can bind itself to memory. A few notes from an old favorite can instantly carry us back to another place and time.
Maybe you’ve felt that way. A certain song reminds you of your first dance, your high school years, a road trip, or someone you loved. Yesterday might remind us of simpler times. Help! reminds us that none of us makes it through life alone. I Need You speaks a truth we all eventually discover. Even Act Naturally reminds us that we are at our best when we aren’t pretending to be someone we’re not.
The same is true, perhaps even more powerfully, with the hymns of the Church. Whether your favorite music comes from Liverpool or the Lutheran hymnal, some songs stay with us for a lifetime. The very best songs point us to the One who never lets us sing alone.
A familiar hymn carries us back to childhood, to confirmation, to a wedding, to the bedside of a loved one, or to a moment when God’s promises sustained us. Long after a sermon has faded from memory, we often find ourselves humming Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, or Abide with Me. In that moment, the Holy Spirit uses a simple melody to remind us that Christ is still with us.
Sometimes it’s good to remember yesterday, not because we want to live in the past, but because God was faithful then…and He is faithful still.
This Sunday, August 9, at 9:30 AM, we’ll celebrate Favorite Hymn Sunday at St. John’s. Throughout the service, we’ll sing many of the hymns that have shaped and strengthened generations of Christians. Perhaps one of your favorites will make the list. More importantly, we’ll gather to praise the One who has always been there when we’ve cried, “Help! I need somebody.”
I hope you’ll join us as we celebrate the gift of music, the memories it preserves, and the God whose love never goes out of tune.
Blessings,
Pastor Marc
