I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.
Today’s song is There’s a Quiet Understanding from 1973.
This one is a little unusual in that it’s not entirely addressed to Jesus. The first part is more of a mutual declaration of how it feels to worship together. And then, Jesus Himself is addressed because He is present where two or three gather in His name. It needn’t be two or three. I think He meant that even if it were as few as two or three, He is still among them. It’s always a great comfort when your church or fellowship is small:
Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
I don’t ever remembering singing it. It’s one I discovered when I bought an acoustic guitar back in 2016. I started going through the Mission Praise music book, which has the chords in addition to the sheet music. It’s a nice hymn that reminds us of how precious Christian fellowship is. And I get a sense of fellowship too on the web. Some churches might feel a little threatened by the web, fearing that it contains bad teaching or that people might come to rely on its resources rather than local churches. But I think both can be helpful. Even before the web, I enjoyed listening to Christian teaching tapes, reading books and meeting people from other fellowships. And all that created a sense of togetherness.
Here are a few other versions of today’s hymn:
Hibernia Gospel 