Present Joys

Here might I stay and sing,
no story so divine;
never was love, dear King!
never was grief like Thine.
    This is my Friend,
    in Whose sweet praise
    I all my days
    could gladly spend.

Samuel Crossman, My song is love unknown, 1664

and hold on, boy,
whatever you do,
to the hope that’s
taken ahold of you

Newly-written song lyrics by Andrew Peterson. It’s little hints of Reformed theology like this in his music that make it so beautiful and compelling.

All was lost in Adam’s fall;
All in Thee is now recovered.
Once to sin and death a thrall,
O’er the pit of hell I hovered:
Now I learn to cling to Thee—
Once with Adam, one with me.

Welcome God’s and Mary’s Son (This hymn is so good and I’d never heard it until just last year!)

I’ve endured struggling and thuggery, sir
Physical Ed and psychosis
Sculleries, skulls, and skullduggeries, sir
Haplessness, hype and hypnosis

But, oy vey!
The horrible din
When you play the violin
You betray an ear made of tin
When you play, when you slay
The violin

“When You Play the Violin” by the Gothic Archies, featuring some of Stephin Merritt’s best songwriting ever.