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Git Along Little Christians


Sunday, we're singing a hymn to the tune of "Git Along Little Dogies." I can't wait.

Introducing new hymns can interfere with worship rather than support it. You want people to be able to concentrate on the truth they're singing and let it flow from their hearts without distraction. If nobody knows the tune, it ends up being a solo from up front and an awkward attempt for everyone else.

But I love learning new hymns. And here in Western South Dakota, where ranchers routinely round up their cattle, there's a certain fondness for cowboy culture. Now, one way to deal with that is just to sing the songs from the middle of the 1800s that everyone knows, and I'm including those, too; we're singing "Standing on the Promises" this Sunday. But being limited to about 70 years of the church's musical history isn't ideal. We'd miss out on a lot. So here is Thomas Hastings' "Hail to the Brightness" with Conner Armstrong's "Go and Tell All the Nations" chorus added, to the tune of "Git Along Little Dogies."

Hail to the Brightness (Go and Tell All the Nations)

Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning!
Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!
Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning,
Zion in triumph begins her mild reign.

Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations:
Jesus has come, and the kingdom's at hand!
Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations,
And bring them all home into Zion's fair land.

Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning,
Long by the prophets of Israel foretold!
Hail to the millions from bondage returning!
Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold.

Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations:
Jesus has come, and the kingdom's at hand!
Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations,
And bring them all home into Zion's fair land.

Lo, in the desert rich flowers are springing,
Streams ever copious are gliding along;
Loud from the mountaintops echoes are ringing,
Wastes rise in verdure and mingle in song.

Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations:
Jesus has come, and the kingdom's at hand!
Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations,
And bring them all home into Zion's fair land.

See from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,
Praise to Jehovah ascending on high;
Fallen the engines of war and commotion,
Shouts of salvation are rending the sky. 

Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations:
Jesus has come, and the kingdom's at hand!
Sing allelu, go and tell all the nations,
And bring them all home into Zion's fair land.

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