"Music is the handmaiden of theology, leading to a fuller appreciation of God."
- Martin Luther
Over the last few years I have rediscovered the old sacred hymns; the kind of songs they used to sing in my grandparents church. Songs full of Scripture and sound doctrine. So I am always excited to see a new hymns project.
The group Page CXVI will soon release their second album of hymns and I can't wait. But until then, you can download their first album of hymns for free (CLICK HERE) until May 4th. But make no mistake about it, these are first rate musicians and vocalists. They are doing this because they have a passion for hymns and want to introduce them to a new generation.
If you're wondering what the story is behind the unusual name. Here is the story from their website:
The name comes from a reference to page 116 in our copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.
It starts, “In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction is was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.”
~ C.S. Lewis
Of course, Aslan the lion is a Christ figure from The Chronicles of Narnia. I suspect that Lewis got the idea to have Aslan sing creation into existence from Zephaniah 3:17 which reads:
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
Consider that passage for just a moment, the Almighty God will rejoice over His people with singing. That is too wonderful for words; and it is that type of awe and wonder that a well written hymn can help draw us to.
