Before leaving our series, I want to give you one more way to enjoy these early songs and prayers, alongside some other favorites. You see, part of what makes these songs so great is that their truths echo across the centuries, and reflect the light of Christ toward us from new angles and with new applications. Setting these songs alongside other classic and contemporary hymns allows us to extend the wisdom of the ages to our situation today. Remember, the gospel is both ancient and timeless—it doesn’t grow old. Like Christ himself said, “every writer who has been discipled for the kingdom of the heavens is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Mt 13:52).

The question then becomes, Which songs make the cut? Well, there’s definitely more than one way to do it, but here’s what I settled on.

1. ​I started with the same core of songs we covered in this series, rounding it out with a few others from the project Praying Together (1988) from the English Language Liturgical Consultation. This includes 13 songs.
2. Next, I needed to find a nice core of classic hymns about the same size. I started with the 15 Most Popular Hymns from Hymnary.org. Later (after steps 3 and 4), I decided to cross-check these songs against a list of 27 “Hymns That Last” selected by Christianity Today, just to even things out a bit.
3. For the contemporary selections, I took a look at the first 20 songs on SongSelect from Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), sorting the songs by their CCLI Rank.
4. I built the playlist on Apple Music, so I decided to limit my arrangements to three acapella groups available there: Hallal Music, the ZOE Group, and The Acapella Company’s Praise and Harmony series. This did, however, mean that I didn't always find a good arrangement of every song. For more on acapella music in the Early Church, check out Everett Ferguson’s Early Christians Speak.
5. Final caveat: Since this is also one of our living, family playlists (especially to and from worship with the church) we’re always adding or subtracting a few wildcards from time to time, like when new albums come out.

Currently, this gives us 42 songs, with 2 hours and 4 minutes of great acapella music you can take with you anywhere. Here’s the link. So which songs are you surprised made the list? Which ones are you surprised didn’t? How would you have done it differently?

​However you answer those questions, just remember that when we sing, it’s not about a particular list of songs. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16). Wisdom and Grace—that’s our goal. So let these songs speak the word of Christ to your heart, and find your joy bringing glory to God alongside his people.

Have you ever sat in a Bible class, in awe of the grace and knowledge of your brothers and sisters (2Pe 3:18)? Or heard a prayer in worship that you knew came from the heart of a righteous person (Jam 5:16)? The more you get to know these good people, the more you realize how much of that deep faith, hope, and love were developed alone with Jesus. And when you visit with them in their homes, you’ll find a well-worn Bible and a heart filled with songs and prayers.

In this series, you’ve hopefully seen why it’s so important for every Christian (and every Christian family) to set aside time each day for communing with God. And hopefully you’ve also caught some of the how: “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16 NKJV), learning to “pray without ceasing” (1Th 5:17), and meditating on the word “all the day” (Ps 119:97).

So before we go, let’s pause and think more about what meditation looks like. When we hear that word these days, we probably picture someone sitting silently with eyes closed, legs crossed, breathing deeply. And those are all good things. But when the Bible speaks of meditation, the picture is of someone holding an open scroll, whispering the words of God under their breath, and turning them over in their minds.

It reminds me of something C.S. Lewis said about how to enjoy beauty: “Look. Listen. Receive” (An Experiment in Criticism, p. 19). Here’s how that works with the Bible:

• Look at what it says. Form is meaning; that means that how God speaks is the best way to tell what he’s saying. So are you reading narrative (43% of the Bible), poetry (33%), or discourse (24%)? Each of these has its own texture, so try not to flatten them out by reading them the exact same way. To recognize a text’s unique way of saying things, pay attention to key words and phrases the Spirit keeps using. Keep your reading grounded in theses nitty-gritty details.
• Listen to what it means. Where does your passage fit into the Big Picture of the Bible’s story: creation, rebellion, rescue, or restoration? This is the best clue for what the passage means to God, to the writer, and to his original audience. Notice that “meaning” here isn’t just a rational or academic question, it touches our hearts and souls as well.
• Receive it as good news. Focus on the way a passage changes how we see Jesus, how you see yourself, and how you are called to live into the gospel of Christ. Let the shape of his story change the shape of yours. Start with this: you have to keep the mind of Christ, in order to seek the mind of Christ—deep humility comes before deep understanding (Php 2:5ff; 1Co 2:10ff).

So as we read Scripture, we’re not just skimming the words on the page; we’re reading at the pace our own heart can grow. This may be a few chapters a day or just one, a few verses or a single verse. But when we do this well, we find that we’re not just reading Scripture, the Scriptures are reading us. For a great example of these principles in action, check out the Jews coming home from Babylon in Nehemiah 8. For a not-so-great example, compare this to Jesus’ chat with “a certain lawyer” in Luke 10:25-37.

Of course, everyone needs some help sometimes, a “Phillip” to come alongside us as our guide (Acts 8:31). Here are three resources I really enjoy:

• ESV.org: The ESV does a great job of balancing accuracy and clarity, with beauty and depth. But regardless of the translation you prefer, ESV.org has several good reading plans and other study tools, including free access to The ESV Global Study Bible, and apps for iOS and Android so you can read just about anywhere.
• The Bible Project: I discovered this video-based resource a few years ago while teaching a middle-school Bible class and really enjoy it. They have also launched a partner website, Read Scripture, which includes its own fantastic reading plan and mobile apps. For starters, check out one of my favorites videos below: “The Bible as Jewish Meditation Literature.”
• ​Common Prayer: As you’ve probably figured out, the early church’s daily time in the Word was rooted in a long tradition of common worship in song and prayer​. Common Prayer brings this first-century approach to the twenty-first century with a full-size book, a pocket edition, a website, and a mobile app for iOS.

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However you decide to meditate each day, though, pick up a good Bible collecting dust nearby and put it to good use. Remember, these words are ancient, but ever true. Reflect on what God reveals to you through them. Their good news belongs in your heart. Teach it to others with every song you sing and every prayer you pray. Live out God’s own wisdom and grace. Grow more into him, and you will find your strength for the day.

Meditation isn’t about finding the perfect prayer routine or the perfect reading plan (though both can be helpful), but about drawing closer to the one who is Perfect. And don’t worry about how much progress you are making each day or whether you’re doing it just right. Just remember those words of the Lord:

  In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
~ Psalm 4:8 ESV ~
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Finally, in all the old evening prayers, it is striking how frequently we encounter their plea for preservation during the night from the devil, from terror and from an evil, sudden death. The ancients were keenly aware of human helplessness while sleeping, the kinship of sleep with death, and the devil’s cunning in causing our downfall when we are defenseless.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, ch. 2 ~

I love starting each morning with a good cup of coffee and the word of God. For several years I’ve tried to read a few chapters each day, making my way back through the Bible’s story of redemption by the end of the year. And on days when my reading is shortened or pushed to later in the day (or the next!), I feel a bit off.

It reminds me of what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2Co 4:16 NKJV). Despite everything else going on in the world around him, Paul knows why he does what he’s doing, and the One he’s doing it for.

With a little unpacking, he even tells us how that renewal comes about: the glorious light of the gospel of Christ is a treasure that God himself stores up within us, in our hearts and our bodies (2Co 4:4-7). It is his overwhelming power, shining through his word that renews our inner humanity. In short, the gospel belongs in our heart.

In fact, if we look back through Scripture we should begin to notice just how important this is to God:

• “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart” (Dt 6:4-6).
• “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. … Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Ps 119:11, 97).
• “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer 31:33).
• “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach)” (Ro 10:8).
• “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jam 1:21).

God’s own power for daily living, and daily renewal is opened up to us through the power of his word. What is perhaps surprising, though, is what Paul commands the church to do in order to get the word into their hearts: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col 3:16).

Catch that? Paul says we need to learn to sing. That’s how we treasure up God’s word, how God writes it on our hearts, how we keep it on the tip of our tongues, how we meditate on it all the day, and how we walk daily in the grace of Christ. That doesn’t mean we shelf our Bibles; it means we learn to sing the Word! Understanding the role of song and prayer helps us in two important ways.

First, it helps us go back and look at what the early church actually did. Kind of like last week, it shifts our question from, What should the church do? to What did the church do? What did daily devotions look like in the early church? Here’s a quick outline:

• The Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:91-13) formed the heart of early Christian prayer, and was used as an introduction or outline for their own prayers (Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak, Vol. 1, ch. XII; Didache VIII).
• The Psalms provided a ready-made songbook for the early church, using God’s own words to learn how to pray and sing to God. By the fourth century, Psalms 63 and 141 were recommended (Apostolic Constitutions 2.7.59). And later on they were joined by others, including Psalms 51 and 91.
• Other Canticles or Scripture-songs throughout the Bible helped connect the life of Christ to the bigger picture of God’s plan for all creation. Most common were the songs associated with the birth of Christ, like the Song of Mary (Lk 1:46-55), the Song of Zechariah (1:68-79), and the Song of Simeon (2:29-32).
• New hymns were then added to this vast store of Biblical songs, often rooted in the words of Scripture themselves. These include many songs still in our songbooks today, with titles like “Glory to God in the Highest,” “Glory to the Father,” “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” “Hail, Gladdening Light,” and “Lord, Have Mercy.”

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If we were to picture the shape of daily prayer, it might look a bit like this, with the Lord’s Prayer at the center, the canticles connecting the gospel to the big picture of the Bible, the Psalms making up the largest biblical cycle of songs, and our own human hymns pointing us back to the Bible: