The Church’s One Foundation

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”

Ephesians 2:19-21

We are formed as Christians and as Episcopalians not only by Bible study, classes and sermons, but by our music. Sometimes concepts and ideas are easier to learn and hold on to when they are set to music. As we sing the hymns of our tradition, we sing our beliefs.

During the season of Epiphany, we hear lessons from Scripture that reveal the nature of Jesus and the nature of who we are meant to be as His disciples. When we hear the lessons each Sunday, the hymns we sing reinforce the ideas that are set forth in the Scripture.

One of the hymns that we sang during Epiphany is “The Church’s One Foundation.” We sing of Jesus Christ our Lord as the one foundation of the Church. Jesus is the foundation, the cornerstone of the building, upon which all our beliefs are built. When we keep Jesus at the center of our heart, mind and soul, then everything we do will be in His service.

“The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;

She is his new creation by water and the word;

From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride;

With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.”

“The Church’s One Foundation,” verse 1, Samuel J. Stone, 1866

Hymn 525, The Hymnal 1982

Next Sunday, as you stand in Church and sing the hymns, pay close attention to the words and the lessons that they convey. When you leave the service, perhaps whistling the tune or singing the words to yourself, take some time to reflect on what they mean to you.