James Julian says the hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" speaks to him like no other.
"The words are just amazing," he said. "The words are Scripture, really. I've always loved that."
Julian, the pastor of Spring Creek Road Baptist Church, is in the midst of a 10-week Sunday worship teaching series on "The Hymns of Our Faith."
He's concentrating today on "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," his favorite, at the East Ridge church.
The history of the hymns, the circumstances the hymn writers struggled with and their history of use in the church are instructive for congregation members, Julian said.
"They're able to speak to our hearts," he said. "The Scriptures are brought to life through music. I'm sure everyone can go to a time where they first heard a favorite hymn."
During the 10-week series, the church sings or hears each hymn three times during the service. It is sung by the congregation, it is played -- sometimes by a visiting musician -- during the offertory and it is sung following the sermon as a hymn of invitation.
To date, the organ ("Holy, Holy, Holy"), bagpipes ("Amazing Grace"), harp ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") and violin ("O Come, O Come, Emmanuel") have been used during the offertory.
Julian said he introduces his sermon by talking about the hymn and its history.
"Half of our people have grown up in the church," he said, "and they cherish the hymns. We have a blended [music] worship service, so we want to incorporate [the hymns] for younger members who just know praise choruses. It will bless the older members of the congregation, too."
Church member Juanice Vick, 81, said the beloved hymns are a reminder of Christian faith's heritage.
"It causes you to think a lot," she said. "[The hymns] are very inspiring. They [teach] you what a lot of people have gone through and survived -- that being a Christian is not easy."
Kevin Daves, 43, a church member and a musician himself, said he feels a big difference between playing a song and playing a song about which he knows the story and the words that go with the music.
"[Pastor Julian] is tying that together with a preaching series that magnifies the whole thing," he said.
Daves, who has leaned on his faith during the serious health struggles of his youngest child, Shafer, 3, said the hymn that resonates most with him is "It Is Well With My Soul."
The hymn, while not in Julian's series, was written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford after he received word that his four daughters perished in the collision of their ship, which was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, with another ship. Only his wife survived.
The song's back story, Daves said, "blows your mind. How he wrote that, I can't even imagine.
"That's what this preaching series has done," he said. "It has brought to mind some of the songs that everybody knows." It then fosters "singing and ministering through the words and action of the songs."
Julian said he decided to craft the hymns series last winter as he was working and praying over his sermon calendar for 2011.
"I wanted us to take a history trip through the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation," he said, "and how the hymns reflected on the story from Creation."
The series continues through Jan. 8.