6 inspirational songs for Palm Sunday

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, April 02, 2023

'O Worship the King'

Sir Robert Grant, a native of British-controlled India and member of Parliament, composed the popular hymn “O Worship the King,” which was posthumously published along with a few other musical works of his in the 1830s.

The hymn’s lyrics were inspired by Psalm 104, reading in part: “You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent, you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind, you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers. You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.”

“'O Worship the King’ draws upon the splendor of 19th century monarchy as a metaphor for the magnificence of the Almighty,” wrote C. Michael Hawn of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. “Attributes of an earthly monarch are magnified to communicate the characteristics of the King of kings — one who by nature cannot be described.”