Daily Devotion

“Julia Brown Mateer (d. 1898) reached Tengchow, Shantung, with her husband Calvin Mateer early in 1864 and founded and ran a boys' boarding school. Teaching music in the school and in the church, where she trained the choir, she prepared a hymn-and-tune book: a question-and-answer statement of the principles of vocal music with progressive exercises, followed by a large collection of church tunes and hymns in a modified system of shaped notes. The book circulated widely, and she later revised it. "She sang her voice away teaching the Chinese to sing," her biography's foreword says. "She never lamented it."”

Robert McCheyne Mateer, Character-Building in China (1912) · Character-Building in China: The Life-Story of Julia Brown Mateer (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1912), Foreword and pp. 71–72

Scripture

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing praises to God with grace in your hearts.

Reflection

Julia Brown Mateer's labour in teaching Chinese believers to sing and Colossians 3:16 serve as a spiritual mirror. We often pursue melodious tunes and beautiful lyrics in praise, neglecting the weighty truth of the cross behind the hymns. True worship is not an emotional outpouring, but a rich manifestation of Christ's teachings. When I sing hymns, is my heart deeply pierced by the salvation of the cross? Are each word leading me back to the cleansing of Christ's blood? Praise should be an opportunity to examine the soul, uniting the outward song with the inner life. Only then can praise transcend superficiality, allowing people to be nourished and benefited in the truth.