What "This Is the Day" means
"This Is the Day" is Fred Hammond's jubilant gospel worship treatment of Psalm 118:24, set at 100 BPM in the key of Bb, and it moves with the kinetic energy the text actually calls for. "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" is a verse that gets flattened by familiarity. What Psalm 118 is doing is far more specific than a morning affirmation: it is a processional hymn celebrating a salvific act of God, and it is quoted in the New Testament regarding Christ's triumphal entry (Matthew 21:42) and resurrection (Acts 4:11). The theological pattern underneath the joyful surface is eschatological. Every Lord's Day is a little Easter, a weekly celebration of the day God made when he raised Christ from the dead. Hammond's gospel arrangement taps into that eschatological energy without requiring the congregation to know the technical framework. The rejoicing is appropriate, not because every morning feels good, but because the day God made for salvation has arrived and keeps arriving. Nehemiah 8:10 sits underneath this too: "the joy of the LORD is your strength." The song is not manufacturing enthusiasm. It is locating the source of durable joy and inviting the congregation to draw from it.
What this song does in a room
A room that opens with this song has its heart rate changed before the first verse is finished. That is not a criticism. It is the song's function. There is a pastoral argument for beginning worship with celebration rather than quiet contemplation: it gathers scattered people and reminds them, before they have thought through their circumstances, that there is reason to rejoice. The gospel-inflected groove with bass, drums, organ, and bright piano creates a sonic environment where holding back takes more effort than joining in. That accessibility, the simple and immediately singable melody, means first-time visitors can join the first time through without a lyric sheet. The vamp at the end is where the song breathes and extends naturally, where choir improvisations over the repeating tag allow a moment of Spirit-led spontaneity within a structured framework. Hammond's gospel tradition does not make a sharp distinction between structure and freedom. They inform each other, and this song demonstrates it.
What this song is saying about God
The song's theological statement is simple and total: God is the maker of this day, and his making of it is cause for joy. That is not a small claim. It asserts that every day of existence is not neutral ground but gifted ground, created by a God who had salvific purpose baked into the calendar from the beginning. Lamentations 3:23 adds the morning dimension: God's mercies are "new every morning," which means the day itself arrives pre-loaded with grace. Psalm 92:1-2 calls it "good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning." The song is saying that God's ownership of time is reason enough for joy, and that the congregation gathers not in a neutral space but in a day that God specifically made. That is a statement about divine sovereignty expressed as an invitation to celebration rather than as a doctrine to analyze. Hammond's genius is that the groove carries the theology without announcing it.
Scriptural backbone
- Psalm 118:24: "this is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it"
- Psalm 100:4: entering God's gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise
- Nehemiah 8:10: the joy of the LORD is your strength
- Lamentations 3:23: God's mercies are new every morning
- Psalm 92:1-2: it is good to praise the LORD, proclaiming his love in the morning
How to use it in a service
High-energy Sunday opener is the primary placement. Easter season is the natural apex for this song's deployment, but its Lord's Day theology makes it appropriate year-round. The song's opening energy sets a tone that the rest of the service either builds from or gently redirects. Do not follow this song immediately with something quiet and introspective without a clear pastoral bridge; the contrast will feel jarring rather than intentional. If the service design calls for a move from celebration into intercession or lament, let the song finish fully before the pivot, then make the transition explicit from the microphone. "We've been celebrating the day God has made. Now we're going to bring to that same God what is heavy." That is a coherent pastoral move. Trying to do it during the fade-out of the vamp is not.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The energy of this song can work against the worship leader if the platform team is more enthusiastic than the congregation. Watch the room, not the stage. If the congregation is cautious or unfamiliar with gospel-inflected worship styles, model the physicality without performing it. Handclaps that follow the song's natural accent points will carry the congregation without pushing them. The melody is accessible enough that pausing to teach a section rarely derails the song's momentum. If a vamp extends too long without genuine Spirit-movement in the room, it becomes noise. Trust the song's own arc. The structured verse-chorus form gives shape; let the vamp extend when the room is fully in it, and close it down when it is not.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Bass and drums are the load-bearing walls here. Lock them together before everything else. The organ fills should be conversational, responding to the melody rather than decorating over it. Piano plays the rhythm bright and forward. Engineers: this is a song where the low-end balance matters most. Muddy bass frequencies in Bb will make the room feel heavy when it should feel lifted. High-pass the low-end instruments appropriately and let the kick punch through cleanly. Vocalists: the choir improvisations in the vamp are the theological climax of the song in live performance. Prepare three or four short phrases that the choir can hand off to each other over the tag. Spontaneity lands harder when there is a structure to return to.