Hymns Aren't Just a Thing of the Past

2010 July 27

by Tyler

Many people are of the opinion that churches should only sing the “hymns of the faith” (whatever that means).

3 funny (or odd) things about that:

Most hymns aren’t really “hymns.” Hymns in a musical sense have no chorus, but a lot of “hymns” do.
The Bible speaks about singing a new song, and I don’t think we should take that too literally but it is a helpful reminder that even the best things in life become meaningless when done over and over without purpose.
Everyone’s “hymns of the faith” list is different.

In my years of doing youth worship in high school all the way to today I’ve ran into many people who think songs written long ago have better theology than those written today.

Considering I’m a relatively young guy, I find that opinion to be a shot against my generation which, as a whole, isn’t hymn crazy. But I also don’t think it is true.

I’ve talked before about horrible lyrics in today’s praise and worship music, but I there is plenty around that is rooted in Scripture and has a richness to it. I ran across a song by a newer artist named John Mark McMillan this past week that I think is a great example of this this richness. It was a song he set out to write in the style of a hymn (though it does have a chorus, so like “How Great Thou Art” it isn’t really a hymn).

I’ve often found hymns to be written with a confusing language to those lacking in some theological or Biblical training. And this song (“Death In His Grave”) has enough of that to need explanation after a listen through. Some people call that a Biblical/theological richness, others just call it confusing. Here’s the chorus (check out the whole song lyrics here):

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

(watch the video here)

I guess my whole point is this:

It is Jesus we are after in our churches. At least I hope so. Plenty of the songs being written today draw us closer to Jesus through lyrics, just as much as hymns do. Hymns are not Canon. Neither are contemporary worship songs.

It is not the songs we should care about, it is the God we sing about in the songs that matters.

Filed under: church, worship Tags: theology, worship

http://designingforphilistines.blogspot.com/ Dorothy Holland (vicar of vibe)

Tyler,
I so agree.
I find that both people who like or don’t like vintage hymns, tend to Christians already (i.e. raised in the church). Skeptics don’t know or care.
Worship music is that which praises and glorifies God. Period. The rest is man’s opinion.
Jay Mckenney

Amen
http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com Kyle Reed

Tyler, I think you absolutely nailed it on the head.
I actually am discussing the very subject with my grandpa.
His issue is that todays service is not worship. The music is not worshipful (he even went as far as saying that when I play drums at church it is not an act of worship).

So what i did was I took a current song, took the chorus of it, gave him the lyrics. Then I asked what he thought and when did he think the song was written. On first look he took it as an older song with strong lyrics. Then I played the song for him. His face told it all, he hated it.

After some more conversation I finally was able to agree with him that it is not the lyrics or even the lyrical content, it is the sound and style. And I think that is the biggest issue, the sound. That is why we have tons of different radio stations, genres, and styles. Because generations and people prefer different sounds.

So the argument is not over words but sound…at least for my grandpa
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

I’ve talked with many people just like your grandpa. If a choir is singing loud it isn’t too loud even if it is louder than a drum set or guitar that is too loud.
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http://www.russhutto.com Russ Hutto

Tyler, good post as usual.

Though, I think your definition of hymn is a bit narrow. But that could be the definition of hymn that we as a society use in a more specific (traditional) sense.

The definition of a hymn is quite simple a song of praise to God and has it’s origins in the greek with a little bit more of a broad meaning (songs of praise to the gods).

That being said, a hymn is simply a song of praise to God.

Many, MANY more songs throughout history would then be classified as hymns than we (or our grandparents) would probably deem acceptable.

I’m curious about your definition (structural) that says a hymn doesn’t have a chorus? Just curious where that bit of info comes from?

Thanks!
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

I agree that a hymn should be considered as you stated, and therefore pretty much any song sung in church is a hymn. However, this isn’t how people who love hymns consider them. Hymns to many are just older songs. A hymn as a musical term has a structure of verses only, no refrain (or chorus). Anything with a chorus would be some type of a gospel or praise song.

And this was really part of my point. We put things in the hymns box just because we like them, even though they aren’t really hymns. So hymns really just become a list of “our favorite traditional songs” instead of actually hymns.
Dave

Tyler:

An important factors in evaluating a song to be sung in Church is – is it singable ? Many of the great hymns of the past and popular songs of today are great to listen to but the average person can’t sing them very well. I have noticed that the singing volume of the congregation is lower when a song is difficult to sing. It is truly amazing to see the congregation get into a song and pick up the melody (and chorus) and sing with their hearts in worship. That usually happens when it is a meaningful song that can also be sung by the average person.

Dave
http://theycallmepastorbryan.com Bryan Dormaier

I like the example of the song you gave here. I would sya most of my friends my age who have issues with a number of contemporary worship songs have it with the theological content/approach to God.

That is, church absolutely is about pointing towards Jesus, but I guess, I see a number of worship songs today that are nothing more than romantic emotionalism and could be just as easily about someone’s girlfriend as about Jesus. There are some really crappy hymns too, but their issue tends to be other craziness and not the Jesus is my girlfriend craziness.