Why Don’t You Sing More Hymns?

Might I say that you, my friend, write some of the best adaptations of hymns that I've ever heard? It's a fact: if I ever leave SSI, I will be taking many of those with me to use elsewhere!

p.s. - very good article!

We were asked if we would play some traditional hymns at our church once by a little old lady who attended at the time. A few weeks later we pulled out some classics for her. Of course with our worship team we made the songs our own.

After service she came up to us and asked us to never do traditional hymns again. We never have.

I just thought that would make you smile.

God Bless,
Shaun

We tend to attract people who have minimal background in the church, so I rarely get this question. But, when I do, my preferred response is to talk with the person about the fact that, singing as worship is not something that should be reserved for Sunday mornings. Too many people consider 20 minutes on Sunday morning their time to sing to God, and if it's not up to par with what they expect, it's worth nothing to them other than an opportunity to complain. There's no reason for us to not use any moment throughout my week to sing the songs I love to sing to God.

I also remind folks that, it's the responsibility of the church (meaning the people, not the institution), to not only teach about the traditions of past generations, but to create the traditions of present generations. When people come to me, as their worship leader, expecting me to control/dictate how their worship lives are lived out, I try to remind them that they have the responsibility and the opportunity to control their own worship lives and to invest if the worship lives of others. Those who can wrap their minds around that concept usually walk away with something more than, "I'll try to accommodate you more in the future."

We don't really get those comments too much. Last year,we surveyed our congregation regarding their thoughts and preferences when it came to worship, and while some people did say they would like to see more traditional hymns, most did not.

In any case, we did decide to put some back into the rotation. It's been fun, actually, working on arrangements of some of these classics. We probably do a hymn one or two weeks a month. Part of the nice thing about it is we are "teaching" them to folks who didn't grow up on hymns.

Mike, yeah, that's a lot different than my environment ... I'd say a majority of our folks DID grow up on hymns ... the other half ... well, they grew up never in church at all!

Shannon ... thanks, bro! My arrangements are yours, anytime!

Nate ... when I read about how you respond, I wonder if you read the article, haha! I mean, I think it's awesome to teach them, but I doubt that your discourse is what they want. They would rather you LISTEN. It's not about the 20 minute thing, or whether or not they understand that they should be worshiping outside of that 20-minutes. It's about hearing a whole class of people say "this really is meaningful to me, it really helps me connect, and I would be blessed if you'd help me".

Yeah, we're there to teach, stretch, but we're also there to serve.

I guess it resonates with me because I'm getting old (40, haha) and I find myself longing for some of "my" songs these days.

I laugh at questions like this. Sorry. Just look at the CCLI Top 2000, and you'll see so many hymns that have been modernized and incorporated into modern worship. Ever since Passion came out with its Hymns--Ancient and Modern album (one of the very best worship albums out there, imho), a vast majority of these songs have been incorporated into services. (Actually, this started even earlier, perhaps during those Promise Keeper conferences which did this to great effect).

And now it seems like the approach to doing these hymns--take the original (public domain) AAAA hymn structrure, and insert a chorus "B", has become almost standard. The Wonderful Cross. Take My Life. Raise Up A Crown. New Doxology. Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone). Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee. Etc etc.

On my last album, I even closed it with one of my own approaches to this: I did an updated version of Holy God We Praise Thy Name. It's still one of my strongest praise songs. And the last time I played for a healing liturgy, I took the ancient Stabat Mater (At the Cross Her Station Keeping), and incorporated an original chorus taken from the Bible verse ("Be glad to share in the sufferings of Christ, when He comes in glory, you will be filled with joy"), which happened to be the Communion Antiphon for that day. Took me ten minutes to work it out.

Incorporating a public domain hymn (one with great theology), and integrating an original praise and worship chorus (perhaps based off of a seminal Bible verse), is the ultimate win/win. You got the praise element of a modern chorus, but also the theological and traditional heft from centuries of use. I wouldn't understand why anybody would veer from this approach.

Nick

I read it, but like I said, we don't have too many of those folks in our church, so it's not something that I spend much time considering, to be honest. My apologies if didn't respond correctly.

Nate

Nate,
I wish you could see me laughing and smiling, messing with you .. it's not a scold or right or wrong response ...

I'm almost envious that you don't have to deal with it!

Nick ...
Last album? Is there a link? Where can we listen?

Thanks for your interest.

I have recorded three comedy/parody albums, but the last song on all of these efforts have been an original praise song.

My website is www.nickalexander.com . The "listen" page has a link to the iMixes on iTunes. If you head there (or just search for me on iTunes), you can search for the three praise songs that you may / may not like: "Father", "Too Late Have I Loved You" and "Holy God We Praise Your Great Name"--the last of which is what I was referring to.

Of course, you can listen to the parody songs too, if you like...
Nick

my bad...I haven't eaten breakfast yet...doing that now.

Nate

At the start, let me say that I am young enough to love the contemporary worship songs, and old enough to love the old hymns.

When I was growing up, we sang songs that were 100 years old, and older. Songs that had endured many generations of believers. Songs full of theology and help for living.

Now, most churches have discarded those songs; they are too old, out of date, or too harmonically difficult. So they have been replaced with new songs, which get sung for a while, and discarded.

How many of the songs written in the past 25 years will still be sung 50 years from now? Not many, because we are part of a disposable generation-- we throw out everything when we tire of it-- and it seems our worship music is no different. (When was the last time "Shout to the Lord" was sung in your church?)

I don't have a solution to this in mind; I just saw this thread as a good place to try to say something that has been heavy on my heart.

addresses NEW SONG. The sound of spiritual awakening. They did an amazing job of addressing the issue that Wannabeworshipper is struggling with.

Check it out. www.worshipleader.com you can subscribe

Keith and Kristyn Getty have hit it right on the money! Their songs have the best elements of traditional hymnody (rich theology, strophic form which lends to easy learning), but the songs sound fresh and new! I love everything they have put out, and I find that people who love hymns AND people who love modern worship styles can both connect with their music.

After visiting several area churches, I felt like Goldilocks- This church is TOO traditional (I knew all the music, but it was "stiff"), This church was TOO contemporary (I didn't know ONE song they sang that day!), but SSCC was seemed just right. I did grow up on traditional music, but I was at the Jesus Music Festivals in Atlanta in 1980/81 when "contemporary" music was gaining hold. I now know that I like a truly blended service (like 1/24 at SSCC) where there is a "contemporary" song, a traditional song (updated is good) and maybe a new song or another familiar contemporary song. I know that I've visited 2 churches doing contemporary music and that I didn't know any of the songs they played that day and I didn't return.

I've avoided the hot button- the word hymn. I admit, I consider a hymn one of the classics (in the book), and today's music contemporary. But some of my favorites have made "the book"- "My Tribute" and "Because He Lives".
For the record, Sunday's music (1/24) was "awesome" as I posted on my Facebook page. I really enjoy the country/gospel/blues songs when they are done.

For some reason, I find there are a lot of "me-centric" hymns, and only a handful of God-centered hymns. Mostly they are about me walking in faith, me suffering and dying, me holding onto the cross, me getting carried off to Jesus, me going to heaven, me getting that heavenly crown, me doing this, me doing that. Actually, these are the same criticisms I have about many Hillsongs songs, too.

So, because my hymn rotation is limited to those that sing about God and what Jesus did, I have only a few to pick from. Anyone else get this impression about hymns?

I find there are a lot of "me-centric" hymns, and only a handful of God-centered hymns[/QUOTE]

That's funny to me, because I hear that same statement only in opposite - that the contemporary music is too "me" centered. In reality - there's no rule to hymns / praise / worship music. Sometimes, the music written will be about what He has done, is doing, will do...other times songs are written about a response to Him. How I feel (love for God), my reaction (thankfulness, humbleness,etc.)can still be sung in praise to God and I believe He is blessed by that. This is how I see it, anyway.

Good post!

Technically, the root origin of the word hymn (hymnos, hymnus) means an ode to or song of praise to (usually to a deity or a hero).

In the Western sense, the primary definition of a hymn is a song of praise to God. The secondary definition (which I think is the one most of us are using) is a song composed for use in a religious service. And since the middle ages, and even moreso recently, has evolved into the description of a style of music (as opposed to content).

That being said, if a hymn (in the stylistic sense) is "me-centric" it's not truly a hymn anyways.

Ultimately ANY song can be a hymn as long as it is a song of praise, honor, and/or worship to God.

A psalm, is "a sacred song or hymn used in worship" and comes from the root word which means to pluck a stringed instrument. So the idea is a psalm is any song that we sing that is accompanied by musical instruments (in a worship setting).

So a hymn can be a psalm. But a psalm doesn't necessarily have to be a hymn.

Kind of neat when you think about it in the context of this scripture:

I would have to agree. I collect hymnals, ranging from Catholic, Episcopalian to Baptist. From my understanding, the vast majority of metrical hymns are focused squarely on ornate theology, with the final verse praising God in all Three Persons (Doxology-ish). Further, many hymns were written for specific seasons on a liturgical calendar--Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, etc. Kinda hard to implement for those interdenominational churches which don't subscribe to the liturgical framework.

I would say that there's also an immediacy and urgency I read in certain ancient hymns that I don't see in a lot of contemporary praise songs. On another thread, we talk about the dichotomy between masculine and feminine worship songs--and the dearth of the former in today's climate. Well, there's plenty of real good masculine-oriented hymns out there. Look up "Glorious From the Fields of Strife" if you could... great stuff!

Thanks for the post, Shaun. These genre-defining labels we put on our songs are rarely helpful. The most important thing about the music that we sing in our churches is that they are true. And that, on the whole, our songs are God-centered. To sing a song because it either honors our heritage or celebrates what God is doing today is good, but not as important as the God-centered truth.