{"id":10789,"date":"2024-02-21T11:22:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T05:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/21\/why-should-we-sing-more-hymns-in-church\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T11:22:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T05:52:29","slug":"why-should-we-sing-more-hymns-in-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/21\/why-should-we-sing-more-hymns-in-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Should We Sing More Hymns in Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

I have heard for many years people in churches or on social media say something like this:\u00a0\u201cwe need to sing more hymns because they are deeper than modern songs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. I actually agree that we DO need to sing more hymns\u2026 but not because they are deeper. I\u2019ll get back to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

Normally, when someone says that hymns are deeper than \u201cmodern\u201d music (or the even more vague title of \u201ccontemporary\u201d music), they are suggesting that older songs (pre-1960, in my experience) contain theologically more robust lyrics. Or, to put it simply, they are saying that old songs are full of more truth than new songs (by \u201cnew,\u201d someone normally means after the 1960s).<\/p>\n

But again\u200a\u2014\u200athat is just not true.<\/p>\n

I can give you many examples of songs written in the last sixty years (which is a very diverse wide range of music to be lumped together) that contain much biblical truth and theological depth. For example, the song \u201cYour Great Name\u201d by Natalie Grant in 2010 lists at least nine specific outcomes of speaking the name of Jesus alongside ten different names given in the Bible for Jesus. Here are the verses:<\/p>\n

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name<\/em>
All condemned; feel no shame at the sound of your great name<\/em>
Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name<\/em>
The enemy he has to leave at the sound of your great name<\/em>
All the weak find their strength<\/a> at the sound of your great name<\/em>
Hungry souls; receive grace at the sound of your great name<\/em>
The fatherless find their rest at the sound of your great name<\/em>
Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name<\/em>
The bridge alone of the song lists six of those explicit names for Jesus:
Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty<\/em>
My savior, Defender, You are My King<\/em><\/p>\n

Then, the chorus expresses a worshipful refrain focused clearly on Jesus:<\/p>\n

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb<\/em>
That was slain for us<\/em>
Son of God<\/a> and Man<\/em>
You are high and lifted up<\/em>
That all the world will praise your great name<\/em>
In relatively few words, the song gets rather \u201cdeep\u201d theologically.<\/p>\n

At the same time, if you were to grab a typical hymnal and start flipping through the pages, you would find no shortage of songs that are neither deep nor necessarily true (you\u2019ll also probably find many songs that you have never heard because your church never sings them – but that is another story!).<\/p>\n

My favorite example of this problem would be \u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away,\u201d which was written in 1932 and then renewed by Albert E. Brumley in the 1960s. Here are the lyrics:<\/p>\n

Some glad morning when this life is o’er<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em>
To a home on God’s celestial shore<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em>
When the shadows of this life have grown<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em>
Like a bird from prison bars has flown<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em>
Just a few more weary days, and then<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em>
To a land where joys shall never end<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em><\/p>\n

The chorus:<\/p>\n

I’ll fly away, O glory<\/em>
I’ll fly away (in the morning)<\/em>
When I die, hallelujah by and by<\/em>
I’ll fly away<\/em><\/p>\n

While this is a fun, celebrative song covered by many artists across all kinds of people inside and outside of the church, Scripture does not tell us that we will \u201cfly\u201d to meet the Lord; we have no idea if we will meet Jesus in the morning, and Heaven does not have a \u201cshore\u201d that we know of. But even if you excuse my petty critiques by calling those phrases metaphorical (to which I would agree), you would still have to admit that the song is theologically shallow. That is probably why it has become so popular, even with secular artists. And that\u2019s okay\u200a\u2014\u200abecause it is not a \u201chymn,\u201d at least not by definition.<\/p>\n

According to the church worship music categories given to us in Colossians 3:16<\/a>, it is more of a \u201cspiritual song.\u201d A spiritual song is about our spiritual or Christian experience. We might also call them \u201cgospel\u201d songs.<\/p>\n

A \u201chymn,\u201d in contrast, is a praise song to or about God. In fact, to call a song a \u201cworship\u201d song or \u201cpraise\u201d song is about as perfect of a synonym to \u201chymn\u201d as you can get.<\/p>\n

When using those definitions (instead of definitions based on musical era or preference), you would probably discover that many or even most of the songs in a typical hymnal are \u201cspiritual songs\u201d and not \u201chymns\u201d at all.<\/p>\n

One quick way to determine which category a song fits into is by the direction of the lyrics. If a song is written from the \u201cfirst person point of view\u201d and is generally about I, me, or we, then it\u2019s probably a spiritual song. If a song\u2019s lyrics are obviously written to or about God, it is probably a hymn.<\/p>\n

Despite these categories, some people still might say that older songs are \u201cdeeper\u201d than newer songs. But here is what I have found: many older songs DO contain more words, more verses (or stanzas), and often even cover a wider range of doctrines (and for good reasons).<\/p>\n

However, more is not always better, and it is definitely not always deeper. In fact, I would argue that it is possible to use many words to talk about a variety of topics or doctrines and stay relatively shallow about all of them. At the same time, it is possible to use fewer words or verses and still dig deeply into one topic or doctrine. And with the Book of Psalms as an example, repetition can also be used to really drive home a point and develop a deep understanding of a message.<\/p>\n

So what is my point? Good question!<\/p>\n

My point is that we can never use the age, musical era, style, structure, familiarity, or author of a song as a determining factor of a song\u2019s truthfulness or depth. These factors definitely do not determine whether a song pleases God or not because he does not care about those things\u200a\u2014\u200ahe cares about our hearts.<\/p>\n

Instead, we must take an honest look at the lyrics themselves. If they are biblically true, then they are cleared for us to sing. It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n