Hymns..A Church Formality?

"Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing: My God and King! The church with psalms must shout, No door can keep them out, But more than all, the heart must bear the longest part. Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing: My God and King!" ~from "Let All the World in Every Corner Sing" by George Herbert and Robert G. McCutchan

"The church with psalms must shout..."

Much discussion and confusion has come through the choice of music brought into the churches with the youth bringing forth their tastes of newer praise music that we call "Contemporary Choruses". It is what they are growing up with from concerts to iTunes from Christian Book stores and radio stations; just as the older people in our communities grew up with hearing the traditional songs on Sunday mornings. Psalm 98:4 tells us to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise". Whether we sing praise with the modern songs or with the hymns, God can be glorified when we lift our voices to praise His name.

However, some youth are as receptive to the hymns as older adults are to choruses. I have grown up mostly playing older songs myself, but there are some choruses that I feel I'm truly expressing worship to the Lord. What I have a problem with are the arguments like: "hymns just don't speak to me like the choruses". In other words, people are trying to nicely say "out with the old and in with the new". I think we should look through this argument.

"Hymns just don't speak to me like the choruses"...

This opinion can also be translated as "The words are Greek to me!" I assure you that they aren't. Please note that I am not condemning the choruses of today; rather, I am condemning the opinion that hymns are outdated and have lost their meaning. Now let's take a look at one of the hymns I chose for yesterday's service and compare its lyrics to that of a modern contemporary worship chorus:

"There is Power in the Blood" by Lewis E. Jones

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you over evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

Refrain:
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder-working power.
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

And now a chorus that Hillsong sings called "Redeeming Love"

(chorus)
"I come boldly, trusting only your redeeming love
Flowing freely from your side now your atoning blood
Like a river, like a fountain, like a cleansing flood
I pour out my worship to you for your redeeming love

"My glory in your cross of shame and suffering
My glory what the world disdains as nothing
I will glory in such foolishness
I will glory for its nothing less
Than your wisdom and your awesome power my God."

You see, when we strip the lyrics of the different music styles, the words amount to the same thing: "The blood at Calvary saves and redeems us. What love!" Some people are inclined to think that hymns are slow and boring. Well the music may be slow, but the words are still as praiseworthy to sing today as they were in the 19th century!

Let's look at another example:

"I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters [He] lifted me--now safe am I"
~from Love Lifted Me

"I know He rescued my soul,
His blood, He covered my sin, I believe, I believe.
My shame, He's taken away,
My pain is healed in His name, I believe, I believe.
~from My Redeemer Lives by Reuben Morgan

I'm not writing this blog post to contradict your stand on either style in churches; but to ask you to remember that worship is worship and to not neglect the hymns that are as real as any chorus you'll sing today. God is as real as ever and it should be our delight to sing songs of praise to Him. I encourage you to ignore the music if you need to and simply focus on the words you are saying. Listen to the words as you sing them in church. I believe you'll find that hymns are not a "thing of the past" or that the "church needs to update its music to 'fit' the new, young Christians". Any Christian song, whether contemporary or traditional, is to be sung to the Lord on high and to give Him the praise for which He so richly deserves!