hymns are better…
now that i have your attention, i’d like to explain this blanket declaration:
i never thought i’d say this, but i honestly believe its true (and you can yell at me if you want, but do my experiment first): hymns are better than worship songs.
my context for this claim is not about style of music, not about what “sounds” good, and NOT about relevance… my context is SOLELY based on CONTENT.
my point: the vast resource of hymns offers a wider variety of content than the growing resource of worship songs…..
my reason: for the past 2+ months, i’ve been leading worship at a church that functions with a more blended style of worship… this means that we plan our service with both hymns AND modern worship songs in consideration (you can see my worship ‘confessionals’ for examples). we like to choose songs that compliment the sermon, and especially want the song of response to reflect the message of the morning… over these past few months i’ve discovered that, more often than not, the hymns best reflect the content of the sermon. simply put (and to my surprise), our suggestions and options always include more fitting hymns than worship songs…. so we usually end up cutting a lot of the hymns that were suggested, in order to make room for the contemporary songs in our service. how ironic?
bottom line: history has given us a wide variety of well-loved hymns, which better accompany a wide variety of sermon topics.
my experiment: over the next month, as you plan worship services, set aside all preferences of style and sound, and focus solely on content as it will accompany the sermon message. grab a hymnal and set it beside your master song list. then draw ideas from both…
let me know how it goes, then you can yell at me.
Hi,
Thanks for adding me to your blog roll. I love your insights into worship and have added you too. Would you like to guest blog on my website?
I’ve resisted using hymns for a long time because I just didn’t grow up with them. The last two years I’ve slowly started to become more open to them and have come to the same conclusion as you, which is that hymns tend to reflect the sermon very well. A lot of today’s songs focus on “us” and “our” relationship with God. In the midst of that I believe that’s why Chris Tomlin is doing so well. Many of his songs focus of God.
I think as a blanket statement, what you say is not necessarily true. However, when applied within specific circumstances or to specific individuals, it absolutely stands true.
They key here is what part of the lyrical content evokes a worship response in the individual. Personally, I love the poetic reverence of older hymns; the use of the English language in ever more descriptive and creative ways to attempt to identify the emotion that the writer was feeling with his or her connection to God, more often than not, is what evokes that response in me and causes me to cry out an ever increasing praise and love to Him.
But by the same token, I know people who just can’t get past the words of older hymns. Even simple ones like How Great Thou Art. Their response is most closely linked with more modern, yet simple songs like ‘Everything’ by Tim Hughes (Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, be my everything…can’t get much simpler than that, right?). I don’t want to get in to a diatribe about demographics, culture, tradition and taste here, but while I agree with you on a personal level, the part of me that wants to help everyone find a place of intimate worship to God has to disagree.
And ain’t that just the beauty of the diversity God created amongst us? ;o)
In Him,
James
Just read my textfessionals to know that I am a fan of (and proponent of including) hymns in worship.
BUT..
If we are worship leaders and not just SONG leaders then the answer is different, I believe. The content of any Christ-focused song (chant, hymn, chorus, contemporary, prose) can then be used to lead the congregation in worship.
Yes? No?
I would agree, but not in the way that you would think.
The problem is that a surprising number of ‘Old Worship Songs’ that we call hymns, aren’t, and growing number of what we now call ‘Worship songs’, are actually modern hymns. There are an incredible number of what many consider hymns (”In the Garden” - I’ll sing “We are the World” as a church special before I’ll lead that song during a worship service) that have such twisted doctrine that the songs have had to be re-written by theologians before being included in the hymnal, and even then their benefit is still suspect. Personally, I’ll just choose to use songs - old & new - that clearly express some aspect of the truth well, which are memorable enough for that truth to sink in.
Might the topics of the sermon also have an effect on how closesly hymns match? If your pastor grew up signing hymns (most likely true) that has undoubtably had an impact on their view of life and may still be affecting the things they choose to preach on (which is not necessarily bad). If you want to preach on some deep theological topics, you’re more likely to find a matching hymn. If you want to deal with relationships, the worship songs generally fit better (I know there are always exceptions). I don’t know that one is better or worse than the other. But I think they are interlinked.
We do some hymns with our music. I like a lot of the words from the hymns, but we often have to change the key or find a more contemporary version to make it singable for the congregation. So in that regard, they don’t work as well.
You really opened a can or worms here didn’t you
Actually I have been thinking about this and I do agree with you. Mostly from one point though. The key is content. I am glad you are finding the songs of your church in hymns as well as choruses. I think churches personalities will often dictate the style, but it is important that the personality of a church does not dictate the content. That is set and cannot be changed. In saying this, I have found mostly choruses or modern songs that have worked very well with the message we have been trying to get across. Of course, my personal style often dictates where I look for a song first or a song I have already heard that would work with what is being taught.
Here is the challenge to me. I need to expand my boundaries of influence. If I choose music or media that I like, because of my little world, I am missing out on a ton of wonderful options for my church. What happens is, what I see and hear in my little circle of influence works great for the church and then I start defending it as the correct way to do things, when in reality there are many paths to take and value in each of them. I need to make sure I am allowing hymns ans choruses, modern or traditional to feed my relationship and worship with God. When this happens, I believe that I am truly leading my church responsibly and not by opinion or taste.
Great post and discussion!
I don’t know what the big deal is with hymns - this Sunday I’m leading the whole service in CHANT.
I would tend to agree with you Mandy, speaking specifically of lyrics. Interpretation is a different conversation IMHO.
I prefer hers to hymns.
sorry all… drew (see above comment) is my husband.
Despite the comments above, and your husband’s hilarious antics, I see what you mean, and I agree with you. Hymns, (true hymns) by their nature, are written differently than “worship songs.” We must not forget, or we must learn that hymnody is an art, and the hymn is a musical genre. Other genres include choruses (hymns can have choruses, for example Chris Tomlin’s “The Wonderful Cross”), spiritual songs, gospel songs, etc. The hymn is more of a story, or a musical sermon with much theological and doctrinal content. You have all kinds reflected in the Psalms. You have songs that repeat over and over “Praise The Lord,” and you have songs that retell the entire history of the Jewish people. Our worship should reflect the Psalms.
Have you heard Stuart Townsend’s hymn, “the power of the cross”?
Hi Mandy,
If you want to talk about women in worship that would be great. Unless, of course, if you have something in mind. I’m totally open. I do like to incorporate a few bible verses, a recommended song list, and generally keep the blog between 300-400 words. Does that sound okay with you? Email me directly at raisingupleaders@yahoo.com
I’m with Drew
great post. I love hymns as well..
bible says psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
The fact that there is a line drawn between hymns and worship songs makes my head cock to the side and my face give a “huh?” look. Is it a date issue? Is it a melody composition issue? The fact is that there can be no line drawn because they are all in fact worship songs if in fact they achieve the worship of God through their singing.
There is also no Biblical basis for this line. In Ephesians 5:19, where “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” are mentioned, “Psalms” means “hymn of praise”, “hymns” refers to “songs of praise”, and “spiritual songs” refers to songs that are spiritual in nature (with or without words).
The distinctions are merely (a) praise songs and (b) songs about spiritual things.
So, regardless of whether Fanny May Crosby, Martin Luther, Chris Tomlin, or David of Bethlehem penned those words, they are all songs meant for God. Drawing lines creates division and my God is NOT about that.
I don’t lead music in my church–so maybe I should not comment. But this is a great topic–so I’m jumin in.
I know that some churches are more regimented in the way they set up a service. They have a set way the pastor wants things to be done–not knocking that.
But, what if the person or persons who lead the music part of the worship just prayed about what God wanted them to play in order to lead the congregation into the presence of God?
I have done children’s church in the past and both the pastor and I have been a little amazed when what I was teaching the children matched up with his sermon. The Holy Spirit has an amazing ability to set up the whole thing if we let Him.
Maybe one of the things the church should think about is if our programs maybe sometimes stop the leading of the Spirit because by our actions we tell Him we have got it under control.
These are just some thoughts we have discussed in our church.
We do both hymns and worship songs. I have been brought to tears by both hymns and worship songs. I think when the hearts are tender before the Lord and our sweet smell of sacrificial worship comes before Him—–He will be pleased and our services will show it. Then the glory of God will fall and the sermon will be forgotten because everyone will be lost in His glory and we won’t be able to get up off the floor.
Come Lord Jesus Come.
Just my opinion.
I can see fitting the sermon message with both, at least in my experience. Not that I plan worship music, but our worship pastor is really good at fitting contemporary worship songs with the message.. sometimes so much so that it boggles my mind!
I do like it when the songwriter notes the Scripture that influenced their song(s) when it applies as well. I love going back & putting Scripture with the song.
I’ll have to look for more of this happening in the future to illustrate that.. this week however is going to be a bit of a different service for us (worship & testimony), so maybe next week.. & since it looks like I’m leading our traditional service, I’ll get to really look at the hymns in context with the message as well as the contemporary songs for our 11:00 service. Of course, I picked the ‘choir special’ for the traditional, & I have no idea of the sermon.
Oh, a favor?
Will you link to me? Heh.
Now, I’m *really* going to bed…
[...] since reading your responses to the post “hymns are better…..” i got to thinking about how often contemporary worship leaders incorporate [...]
I love that you just trackback’d yourself
By the way, I have eaten many worms in my day…
Yikes, controversial topic!
IMO, worship is worship, be it a hymn or modern worship. I think it’s dangerous to say one style is better than the other. David danced through cities singing (sometimes the same phrase over and over). Others retreated to places of solitude and sang to themselves. Some prayed out loud and others went into solitude.
Isn’t worship supposed to be between a person and God?
Again, in MY opinion, I think the safest thing to say is: I PREFER [hymns/modern worship] over [modern worship/hymns]. Personally, I prefer modern worship. I also don’t like country music. Does that mean country music is bad or wrong? No. It’s just not my style.
I seriously doubt it matters to God. Sing, dance, tithe, obey, fast, pray, etc. Worship is worship.
All he wants is our hearts.
Sorry. Sometimes I get carried away. This is a touchy one for me. And I’ll say it again: this is just MY opinion
Love the site!
As a musically inclined person, write good worship songs with deep content so that folks will one day say, “our worship songs are so much deeper than those shallow hymns.” Perhaps you could have a hand in changing the shallow worship tide!
I’m with Drew, though. I too prefer hers to hymns.
Mandy,
I’m on the brink of once again declaring RSS Bankruptcy (more posts in my GoogleReader than I can stand to read), but this one caught my eye …
Good post … my question is .. “what makes a hymn a hymn … and if hymns are better, are there still hymns being written today, and if so .. why are they considered a hymn”?
Hmm .. I may have to BLOG that one!
[...] so Mandy over at BlendedWorship (the blog Goddess) recently posted an article called “Hymns Are Better”. I won’t [...]
HI, THIS IS REALLY VERY THOUGH PROVOKING….I LOVE BOTH SO MUCH….THE CONTENT OF HYMMNS AND THE REFRESHING NEWNESS OF CHORUSES..SO I ASK MYSELF NOW WHY DO WE HAVE TO RATE WHICH ARE BETTER? WHY NOT APPRECIATE THEM BOTH FOR WHAT THEY ARE….AND WHAT THEY BOTH ACCOMPLISH FOR THE KINGDOM (I READ ROBERT WEBBER’S BOOK IN COLLEGE AND I REALLY LOVED IT!)…..MAYBE THEY ARE BOTH HERE TO LOVE AND ENJOY AND AS WORSHIP LEADERS TO BE USED TO BRING HIS HEART SUCH PLEASURE…..HE LOVES TO HEAR OUR VOICES SING PRAISES….. BUT I DO AGREE….AS WL CONTENT IS THE PEARL IN WHICHEVER WE CHOOSE…EITHER WAY IT’S A WINNER AND….IT’S OKAY TO FAIL TRYING FOR HIS CAUSE! GREAT DISCUSSION…THANKS! SUSIE
Personal opinion alert!!! No research to back this up, but…
I would say that comparing the 2 is not quite an “equal” proposition. After all, as some have already posted, hymns ARE worship songs. (But I see where you’re coming from).
I would say that it’s kind of obvious that there would be more hymns to “choose” from to compliment sermon content than “modern songs” simply because of the time frame in which each were written. You’re talking about thousands of years versus about 40 years.
Traditional Hymns (as we know them) date back hundreds of years, some even dating back to the early church.
Modern Songs (as in “contemporary” or “modern” worship “choruses”
date back to the 60s and 70s.
Seems to me that the one with 100s (possibly 1000s) of years would have the upper hand just by sheer numbers.
Agree? Disagree?
[...] even though I love the song, for fear that my friend Mandy might use it to further her case that hymns are better than modern worship songs, “I Stand Amazed” was by far the song that seemed to connect most deeply with our [...]
I guess you are not in touch with Sovereign Grace ministries? their songs might as well be sermons. I’m a pastor who is very concerned about content and a year ago asked our worship leader to phase out all songs that didn’t preach.
Our songs include the occasional hymn, but is very contemporary. Good, theology laden, gospel songs are being written these days. You just have to look past what a favorite publisher is pushing and find them.
by the way, going through a hymnal (I was previously in a traditional church), I tried to influence my old church to beware of many hymns. There is no shortage of banal hymns. They are not all “Great is thy Faithfulness.”
Chris Clinch: mtmondo@hotmail.com
he is worship leader at our church (www.harvestpa.org). He (like most of you artsy people) is great about sharing and receiving with other worship leaders. I’ll let him know of your inquiry.
Here’s where you can find Sovereign Grace music:
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Resources/Music/Overview.aspx
click on the sovereign grace radio. it’s cool
Chris is taking our team to Worship God 08. Ask your church and your hubby if maybe you and your team could take the road trip also. I think you’ll be blessed greatly. http://worshipgodconference.com/
i like what u said. I agree with u. I am now attending a baptist church that uses traditional hymns, after leaving the charismatic movement of 8 years. I have to say, true worship is spirit and truth, not really emotions. We worship thru words and words alone. By faith, not feeling. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. If emotion does come, it’s often more about understanding what the words mean, in context to God’s holiness, judgement, love and mercy.
“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
Vain repetitions … that’s what I always thing of when I hear the modern choruses so many churches use today. The melodies tend to be extremely simple. The words are just as simple, to the point that I start to fall asleep from the dullness. Let me sing a real hymn - a challenging one with words that make me think about the wonders of God and all He has done.
I know myself, with these new modern songs, I feel the melody is the same thing over and over, and I am concentrating on the words so much that I don’t get much out of it. Why can’t we have a blended worship of half hymns and half the other? The church I attend have enough folks to raise the roof off the building with their singing, if they knew what was going on more. It’s not like that. People just stand and watch the words on the screens. I leave feeling half empty, because to me that is as much of my worship experience as the sermon is. .