CREEDE HINSHAW: Not all the old hymns are ‘the good hymns’

We’ve come a long way from the days when worshipers sang out of books stored in racks behind church pews. Although many churches still utilize these hymnals, these aids to worship seem curiously anachronistic to an eBook generation that gets its news and information from a phone, laptop or iPad.

Screens with the words displayed not only imply that the church is using current technology, the screen allows worship leaders to use the newest, most recent hymns possible each Sunday, including a hymn perhaps written a few minutes prior to the worship service. In many ways this is a step forward in praise and worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, although I grow impatient with technicians who cannot synch the lyrics on the screen with the tempo of the musicians. It’s annoying to have to mutter along waiting for the words to catch up. A glaring disadvantage of the screens is that, by omitting the musical score, it is impossible to sing an unfamiliar hymn.

There is no perfect approach to congregational singing in worship, however, and I am not touting hymnals over screens, even though I prefer the far richer amount of information provided in a hymnal.

There is also no satisfying everybody when it comes to hymn selection. I regularly heard “older” persons wistfully complain that we no longer sang the “good” hymns, which usually meant hymns written in the late 19th or early 20th century.

I am currently singing my way through an 1800s Methodist hymnal. Holding that tiny book in my hand reminds me again how much worship has changed. I have to squint to read the words on the page, and like the screens in worship, there is no musical annotation, making it impossible to know what tune works best. I invent my own tune for the text each morning, grateful that the squirrels and birds don’t mind.

One striking characteristic about this old hymnal is the rich use of Biblical imagery. Charles Wesley infuses each hymn with allusions to verses and stories in scripture, so that they singer is steeped in holy writ while singing. But now, 250 years later, few people know these Biblical stories, rendering the hymns obscure or in some instances just plain weird.

That old hymnal also contains a dozen hymns is a section called “For Believers Interceding” addressed to the concern to convert heathens, Jews and “Mahomatens” to Christ. In one hymn the heathens are called, “unsaved, unpitied, unforgiven.” The Jews are described as, “Branded like Cain, they bear their load, abhorr’d of men, and cursed of God.” About the Muslims: “The Unitarian fiend expel and chase his doctrine back to hell.” These are brutal hymns.

It’s one thing to desire all peoples to come to know the Christian gospel. It’s something entirely different to raise one’s heart and voice to sing about people going to hell. These few hymns made me glad that musical themes change over the years and centuries. Not all the good old songs were so good.