I approach this subject subjectively for sure. I grew up with hymns and the hymnal meaning much to my own growth in the Lord. I love hymns. I love playing hymns and singing hymns.
A few weeks ago during our worship I repeated a statement I had heard . . . "We don't sing hymns because they are old; we sing hymns because they are great." There are many reasons for that statement. Hymns have great theological teaching and instruction for the body. Hymns reflect centuries of the church responding to God in worship, which again is inspirational and instructional. For the church there have always been hymns that create a congregational unity in purpose and worship.
As a former music missionary, I know the importance of studying and knowing the people and culture among which you are ministering. That is no different here in the states. Every church is somewhat of a subculture. We worked very hard on the mission field to encourage our brothers and sisters to create hymns and songs in their indigenous language and musical language. And, they did. However, they still would use, along with "their" music, great hymns of the faith that had been translated into their language.
I think the importance of hymns has even shown up in the "contemporary" worship scene, in that many hymns are being re-set or "con-temporized musically" for use in stylistically more modern church settings. Many still recognize the importance of the hymns.
We are currently in a church that is very multi-generational. There are some families with as many as four or five generations represented. We work to stay on the cutting edge of good and worthy modern music, but have always kept the hymns in our worship along with other new resources available. It takes careful attention both musically and in the worship flow to create an environment where all can worship. We are living in a time where The Hymnal goes from Gutenberg to Google.
There are sometimes gaps in what is offered in modern songs compared to the classic hymns. We need to "mind the gaps" as one modern worship leader has suggested. We need to acknowledge that a huge investment of time and talent and resources has been left to us by Godly predecessors. We should profit from and embrace what they learned in their journey of faith as they walked this troubled world. Again, "We don't sing hymns because they are old; we sing hymns because they are great" . . . and have much to offer our pilgrimage in the Lord. mjm
