Speaking Out

Ten years ago, Christianity Today carried an article entitled “The Triumph of the Praise Songs: How Guitars Beat Out the Organ in the Worship Wars.” Author Michael Hamilton described how contemporary worship music styles were winning out over more traditional hymnody in many congregations.

If anything, some may think the “victory” is even more complete today. Almost every church has broadened the range of music used in worship, combining traditional hymns with music from other sources—praise and worship songs, international songs, music from Taizé and the Iona Community. Some churches have even done away with traditional hymns and hymnals altogether.

This was brought home forcefully to me a few years ago when I taught a course in hymnology at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. The class of 33 students included people from a variety of denominational backgrounds and worshiping traditions. One day I made reference to the hymn “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy,” (Hymnal: A Worship Book, No. 145) written by Frederick Faber and first published in 1854. I asked the students how many of them knew the hymn. To my surprise, only three put up their hands.

Other hymns didn’t fare much better. Isaac Watts’ “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” was only slightly better known. In fact, apart from a few well-used hymns such as “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” “Amazing Grace,” “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” many in the class knew few traditional hymns.

So is traditional hymnody on the way out? Is the whole repertoire of historic worship music gradually disappearing from the worship of many congregations? Is it no longer relevant in many worshiping communities? Ten years ago, I might have been tempted to say yes. Today, though, my answer is the opposite. Not only is hymnody not on the way out, it seems to be making something of a comeback—even in congregations unaccustomed to singing hymns.

It seems a new generation of contemporary Christian songwriters has discovered hymnody. Some of these songwriters are updating traditional hymn settings to make them more appealing to churches unused to traditional hymn styles. These new versions often retain traditional hymn melodies but update them with contemporary rhythm and harmonization; many also include a newly composed refrain. I would love to be able to use examples from the recent Mennonite hymnals Sing the Journey or Sing the Story, but songs reflecting the trend I’m describing haven’t found their way into Mennonite songbooks yet.

Among the better-known composers doing this is Chris Tomlin, who has crafted updated settings of hymns such as “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone),” “The Wondrous Cross (When I Survey),” “Take My Life,” “O Worship the King” and others.

Other songwriters, notably Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, are writing brand new hymn texts and setting them to singable contemporary tunes. The goal, says Getty, is “to try and create a more timeless musical style that every generation can sing, a style that relates to the past and the future.” Many churches have added “In Christ Alone,” “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” “Beautiful Saviour (All My Days)” and others to their repertoire.

Still other songwriters are composing completely new musical settings for traditional hymn texts. Vikki Cook’s new setting of Christie Bancroft’s “Before the Throne of God Above,” first penned in the mid-19th century, is used in many congregations. Ian Hannah, a songwriter from Ireland, has given traditional hymn texts such as “Now Thank We All Our God” and “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” new musical settings. The Reformed University Fellowship Online Hymn Resource encourages the practice of writing new music for traditional hymn texts and even makes these new settings available for churches to explore and use.

Granted, many of these new settings may look and sound different from the musical style of the hymns many of us grew up with. But the practice of adapting traditional texts to contemporary musical expressions has a long and rich history in Christian worship. As the Reformed University Fellowship Web site observes: “We have been thrilled to see a movement gaining momentum—a movement to help the church recover the tradition of putting old hymns to new music for each generation and to enrich our worship with a huge view of God and his indelible grace.”

Christine Longhurst teaches at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Man. This is reprinted from Canadian Mennonite.