Skip to main content

The Power of Hymns

One of the great joys of being apart of a community of believers is singing songs of worship together. Be it old hymns, new ballads, or short songs aimed at kids there is something powerful and joyful that happens when Christians come together to sing. It is one of the most commonly stated things that people miss during this time of quarantine and lock-down.

Those who know me quickly figure out that I can be rather picky about the songs I like to sing in worship. It isn't based upon whether the song is old or new, long or short; it depends upon whether or not the song is theologically sound. This is something that has only increased with my growing education and learning of Scripture.

When we think of the power hymns have we usually think about how they can uplift the sorrowful and encourage the weary. This is true and is one reason singing in worship is so wonderful. An often unrealized power that the songs we sing have is the way they can shape our theology and doctrine far more than we realize.

This is why I can be a bit of a snob about what songs we should sing, though snobbishness is not my intent. I was at Harding studying for my bachelors in Bible and in class one day the professor asked a question. Thinking I knew the answer, I gave with unwavering conviction a line from a hymn. This wasn't correct. In fact, I was stunned to find that the central point of this song was nowhere to be found in the Bible!

It is my firm conviction that we need to do a theological inventory on the songs and hymns we sing. Just because a song is old and beloved does not mean it accurately points us to God. Likewise, just because a song is new does not mean it is automatically fluff. Worship is about orienting and submitting ourselves to God. The songs we sing should accurately point us towards Jesus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be Kind

This last Sunday I was asked to preach and I struggled for a while with what to preach on. It's always difficult when you are filling in and everyone else knows you are filling in. You don't want to overlap too much with the current sermon series, but you also don't want your topic to be so unrelated to what's been going on that it has no impact.  I found inspiration simply from scrolling on Facebook. People, and it seems especially Christians, are mean.  Now of course not all Christians are rude and combative, but there are a shocking number who are. We argue in Facebook comments, send hateful messages, and generally act just like the world. This extends beyond the realm of social media and into our day-to-day interactions with so many. The Sunday lunch crowd at restaurants is infamously the worst tipping and most disrespectful, and these are mostly Christians who have just come from church. We need to be kind. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, but it is one we often ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Justice

Our view of justice is narrow and limited. Typically when we, as Christians, talk about justice we are really only referring to punishing wrongdoers for their crimes. While that is certainly a part of justice that isn't the only thing. In the Bible justice consists of much more. Consider the book of Amos, one of the minor prophets and therefore a book that most Christians barely touch. Amos is announcing judgment against the nation of Israel for their infidelity to their covenant with God. What do you think is the most repeated indictment against Israel? Interestingly it's not idolatry, sexual immorality, or war although these things are mentioned. The primary sin of in Amos is Israel's neglect of the poor and their oppression of the needy. Over and over again Amos declares that judgment is coming to Israel because of their treatment of those less fortunate. The poor are trampled and the needy are crushed. There is no justice in the land. Biblical justice includes both crim...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus or Nothing

"Non Nisse Te Domine." - Thomas Aquinas I have the above quote engraved on the bottom of a watch that my father gave me several years ago. It means "Nothing if not you, Lord." Thomas Aquinas, 13th century monk and one of the most influential theologians and philosophers in all of history, said this after having a vision of Jesus. Reportedly Christ appeared to him and said "You have written well of me, Thomas. What what you have as a reward?" "Non nisse te Domine," was the response. After that, even though Thomas had dedicated his life to writing theology and was in the middle of writing his massive Summa Theologia, Thomas stopped writing. He said it was because all he had written, tomes and tomes of brilliant work, were as straw compared to seeing the actual Lord. Whatever you may think about such a mystical event, I personally believe it happened but I understand the more skeptical among us, the response of Thomas is what matters. When asked for...
Post a Comment
Read more