I’m a dinosaur
I’m a dinosaur, in many ways, I suppose. This fact is brought back to me each time I return to my earthly homeland. My memories include a time in which the mere possession of firearms was nothing to be surprised at and my family often enjoyed them at various family gatherings. It was natural and part of life. Dad and Mom raised me to be polite. It comes natural to say “Yes, ma’am.” Or “No, sir.” and to address folks older than myself as Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. And Dad raised us to sing each and every verse of every hymn – unless there was a sound doctrinal basis for skipping a certain verse.
And it’s that last part that I want to yack about today. Hymns – an ancient part of our faith. An integral part of our faith. A rapidly disappearing part of our faith. Many of the old hymns are wondrously crafted and are impressive expressions of the Christian faith. “He leadeth me, o blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort fraught! What e’er I do, where e’re I be, still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me! By His own hand He leadeth me! His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. ” “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, o what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood! This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long” “Be not dismayed what e’er betide, God will take care of you; beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you. God will take care of you, thro’ ev’ry day, o’er all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you.”
Those are just a bare sampling of some of the hymns that have run through my head these 30+ years since I learned to sing them. I’m reminded of a song I heard on the radio that went something like this: “Lookin’ up at the hymnal in my mama and daddy’s hand, though they were singing different notes, somehow they made them blend. I don’t remember the sermon, the only thing I recall was listenin’ to my mom and dad make the sweetest sound of all.” And I DO remember hearing Dad and Mom sing harmony. And Dad and his brothers. And… etc, etc. Folks back then could SING. One of my favorite memories is of attending an area wide Mennonite gospel sing somewhere north of Wichita, Kansas. The boss’ dad invited me and the other hired hand to go. The two of us were the youngest there by about 20 years. Those folks rolled out the old hymns with a simple, acapella harmony that was fantastic to hear. They sent an impromptu volunteer octet out to practice. It was volunteer as in “George sings bass!” And “Martha sings alto!” We sang two hymns while they were practicing then they came in and sang two hymns. If there’d been a recording studio right there they could have cut a record right then, such was their mastery of the music.
But somewhere along the way we got “music ministers” and “praise bands” and other enemies of the old songs. What a travesty to hear “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see! When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun!” Huh? Say WHAT? When we’ve been WHERE? Sheesh! Don’t folks have a brain in their heads? “Amazing Grace” IS one of the most beautiful melodies of all times. What a treat to hear it on bagpipes, one of the most haunting melodies ever. But it’s precisely because of the lyrics that this song is so beautiful. Verse one leads into verse two which prepares the way for verse three before verse four wraps it up. You can’t cut ANY of the verses without killing the whole hymn. Each verse builds on the prior one to bring about the entire message. And yet I’ve seen it butchered time after time by the “It’s too long, we MUST cut out a verse” crowd. The weird thing is that then they’ll go on to sing some inane “praise chorus” forty-eleven times – far exceeding the time needed to sing “Amazing Grace” the way it was meant to be sung.
Last time we were up north we got slammed (emotionally speaking) time after time as folks butchered one old hymn or another and we listened to what passes for “church music” today. I will NOT attempt to sing a new song the first time I see it. Not unless I’ve had a chance to analyze the words to see if I can sing them in good conscience. The message is in the words, and if they aren’t true I won’t sing them. It’s that simple. There are songs I refuse to sing – because they are abominations doctrinally or I’d lie if I sung them. And I won’t repeat the same six words for eleventy-nine times, for me that falls under “vain repetitions” – as in the Lord told us not to use them in our prayers so why should we sing that way?
And then, the missionary convention. Each year the National Missionary Convention meets in one city or another around the US. Missionaries come from all over the world and people from all over the country come to learn about missions. Theoretically the convention serves various purposes. To encourage and build up missionaries, to raise up new missionaries for the work around the world and to encourage churches and individuals to actively support missionaries by way of financial, prayer, moral and emotional support. Yet when it comes to those of us who have spent 40 years or more on the field, we’re basically told “You must bow to the current fads amongst our churches. Your emotional needs are of no concern to us.” How so? Each and every main session is lead by one “praise team” or another. The largest churches in the area vie with each other to see who can come up with the least traditional time of singing. That’s all well and good. After all, we’re attempting to reach out to the younger generation and to draw them into the Lord’s work. However, not once have I seen a time of praise set aside for the veteran missionaries. People who have spent their lives working on the Lord’s mission field have “come home” – to a land they all to often no longer recognize. They spend their lives adapting to another culture, learning new songs, learning the books of the Bible in another language, feeding others spiritually, serving, conforming to a foreign culture. And when they return “home” they are again forced to conform to a foreign culture with no thought given by the organizers that long term missionaries have emotional and spiritual needs too.
You see, the Apostle Paul admonished the church in Ephesus to “speak to each other with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”. Note that the emphasis in this passage is to lift EACH OTHER up via song. And that’s what the old songs do for us dinosaurs. They lift us up, they encourage us, they state our thoughts and give words to the undergirdings of our faith. They express our beliefs and give words to our hopes, fears and desires. Why not take a time in the “Nitty Gritty” session to sing the old songs? I remember the last time we participated in the “Nitty Gritty” session. The time of singing was lead by folks who probably had never even heard the old hymns. Here they were supposedly trying to build up and encourage veteran missionaries – but never once sang the songs that carried us out to the mission field and sustained us there over the years.
Yeah, I’m a dinosaur when it comes to music. I don’t expect others to conform to my tastes nor to share my enthusiasm for the ancient words of our movement as expressed in the ancient tunes. However, why does no one seek to at least allow those of us “old timers” a time of refreshing as well?
There’s a certain church I love to visit when up north. Early service has a “praise band” – with a country twang. They sing the new songs and it’s a joy to share with them – except for the occasional butchering of old hymns (singing them to a new “melody” – but often changing the words as well which REALLY messes me up). And then the second service is geared towards the “old folks”. Yep, I’ll probably be at least 20 years younger than anyone else there except the preacher and the sound/video folks. But they sing more of the old hymns in the second service (First, second and fourth verses – I always look to see what’s wrong with verse three) and my soul can once more breath freely and rejoice. Yes, I’ll be in both sessions – but the songs in the second session speak more to MY soul and spirit than those in the earlier session do.
Being surrounded by speakers of one’s third language, one gets used to speaking and thinking in a different way from how one grew up. It’s a fact of life – folks don’t speak like me, I speak like them (as much as possible). And yet, when I hear Portuguese or English spoken, my ears tune right in. As we were returning to Colombia earlier this year, I heard some folks speaking in Portuguese behind me. I turned and addressed them in the same language, enjoying the sound of their voices and their accent that clearly said “Brasil!” to me. Wandering through the streets and stores of Pereira we have heard folks speaking in English various times. In each case the sound clearly carried over the general hubub of the city. The same works in music as well. Each style speaks to different folks, usually depending on how, when and where they were raised. No, I don’t mind singing to others in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs according to their musical tastes. But oh that others would speak to me in my “song language” as well occasionally.
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I understand a bit of where you’re coming from. I would much prefer to sing the old hymns, but there were some hymns that arrived on the scene during my lifetime that some from the previous generation didn’t approve. In fact, some for many years were not permitted in the “church” hymnal. Yet, we sang them at home and listened to them on the radio.
A few years ago, we joined a “baby” church. We came from a very conservative, fundamentalist background. The group included some unfamiliar “praise” songs in their song service. We were not too happy as we did not know them…more especially my husband.
I recalled having to learn new songs in my high school choir, so I knew we could learn these new songs if we were so inclined, and we did. And we learned to like and enjoy singing them. Some were harder to learn than others since they had more difficult arrangements than the easier songs that I learned as a child.
So we went along with singing these new songs. Still as time went by, the familiar hymns were sung less and less. It was even mentioned that the younger generation couldn’t understand the old songs. I really thought that was an insult to the young folks intelligence. If they could learn foreign languages in school surely they could learn a few older words. It would be so easy if some thought that the case for the song leader to read through the song and briefly explain some of the archaic words to the worshippers. I really like it anyway when the song leader says a few words before he leads a particular song…as to why he thinks it’s appropriate or how it originated, etc.
Well, now I’ve said all that now to say this. I’ve not really studied the history of the music in the church from it’s infancy, but I’m almost positive that we might not like the music of the first, second, or third century church. It’s my understanding that four-part harmony was not very well accepted into the church liturgy until after the Civil War. There is an early form of church music called “Sacred Harp” where there are as many as six parts. Also weren’t chants in the very early church history and aren’t they still incorporated in the services of some churches?
The various cultures of the world have different music forms that my uneducated mind can’t understand, but I do believe if I was exposed to it for a long enough period of time that I could come to understand and perhaps enjoy it. I think these cultures also have the right and privilege to create hymns that fit their kinds of music. They do not have to conform to European or American styles. God is pleased with all music that is offered to him and each other. And although I as you do prefer the music with which I grew up, I don’t feel that I can be too critical of those who prefer other types of singing..traditional, contemporary, gospel, praise, Gregorian chants, Negro spirituals, cultural styles, etc.
Still, I guess one can go too far by incorporating Godly words into music that appears “worldly” to its listeners. I really have no good response to that thought.