Hymns Most Relevant

Among the myriad of issues arising from my and subsequent generations’ addictions to television, iPods, and media in general is that many of us have become consumers, not creators. This plays out in many different ways, church sanctuaries notwithstanding. My denomination, which has traditionally thrived on four-part, a cappella hymn singing, is becoming just like any other where passionate praise bands appear to worship cool PowerPoint presentations floating up from LCD projectors.

This change is not happening without reason. Parents who have grown up with hymn singing are worried that young people will turn away from the church because of the old music. Young people want to contribute their musical skills of piano playing, guitar strumming, drum beating, and microphone crooning to their churches. Evangelistic tendencies require reaching out to and including the unchurched and musically nontraditional.

While none of these motivations lacks validity, four-part, a cappella hymn singing cannot be simply left behind as old fashioned, out of touch, or irrelevant. Indeed, closing hymnbooks and opening guitar cases is not as much choosing a more contemporary style as it is neglecting a key component of the true value of church.

To a great extent, joining church is about craving and contributing to something that is greater than the sum of its parts. To hymn singing each participant brings with a unique tone, voice range, and understanding of why they sing. But when they add their voices to the musical fray, they are giving, receiving, belonging—and relying on themselves and each other without external or even technological intervention.

This intense experience of community has not been lost on younger generations. When I was in college, friends and I borrowed hymnals from the campus auditorium and sang out our hearts in a dorm stairwell—for fun. Consistent during the same period was the marked increase in fervor and attendance at every chapel service hymn sing. Just this past weekend, my uncle told me about his middle school boys’ a cappella choir where the boys are awed by the sound that together they alone can create.

Beyond traditional venues, I recall my year of voluntary service in an arts program for prisoners and the intense excitement sweeping through inmates when they were joined by group of really good singers recruited to shape musical rehabilitation. The inmates were incorporated into something beautiful and found themselves contributing and belonging to something seemingly otherworldly.

I’m guessing that if rising generations and even unchurched newcomers are taught to sing four-part, a cappella hymns, many of them will—and quite eagerly at that. They will be inspired by both old and new songs and new ways of singing old songs that reflect our continually evolving theology, ever-broadening community of believers, and increasingly pragmatic hopes.

We’ll need hymnals—and every last person’s voice.