Hymns vs. Contemporary

[Romanos]

A highly raging debate that I've heard and seen countless times. One will say that hymns are timeless and introducing the contemporary feel that is taking the church will only modernize the church to make it appeal. The other will say that hymns make people feel disconnected and that if young people are to stay in the church, you must find a way to appeal to them and essentially make it "pretty" for them as I heard a pastor say.

My thoughts are that both of them do get the job done, but if you're singing just to sing, it's about as much as reading the Bible just to say you did it with no meaning.

 

[psalms 91]

I agree and I love both although I lean more to contemporary, and you are exactly right that singing just to sing isnt it. These songs are an expression of our faith and we are speaking that faith so we better be walking it as well.

 

[Lamb]

The hymns in my church come from scripture. Most contemporary songs are repetitive fluff. The hymns, regardless of how you feel about it, contain God's Word since they come from scripture, so God's Word doesn't return to him empty and feeds us.

 

[Josiah]

My "beef" with too many Christian songs (regardless of the date and style of such) is that often the lyrics are BAD.

But the current bunch of "contemporary" songs do - at times - have some things that really, really annoy me. The repetition for example.... the same one (or two or three) words OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER..... my brain just goes numb, I want to scream "alright already!!!!" ANYTHING to avoid saying too much.

The classics have stood the test of time. I wonder how many of the hundreds of "contemporary songs" will be around 10 (much less 100) years from now. Of course, that's ALWAYS been true - but some ARE still here. Some HAVE become ecumenical, embraced by Christians of all denominations and often around the world. And there's probably a good reason why. Pushing these aside for really WEAK new songs (weak musically and especially lyrically) just because "new" stuff SOUNDS new or like the secular godless stuff we hear on the radio - well......

Now, my older bro goes to a HUGE non-denom (you've heard of it). The incredibly weak, empty worship service is mostly music. LOUD (almost deafeningly loud) and with LOTS of lights and colors and shows - but very professionally done (they have a professional, well paid, big, LOUD praise band that puts on a very showy concert each week). Usually, the songs are exciting, stirring, deafening - but virtually without content (which pretty much sums up the whole service). As Luther said, "all foam and no beer." BUT, once when I was there, they did Amazing Grace!!! Yeah, that very old classic hymn - albeit with something interjected (it was fine) and in more contemporary arrangement. The crowd LOVED it! Something actually with content.... with quality. But my bro admitted, this very rarely happens.

Now, I'll add that there are a lot of "classic" hymns that I don't like either. WAY too much emotionalism, individualism in some of them. Some are down right heretical. And some - while musically good, are just not very 'singable." Just because it's old doesn't make it good. Just because it's old doesn't make it bad. BUT if it's a classic...... sung for generations, in a wide variety of denominations..... says something.

I often look at "contemporary" songs like I do the non-denom churches that love them. LITE. Fluff. Foam. Attempting so hard to follow the world, to let the secular world be their light. Attempting to say as little as possible. Church playing world.



Just MY half cent SINCE IT WAS REQUESTED



- Josiah




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[TurtleHare]

I look at who's running the verbs cuz if it's me and what I'm doing then I'm worshipping myself but if it's about God and all His workings then I know I'm singing the right song.

I've been to churches that have those happy clappy songs and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why they thought their emotional input was the most important thing for worship. Will God look down on you if you aren't all smiley and happy? Can't we just be like the guy in scripture who pounds his chest and say Lord have mercy on me for I'm a sinner?

 

[tango]

A highly raging debate that I've heard and seen countless times. One will say that hymns are timeless and introducing the contemporary feel that is taking the church will only modernize the church to make it appeal. The other will say that hymns make people feel disconnected and that if young people are to stay in the church, you must find a way to appeal to them and essentially make it "pretty" for them as I heard a pastor say.

My thoughts are that both of them do get the job done, but if you're singing just to sing, it's about as much as reading the Bible just to say you did it with no meaning.

My preference is for more contemporary music although some of the traditional hymns are still very moving. I can't stand the uber-modern drivel that comes out of places like IHOP where they sing the same line or two over and over and over again. One day I saw a video from IHOP where they sang the same two lines repeatedly for 15 minutes (I timed it).

I find it remarkable the extent to which the words "singing" and "worship" have become all but interchangeable in church vocabulary. When the leader says "now we're going to come into a time of worship" they invariably mean "we're going to sing some songs". And when the songs are chosen and sequenced to maximise the emotional impact of them it's easy to see how people think they are responding to God when in many cases they are responding to the music. I often reckoned that if I could predict, to within a second or so, when all the hands in church would go up then it was almost certainly a response to the music rather than the Spirit.

One thing that is interesting to do is look at the lyrical content of songs. One example I've often used is this:

Traditional: " Praise my soul the King of heaven, to his feet thy tribute bring, ransomed healed restored forgiven, who like me his praise should sing?"

Modern: "You laid aside your majesty, gave up everything for me, suffered at the hands of those you had created / You took all my guilt and shame, when you died and rose again, now today you reign, in heaven and earth exalted."

Bethel: "And if he goes to the left then we go to the left, if he goes to the right then we go to the right, we're going to jump jump jump jump in the river, jump jump jump jump everybody"


Traditional songs focus on God, on Jesus, on what Jesus did for us. Some modern songs focus on God, on Jesus, on what Jesus did for us. An increasing number focus on us and what we're going to do.