There are hymns that I love for objective reasons. I could spend all day talking about the “why’s” and “why nots” about these hymns. I normally don’t like hymns with repetitive refrains. I generally don’t like hymns that the music relies on only three chords (I, IV, and V chords). I also don’t normally care for hymns that are in compound meter: give me a sturdy 4/4 or even 3/4 meter. I really dislike hymns in which the text and tune don’t “match.” Some hymns take a serious, somber topic, such as the cross, and pair it with a tune that is too “light” or even flippant. This happens in “At the Cross,” the one that takes Isaac Watts’ hymn “Alas and Did My Savior Bleed” (a great hymn), pairs it with a lighthearted tune, and then adds a refrain ending with “and now I’m happy all the day!” Singing about the cross and my sinfulness makes me many things, but flippantly “happy” is not one of them. As I said, I could go on and on about this.
But, in the end, my favorite hymns end up not being my favorites because of objective criteria. My favorites don’t ultimately rest on the depth of the text or the complexity of the tune and chord progressions. My favorite hymns normally are the ones that we sing well. And this past Sunday, we sang Because He Lives very well. I was moved by the singing of the hymn, and I was moved when I saw how so many in our church were moved by singing it. Sometimes something happens above the notes, rhythms, and text, and our minds and hearts are moved. Such was the singing of Because He Lives this past Sunday.
It was a holy moment among many holy moments in worship this past Sunday.
When our daughters were little we would always leave for summer vacation on Sundays. Beverley and I would pack the car early on Sunday morning, head to church, and then we would be ready to pull out as soon as worship was over. Our girls would be brimming with excitement, they were ready to go. They would ask me, “daddy, how long is your sermon?” I would tell them. Then they would ask, “can we just sing the hymns and then leave?” Meaning: let’s just skip the sermon. Of course I never did. But I always thought, there are some days that I could leave church, skipping the sermon, and the hymns have been enough. For me, this past Sunday, we could have just sung the hymns.
Thank you for singing so well.