Horrible hymns and cruddy choruses

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Blessed Assurance, Fanny Crosby

I see. My blessed assurance of salvation comes from angels whispering in my ear. Or, perhaps, I should take an imaginary walk in an imaginary garden with an imaginary Jesus:

He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
In the Garden, Austin Miles

Here's a novel idea. Why not simply trust in the promises of scripture?

God’s Word is all sufficient,
It makes divinely sure,
I Know My Faith is Founded, Erdmann Neumeister

 

The greatest thing in all my life is knowing / loving / serving you...I want to know / love / serve you more...

His Mrs (or cat) must have been very happy when he wrote this one for her (or it)...


Oh, and lets not forget the new PC version of the chorus "A New Commandment" in Kendrick's "The Source" book. "By this shall all-ll know..." all-ll in place of all men. I love the song, but this edit just sounds so goofy.

I am just thankful that I did not get to see what else had been fiddled with in that book

[ September 11, 2003, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: Pete ]

 

John..every day, God tells me that I am HIS. I walk to class talking with my Dad, and letting Him talk to me.

One that I get particularly tired of is "The First Noel". Our church sings EVERY verse...and there are way too many. The hymnist had WAY too much time on his hands.

 

Grace, Good call Lyrically I love The First Noel, the biggest problem I find with it though is that everyone can sing the first verse and chorus, but the meter of the rest of it is so messed up that no-one knows what is going on...especially me When I had to play it on guitar last Christmas I tried to keep just the first verse in my head as I played, but I still fell off big time

Oh well, it's only once a year...

 

Pete said:

yrically I love The First Noel, the biggest problem I find with it though is that everyone can sing the first verse and chorus, but the meter of the rest of it is so messed up that no-one knows what is going on...

If songleaders would just take some trouble to let people know that "looked," as in "They lookèd up and saw a star," was two syllables and not just one as it's spoken, all the problems with "The First Noël" would pretty much dry up . . .

 

Thanks, glad I know what Ebenezer means now. I was like Matt, wondering why on earth we were mentioning Ebenezer Scrooge.

Oh no, I know it's popular. It's probably the third most sung hymn at chapel every morning. The words are good other then the archaic ones I mentioned, and the melody is probably one of the best of the hymns.

Not surprised, most people would be embarassed to admit they don't know a word.

I know what both of them mean and I'm sure many other young people do, but I'm also sure many do not. As Dr. Bob said, most high school educations are subpar.


Dr. Bob, I know what a bulwark is, I assumed Sabaoth was a Hebrew word for God, I'm not sure what lays, transport, or succor flying are talking about. By the context I know they're not talking about what I usually associate with those words.

 

Bulwark - it's like a rampart, a strong-wall.

Joyful lays - a burial plot?

Lord Sabaoth - Lord of the Sabbath?

Succor flying - it's relief.

I like the old texts. Have we become so anti-intellectual in our worship that we don't sing songs because we might have to think what they may mean? Not a good reason for singing all contemporary songs, in my opinion. Of course, I believe that (some) contemporary songs have their place, and when included with these great hymns and songs of the faith, can be a rewarding worship service, full of education, exhortation, and praise of God.

 

I agree with that. I don't want to sing a song I need a dictionary handy to understand. Not that I don't want to learn anything, but if I'm worshipping God in song I want to be able to do that 100%. I have a relatively large vocabulary, so I wonder how an inner-city high school freshman would feel.

Besides, I think people sometimes confuse lots of elaborate multisyllabic words with deep meaning. "Oh, that song doesn't use any words with more then 6 letters, obviously it's shallow." Just because something sounds big and impressive (or old) doesn't mean it is really any deeper(straight from English Comp 1400).

 

I think we also have to realize that language itself evolves. In the times when the hymns were composed, words such as "bulwark" were more common. They were part of the vernacular, and when people wanted to describe a defensive wall used in battle, they used the word "bulwark." Nowadays, such words are part of a language that is not commonly used.

Therefore, I have no problem in using "regular" words in praise and worship, for the words and phrases that were used in the 1600's and 1700's that give us "young folk" fits now were commonalities back in the day.

I do believe that it is possible to be doctrinally sound while using KJV English. At the same time, I believe that it is important to learn and use hymns of the faith, almost as an "ancient-future" understanding - the God that helped to inspire the texts and musics of 400 years ago is the same God inspiring the texts and music of today.

 

This may not fully go with the original theme of the topic because of my reasons for hating it but I hate the first noel because of the recent change of name due to today's younger generations being unable to correctly use phoenics to pronounce it (its now "the first Nowell in many hymnals).

This just irretates me for reasons unknown.

 

That wouldn't be an inability to pronounce it in by today's youth...it would be a failure by the older generations to tell them to pronounce it correctly. If it's really all that important it should be an easy thing to give the correct pronunciation.

 

There's an exceptionally helpful tool for words we don't know - it's called a dictionary!

 

I personally,enjoy the older type wordings...it challenges me and my understanding of God. I think we should learn more about God through our choices of songs.

And...sing 100% to God for Him.

I know what you mean,Jonathan,about some don't understand the hymns...Elisabeth Elliott said something in an article I read once and I will not forget it. She said,"Many young people do not like the great hymns ;alas,they do not know them."(this is my paraphrase...I do not have the article on hand). I think it is because many young people have the attitude that you have...you don't understand it,and you don't want to,so you find the songs that your flesh likes and is easier to sing and understand...the result is many miss out on the great Truths and depth of the hymns and downgrade our churches with mediocre music(at its best) and a low view of God and His Holiness. We bring God down to our level and refuse to be taught by christians who have gone before us and their remarkable stories of faith and trials.

Molly

 

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
Katherine Hankey

We never discover what "the story" is because this song is not about the gospel. It should be renamed "I Love to Tell the Story about How I Love to Tell the Story."

 

Similarly there's that one that goes "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus / There's just something about that name."

We never find out what it is - it's just some vague, warm-fuzzy-feeling . . . something.

 

Then you have those who attended college in the 90's, where a "full moon" meant something else entirely.