So I think we can all agree that we have abundant access to music these days. Like so many of y’all, my iTunes library is chock-full-o’-songs. And although your music provider of choice might be different than mine, I bet we’re all pretty grateful for the talented folks who faithfully use their gifts to make our days a little bit brighter. Whether it’s a thoughtful lyric, a catchy tune, or an infectious hook that stays in our head long after the song is over, music has a way of helping us express our thoughts and process our feelings.
But as much as I love all kinds of music, I often remind myself how important it is to promote and protect and preserve our connection to one particular genre: older hymns. I know. They’re not exactly the Billboard Hot 100. But whether we fully realize it or not, we need to hear those old hymns. We need to sing them. They’re rich in substance and Truth. And the fact that they’ve been sung, in some cases, for hundreds of years gives us a point of connection with previous generations of believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we’ll never know this side of heaven.
This past week at our church we began the service with several newer worship songs that you might recognize, but as we transitioned to the fourth song, I smiled at the sound of familiar chords that I’ve known since I was a child. As the congregation started to sing, I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and let the words wash over me.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
What an invitation to worship, you know? And thanks to a little post-church investigation (okay, it was really just a Google search, but “investigation” sounds fancier), I can tell you that people have been singing “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to the Lord since 1758—for more than 250 years.2 So when we come together in worship and sing hymns, we’re connecting to our Christian heritage. And as we proclaim the Truth in those lyrics, we’re also committing the attributes of God’s character—qualities that believers were publicly declaring over two centuries ago—to memory.
There’s so much we can cherish about all of that.
The last verse of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” may be my favorite.
O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee:
prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
There’s a profound sense of recognition in those lyrics that we are utterly dependent on God to keep us close to Him and lead us to our eternal home. And in a day when, if we’re not careful, we may realize that instead of singing to and about the Lord, we’re mostly singing about ourselves, we’ll do well to cling to these pieces of our history and incorporate them into our worship.
The only thing good in us is Him. Sing Him hymns of praise.
1. What’s your favorite modern worship song? What lyrics especially resonate with you?
2. When you think of older hymns, do any particular ones come to mind?
3. Do you have a favorite older hymn? What lyrics especially resonate with you?
4. St. Francis of Assisi wrote “All Creatures of Our God and King” in 1225. We’re still singing it almost eight hundred years later. Look it up online and write out a stanza. Think about all the generations that have sung those words over the years. (Isn’t that the neatest thing?)
Today’s Prayer
2. “Come, Thou Fount,” Hymnary.org, accessed March 09, 2017, http://www.hymnary.org/text/come_thou_fount_of_every_blessing.