One of the things I enjoy most is playing for the HYMN SING in our summer services! On most Sundays, I try to select music to reflect the theme of the service, so these summer hymn sings allow folks to choose hymns which are most meaningful to them. It is great fun to discover which hymns are special to people — and WHY!!
Often, a hymn has been associated with a favorite person in someone’s life — or sung at a special memorial service…
Sometimes a hymn was learned in church school or connected with a special event in life…
Snuggling with Grandma as she sang ABIDE WITH ME…
Memorizing I WOULD BE TRUE as part of a lesson on being a Christian person…
Learning LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH around a summer camp campfire…
Singing WE SHALL OVERCOME in a march for civil rights…
Folks’ preferences for hymns are as varied as they are … and very often hymns are beloved because of the FEELING associated with the memory of the occasion or the person — rather than a specific feeling for the hymn itself.
Any congregation is a melting pot of religious denominations and spiritual backgrounds. We all grew up with different church hymnals — and what one person thinks of as an “old favorite” another might never have heard of.
I grew up in a Congregational church which used the PILGRIM HYMNAL and it did not contain many “traditional” old favorites. When playing my first funeral as a church organist, the family requested AMAZING GRACE, HOW GREAT THOU ART, and THE OLD RUGGED CROSS. I didn’t know ANY of them!!!
Beyond singing hymns for nostalgic reasons, WHY do we sing them each week???
We sing hymns because the texts of hymns ARTICULATE OUR FAITH. And when we SING — unlike when we read or speak the words — we use both sides of our brain and much of our body, so our whole selves are involved in proclaiming those texts! In addition, on Sundays , we are singing IN COMMUNITY with one other. Joining with other believers not only increases the volume, but also the POWER of the words as everyone sings them out together.
Some hymns are praise-oriented —others teach scripture;
some are prayer hymns reflecting our innermost yearnings —
others are a call to justice…
Whatever the theme, it is important that the texts we are singing accurately reflect what our hearts can faithfully affirm. That’s the reason for new hymnals and updated and inclusive language!
Our own CHALICE HYMNAL not only contains many wonderful “old favorites,” it also Includes several contemporary ones which have become NEW favorites. One special one is OURS THE JOURNEY — a fabulous hymn which affirms our commitment and faith in God despite the difficult life challenges we face.
Its composer, the Rev. Julian Rush (1936-2023) was all too familiar with his own challenges when he was commissioned in 1985 by the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference of the Methodist Church to write this new hymn about DIVERSITY. (click here to listen)
After years of inner struggle, in 1980 he had come out as a gay man to some members of his congregation — the first pastor in the United Methodist Church ever to do so. At first the church supported him, but he was eventually asked to leave that congregation and he found himself alone and jobless. After a time, Bishop Melvin Wheatley — in a supportive, but controversial move — re-assigned him to a part-time position in St. Paul United Methodist Church in Denver, one of the few United Methodist churches in the entire country which welcomed gay people. Eventually, he was appointed director of the fledgling Colorado AIDS project which during his lifetime he developed into a thriving organization of over 50 paid employees.
In the midst of the turmoil of these years, he wrote these strong words of faith:
“In the midst of new dimensions, in the face of changing ways
Who will lead the pilgrim peoples wandering their separate ways?
God of rainbow, fiery pillar, leading where the eagles soar
We your people, ours the journey — now and evermore!”
WHERE did he find hope and courage in the midst of such devastating rejection???
— In a loving, affirming GOD —
who walks alongside each one of us on our journeys, whatever they may be, supporting us, loving us, giving us strength and cheering us on as we go.
He closed his hymn this way:
“Should the threats of dire predictions cause us to withdraw in pain
May your blazing phoenix spirit resurrect the church again.
God of rainbow, fiery pillar, leading where the eagles soar
We your people, ours the journey, now and evermore!”
Amen and Amen!!
Comentarios