Written by Bob Burroughs | Thursday, July 19, 2012

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Someone told me recently that in his church, “If we can’t line-dance to it, we don’t sing it!” People do not like to stand and sing for 15 minutes or more at a stretch — period! If you don’t believe that statement, ask your people. They will tell you quickly that it’s too long to stand. After a brief time, energy begins to wane and the singing becomes less and less enthusiastic.

I am becoming very burdened about what I am seeing, feeling and experiencing in worship these days in many churches. Things are different, even unusual, and for a lot of people, very uncomfortable. One such area is hymns.

Hymnody defines a denomination. It determines and reinforces theology, faith and history. We are who we are because of our theology, formed in large part by the singing of our strong and beloved hymns. Hymns are memorized and cherished by many.

In his book, Songs for all Seasons, Chuck Swindoll said this:

“It’s amazing how those grand theological truths woven through each stanza of a hymn took up permanent residence in my heart and mind. Even today, I keep a dog-eared hymnal on my desk and in my times with the Lord, I often turn to one of those old standbys and allow the familiar strains to fill my heart again.”

Churches that do not include the great hymns of the faith in the worship experience are not allowing their people to learn and sing the basic truths of their church heritage — whatever denomination that is. For those churches that sing no hymns whatsoever, I feel sad for their people.

Many churches, however, just no longer use a hymnal, or the texts in the hymnals they use are contrary to the beliefs of their particular denomination. If a church uses a hymnal that is not from its denomination, the worship leadership needs to be absolutely sure the texts of these hymns gel with the denominational theology.

Then, I’m seeing a major decline of “harmony” singing in our churches. Most people can’t sing harmony to words on a screen. Part of the joy and fun in congregational singing is to sing harmony, and screens do not allow this when only the text is there. Both are available, however, as you probably know!

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