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Ancient Songs Reawakened

On worship, hymns, and selfish singing

By E.J. RobisonPublished about a year ago 4 min read
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Ancient Songs Reawakened
Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash

If my Spotify hymn playlist were a physical hymnal, it would be worn to pieces by now.

Though I grew up in a good Christian household, I was never exposed to all that many hymns aside from a treasured few. There was "Amazing Grace," of course, then "Be Thou My Vision" which I sang with a band in high school. I was vaguely familiar with more popular staples like "Come Thou Fount" and "Tis So Sweet" and could sing along with the tunes, if not the words.

But I never had much interest in Christian music. I sang it often enough at church and school and even enjoyed it, but at home, I much preferred instrumental piano music, film scores, and good old Taylor Swift (emphasis on "old;" this was during the Fearless and Speak Now days). In fact, as people began to praise a revival in "worship" music, I withdrew from it even more.

I put "worship" in quotes because I'm not sure if most of the modern worship songs today really worship God as they ought to or only serve to worship ourselves. There's much talk of being sinful but little talk of God's mercy, many verses about what God can do for us but few words about simply loving him for who he is. Worship, it seems to me, has become a largely selfish affair - but further exploration into this idea must wait for a different post.

The idea is that I found less and less to enjoy about worship music as time went on, and yet, there came a time when I realised I needed it desperately. The Father seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth, but I was never quite sure what that meant. All I knew was that I needed something to help me along the way there, something that would speak God's truths to me so deeply that I would finally start to believe them rather than just quote them.

This is where hymns came in.

Now, I am not one of those people who claims "the old is always better." There is still great art, music, and writing being produced nowadays - there are even many wonderful hymns that have been written in more recent years. There is much good, but also much bad.

I do still think, however, that the hymns of old were written at a special time. In those days, people saw God with their own eyes. Though still influenced by other pastors, writers, and songwriters at the time, they weren't inundated with so many varying opinions, or political beliefs being shoved into the gospel. From just the first line of "Come Thou Fount," you can feel the purity of Robinson's plea. In a way, there seems to be no "filter" to these hymns; the writers felt, and so they wrote. And unlike the worship songs of today, most of the words are steeped in not only personal truth, but biblical truth. To have the former without the latter is most often to distort the word of God, which I think is the main fault of many songs nowadays.

I do enjoy hearing new takes on old hymns - some of them, at least. Artists have fun with style and rhythm, which, as a musician, lover of musical variety, and (very) occasional songwriter myself, I can appreciate. Then there are those who endlessly repeat verses, add new ones, or change words, and that I can't stand. But acoustic hymns, especially, I very much enjoy.

Last year, according to Spotify, just about all I listened to were hymns and Studio Ghibli soundtracks (some of my favourite music to play as I work). I like to say that hymns got me through the year - for a difficult year it was, where God constantly wore away everything I relied upon until I could only trust in him. The hymns helped to focus my thoughts and repeat the truths I knew of God Almighty, for those truths were the only certainties I could hang on to. Some of my favourites became "Take My life," "How Great Thou Art," "Holy, Holy, Holy," "I Surrender All," "The Love of God," and "The Old Rugged Cross." It's hard to actually name a few favourites because they're all my favourites.

These hymns are still my friends today. When in doubt about what to listen to, I turn on a hymn playlist. The old might not always be better, but I think that God guided the writing of the hymns in a similar way that he guided the writing of the Scriptures - not to say that hymns are also holy and infallible, but there's a truthful plainness about them that's an important part of not just understanding, but believing God's truths.

Whatever you believe in today, I challenge you to pull up a hymn and at least read the words. Drink in the beautiful poetry. Then, you can find a good modern cover that's easy to listen to - artists like Chris Rice, Keith and Kristyn Getty, the David Crowder Band, Jadon Lavik, and many others take wonderful care with these hymns.

Go with a blessing today, my friends! May you be encouraged by what you've read and what you'll listen to. I hope that rather than just singing, you'll soak in the truth of the words you're saying.

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About the Creator

E.J. Robison

Ever since I could first form words and hold a pen, I've been telling stories—from the sloppily scrawled tales about getting ice cream with my exotic pets to full-blown sci-fi and fantasy epics. Soli Deo gloria!

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