Hymns vs Choruses, the never ending debate. I have some thoughts: (in this text consider the word Chorus to mean ‘Contemporary Song’ to those that feel offended by the word Chorus!)…:
“Choruses are repetitive.” Songs aren’t repetitive, worship leaders are – it is possible for a worship leader to play more songs rather than repeat the verses + chorus so much. There are plenty of hymns with a chorus in them, except they call them refrains. The real question here is about arrangement preference. Almost any song, whether hymn or otherwise, can be done in almost any style (almost!), but certainly with as many or as few repeats as desired.
“Hymns are theologically sound.” Are you so sure? Perhaps a look through a hymn book with a few thousand hymns would be a good idea first! No, the correct argument here is that many hymns are theologically sound – the same can be said of many choruses – again it is just a matter of choosing the right ones. But equally, please, no more ‘history maker’ (Jesus is a somewhat bigger history maker than I am) or ‘did you feel the mountains tremble?’ (no, frankly, I didn’t) – it makes all the other contemporary worship leaders in the world look silly – don’t do it.
“Hymns are great for teaching.” Jesus talks about worship in the NT when he talks to the samaritan woman – worshipping the Father in Spirit and in truth. The word worship in the greek is Proscuneo, meaning to draw nearer to kiss. Not much about teaching in there. Maybe an intimate ‘knowing God’ revelation perhaps, but certainly nothing about the transfer of mere information about doctrine, theology or history.
“Choruses are all about me, my and I”. Too many of them are – that is a fair point. But again, many of them are not, it is just a matter of song selection here. Singing about my relationship with God does have a place in worship, songs about ME and God meeting MY needs can have a place, just not the centrestage and of course they should never fill the worship slot entirely!
“You can sing hymns with ferver.” One can sing any song with ferver – we just have to choose to do so. What one really means by that is that when a song we like is sung we feel like singing and worshipping. But actually the act of worshipping is an outward expression of an inward decision to surrender & draw nearer to God: it has little to do with how we feel, though the feeling, if there, is of course welcome. Love isn’t a feeling, that feeling is mere infatuation – neither is worship a feeling either.
“Hymns are an important part of tradition.” Yes they are. So..? Did Jesus create this tradition 2000 years ago? Is singing traditional hymns something Jesus did? Its not even been around 1000 years yet. What kind of tradition is that?
Seriously, all this point seems to be is more about what one is used to and what one has grown up with, and the meaningful methods through which we have met God. For me that was a mix of hymns and choruses. I value hymns, but I understand that church is no longer about me as it was when I was a baby in the faith. Church is about people who don’t know Jesus. 97% of people in England or in Australia (same stats apparently!) do not attend church – I think it is highly unlikely that we would find 10% of society that knew many hymns, or wanted to sing hymns, or connected spiritually to God through hymns.
The vast, vast, vast majority of people listen, enjoy and engage with the music of the day, and in the last 100 years there’s been a bit of a musical revolution. Music nowadays looks a little different to how it did 100, 200, or 400 years ago. People just don’t connect with hymns or the organ – and lyrics that contain thee and thou in them are just confusing to them – I once heard a new Christian pray using “thee and thou” throughout her prayers because she thought that was how God was to be addressed. Sure, it makes lyrics seem more austere, but it is completely lost to a generation less focussed on the words yet more focussed on the meaning (the music itself – its style, texture, tempo, the leadership style, arrangement and interpretation ALL comprise part of the meaning of the song to the emerging generation).
Worship-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it is a barrier to the un-churched and the de-churched – a needless hurdle we ask people to jump to connect to God OUR way, the way WE like it, the way WE grew up with, despite the fact we represent less than 3% of the population. I wonder when we’ll learn that Church isn’t for the Christians? Creating a mission-shaped church is all well and good until we actually have to change isn’t it?
“Its not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick.” – Jesus.
So the point is that arguments either way are fairly easy to knock down – the question is really just down to ‘how you do the song’ and we need to be aiming to not being a barrier to someone un-churched or de-churched that might come along whilst also not alienating the current congregation. Who’d be a worship director, eh?
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I found a funny story on the net about all this..:
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the farmer, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses?” said his wife. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.
The farmer said, “Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you: “Martha, the cows are in the corn”‘ – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows the white cows, the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN.’
Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a chorus.”
The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit and attended the local church of the small town. He went home and his mother asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”
“Hymns?” asked his mother. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his mother.
The young man said, “Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you: ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to the bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn..!
