Last night, we had a good ole fashioned hymn sing in the sanctuary. About 25 of us gathered, ranging in age from 3 to 83. We sang for an hour and a half, and could’ve easily sung another 2-3 hours without murmuring or arguing. It was a wonderful time.
Sure, there were times when some of us “younger folk” didn’t know one of the good old Gospel hymns, and the older generations stumbled through Thy Word by Amy Grant while our youth belted it out with gusto. There was much debate over whether How Great Thou Art was a great hymn or a lousy one. And there was a stubborn pastor who refused to sing a note of Onward Christian Soldiers, one that everyone else in the room seemed to love just as much as the pastor wished to rip it out of the hymnal.
But there was also complete joy in singing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. There was something incredibly holy about our singing of Surely the Presence of the Lord. We became a roomful of God’s children as we sang Jesus Loves Me. A couple of people spontaneously jumped up to take over the piano to sing solos. And it just seemed wrong to end with anything other than the most well-known hymn of all, Amazing Grace.
As I sat there, I felt the Holy Spirit moving through that divinely ordained place and time. I realized the importance of hymnody, and that it is one of the few musical genres (perhaps the only one) that reaches across all generations – if we allow it. It is not outdated music unless we ourselves make it so.
As I’ve come to know the congregation of West Newton, I’ve discovered that one of the favorite hymns here is the Fanny Crosby classic, Blessed Assurance. The lyrics of this hymn sum up last night perfectly. We were blessedly assured. It was “a foretaste of glory divine.” We felt “angels descending bring[ing] from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love.” We were “happy and blest, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, [and] lost in his love.”
This was our story, this was our song, praising our Savior, all the day long. I do hope we have more of these nights.
What a beautiful evening! I pray that we'll continue to sing our theology through hymnody. I'm so glad you got to celebrate our faith through song like that, and your description of it made my morning.
ReplyDeleteIt was a night that would've made Wayne Albertson proud. Oh, how I miss him and his brief introductions of hymns:
ReplyDelete"Before we sing this hymn, I am compelled to inform you that the author penned the lyrics while sitting on a hillside, sipping a cup of ale, looking out on a vast sea of sheep while he read the 23rd Psalm. Let us sing together."
We sang "Blessed Assurance" yesterday at all 3 churches, too.
ReplyDelete