I like to sing. That is a surprise as, at Seminary, I was rejected from the Seminary Choir and had a ‘note’ from the music teacher at the Seminary for the Seminary and the church to allow me to speak the liturgy. (We were required to chant it to pass!) Try as I might, I couldn’t match the note I heard with the note that came from my mouth. So I spoke the liturgy until I came to my second parish which wanted me to chant – the topic wasn’t raised by either me or the parish during the call process – and so we had an interesting beginning. I wasn’t being stubborn – if I could sing I would – but for their sake, don’t make me. There was another music teacher in the congregation who in effect said, ‘If you can breathe, you can sing’ and she gave me lessons. As I said, I like to sing (but I still don’t know how).
I was thinking about this – reminiscing to myself – as I was looking at various hymns recently. Any study of hymnody and songs reveals changes through time – often because of translations or the modernising of language. There can be changing views on the complexity of the music or how much congregations want to sing. The Lutheran Church was known as the ‘Singing Church’ because music and congregational singing were important to Martin Luther. Last year was the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnals. While songs are part of worship from Old Testament times, the promotion of congregational singing was innovative. Words and music combine to uplift us, teach us, remind us, encourage us, challenge us because God’s Word reaches us in a different way on musical notes. However, over the centuries Christian songs have changed and often the shift is away from centring on Christ (what he has done for us) to us (our thoughts and feelings). Still, each generation should have its hymnwriters and composers while not forgetting past hymnwriters and composers. And the hymnic past changes when verses are changed or deleted. This week I came across a hymn from Paul Gerhardt which had 5 verses in the hymnal I grew up with but had 7 verses if I had grown up in the US, is 4 verses in our current hymnal, and yet I found an original version that had 16 verses! (Would you want to sing 16 verses?)
I like to sing in a congregation where each voice carries others, encourages others, and unites others in Christ. What is important are the words on the melody orienting us to the truth of human sin and God’s grace and how this is lived out and why we praise our God – as we praise our God! The best hymns and songs accurately reflect and present God’s Word. We don’t need perfect pitch to sing. Indeed Jesus said on Palm Sunday when criticised for the multitude of his disciples praising God because of him that if they didn’t praise ‘the King who comes in the name of the Lord’ then the ‘very stones would cry out!’ (Luke 19:37-40). I’m sure that ‘crying out’ would involve harmony and maybe even a beat (rock music? 😉 ) because singing is a whole body experience – a fitting response to our God who gave his all for us!
GS
PS. For articles on Lutheran hymnal history, check out The British Lutheran from last year (Vol. 64 No.1 March 2024) – with the title page of the first Lutheran hymnal on the cover. If you can’t find your copy, I can send you a pdf version.