I have two copies of
Sing Unto The Lord. I also have an older songbook published by Pentecostal Publishing House (can't remember the name of it).
Anyways, while there are some good hymns and songs in there, seems to me the bulk of those songs leave something to be desired. Either the words are cheesy, or the musical arrangement is cheesy.
I know many churches and people nowadays have pretty much given up on singing hymns, in favor of the newest and latest contemporary 'praise songs'. Personally, I find much of the new stuff to be pretty boring and cheesy in its own way.
I have several older hymnbooks. The oldest is dated 1915 I think, the others are from the 30s, 50s, and 60s. Some of them are from Holiness-Wesleyan churches, one's a Baptist hymnal, then there's the good ole Broadman Hymnal.
Those hymnals suffer from much the same problem - cheesy arrangements, cheesy lyrics, in many of the selections.
But I have noticed something: Many of the older hymnals DO have some incredibly beautiful, awesome, inspiring hymns that are NOT in the UPCI hymnal. Doing some internet research, I found some older hymnals reproduced, from the 1800s. There are in fact quite a lot of hymns that have fallen by the wayside because modern hymnals don't include them... but many of these older hymns are incredible!
Also, many of the older (I mean O L D E R) hymns have incredibly haunting, inspiring, awesome arrangements. Many others who's arrangements might be somewhat lacking appear to be easily modifiable. Many hymns have some verses or lines that are worded fairly badly, but with just a little bit of creativity can be reworded or adapted to become awesome.
One thing I noticed is a lot of people complain that yesterday's hymns don't really speak TO God, just 'about' God, whereas the new cooler super-duper praise choruses speak TO God (and this is somehow to be preferred?).
But I have found many, many hymns that speak directly TO God, are prayers in hymn form, and express the entire range of human feeling, devotion, adoration, question, doubt, fear, triumph... in short, the whole range of our experiences with God... and they do it in ways that make modern praise ditties look like Sesame Street music by comparison.
So... is it time to revise the hymnbook, and find REAL songs of worship and praise? Resurrect some of the old hymns, write new hymns that go beyond just a memorable ditty or 'toe tapping jazz special', and create a corpus of praise and worship music (words AND melodies) that are worthy of our God?
As an example, here's an old hymn from the 1800s -
173 L.M. Samuel Medley
Christ a Sanctuary.
Ps. 63. 2; 96. 6;
Isa. 8. 14
1 Jesus, before thy face I fall,
My Lord, my Life, my Hope, my All;
For I have nowhere else to flee,
No sanctuary, Lord, but thee.
2 [In thee I every glory view,
Of safety, strength, and beauty too;
Beloved Saviour, ever be
A Sanctuary unto me.]
3 [Whatever woes and fears betide,
In thy dear bosom let me hide;
And, while I pour my soul to thee,
Do thou my Sanctuary be.]
4 Through life and all its changing scenes,
And all the grief that intervenes,
’Tis this supports my fainting heart,
That thou my Sanctuary art.
5 Apace the solemn hour draws nigh,
When I must bow my head and die;
But O what joy this witness gives,
Jesus, my Sanctuary, lives!
6 He from the grave my dust will raise;
I in the heavens will sing his praise;
And when in glory I appear,
He’ll be my Sanctuary there.
I found a youtube vid of a lady at home singing this hymn. AMAZING is all I can say. The melody is incredible, the words are awesome, this hymn needs to be remembered and sung by God's people!
How many more gems have we allowed to be buried under the dust? How many 'Royal Telephone' type songs are taking up space in the hymnbook and keeping us from having REAL worship music?
'Some folk don't understand that the middle "F" in AFF is the most important ingredient!' -noeticknight
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