Readers of THE OUTLOOK have been kept well informed about the achievements of recent CRC Synods. Especially Report 44 received full attention and readers were conditioned to be on the lookout for those details on which Synod could possibly go wrong.
Also other items have received attention.
What I missed is a report or comments on the action of Synod 1972 concerning the 66 new hymns proposed by the committee appointed to look for a wider variety of hymns especially in view of the times we live in and the wishes of our young people.
Apparently this decision is considered to be of minor importance, not even worthy of comment. In general the matter of congregational singing is looked upon as second to practically everything else in our church life.
I felt disappointed that THE OUTLOOK seems of the same opinion by not even mentioning this item, let alone commenting on it.
I fully agree that Report 44 is important. But I am also of the opinion that a decision on what we will be singing in our worship services is important too, if not equal in importance.
Congregational singing, i.e., the songs of God’s covenant people when gathered for worship, have been called the New Testamentic thanksgiving and! or incense offering. Those offerings were brought in the Old Testament on a voluntary basis. The compulsory sacrifices have been fulfilled by our Lord on the cross, but the voluntary offerings still exist in the form of thanksgiving and prayer. Congregational singing is one form of that. Already in the Old Testament we can find references to that. For instance in Psalm 22:3: “But Thou art holy, a Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” See also Psalm 141.
Granting the above, we ought to give most serious consideration to what we are singing, because the Lord our God is holy, also in our time.
It is about time that we realize that again, rather than considering it as some sort of sacred entertainment during the service or what it boils down to . . . . to get a break. We should rid ourselves of the idea that as long as we sing it does not matter what or how. This is a dangerous attitude which will eventually affect our worship services as a whole. I realize that we do not live anymore under the Old Testament rules. But that does not mean that we cannot learn anything from them. One thing to learn is that whenever we offer something to our God, it must be first class.
It would appear that our young people—of which I consider myself one—feel intuitively that somewhere our achievements in this respect do not shape up. That’s why they ask for something else. However, it seems to me that they do not fully realize what direction we should go. Hence their requests for more songs that appeal especially to the youth. The result is that the respective committee comes up with 66 new hymns.
Looking at this collection as a whole, one thing is clear: this collection will not appeal to young people in any special way. Except for the odd good one the great majority is just totally unfit for Calvinistic worship service.
If we really want something renewed, and I fully agree that something should be done in this respect we must keep in mind that poetry and music are forms of art and as such not restricted to certain age groups. (Any other form of poetry and/or music that cannot be classified as art but as entertainment does not belong in our worship service.)
The next thing we should keep in mind is that bad poetry is not transformed into good poetry merely by adding words like Calvary, the Lord or Jesus, or by substituting Thou for You, etc. That it does is a most serious misconception in Reformed circles.
The third thing is that an in-itself good tune is not necessarily suitable for use in congregational singing.
I hope to comment in a more detailed way in a later article about these matters.
Also other items have received attention.
What I missed is a report or comments on the action of Synod 1972 concerning the 66 new hymns proposed by the committee appointed to look for a wider variety of hymns especially in view of the times we live in and the wishes of our young people.
Apparently this decision is considered to be of minor importance, not even worthy of comment. In general the matter of congregational singing is looked upon as second to practically everything else in our church life.
I felt disappointed that THE OUTLOOK seems of the same opinion by not even mentioning this item, let alone commenting on it.
I fully agree that Report 44 is important. But I am also of the opinion that a decision on what we will be singing in our worship services is important too, if not equal in importance.
Congregational singing, i.e., the songs of God’s covenant people when gathered for worship, have been called the New Testamentic thanksgiving and! or incense offering. Those offerings were brought in the Old Testament on a voluntary basis. The compulsory sacrifices have been fulfilled by our Lord on the cross, but the voluntary offerings still exist in the form of thanksgiving and prayer. Congregational singing is one form of that. Already in the Old Testament we can find references to that. For instance in Psalm 22:3: “But Thou art holy, a Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” See also Psalm 141.
Granting the above, we ought to give most serious consideration to what we are singing, because the Lord our God is holy, also in our time.
It is about time that we realize that again, rather than considering it as some sort of sacred entertainment during the service or what it boils down to . . . . to get a break. We should rid ourselves of the idea that as long as we sing it does not matter what or how. This is a dangerous attitude which will eventually affect our worship services as a whole. I realize that we do not live anymore under the Old Testament rules. But that does not mean that we cannot learn anything from them. One thing to learn is that whenever we offer something to our God, it must be first class.
It would appear that our young people—of which I consider myself one—feel intuitively that somewhere our achievements in this respect do not shape up. That’s why they ask for something else. However, it seems to me that they do not fully realize what direction we should go. Hence their requests for more songs that appeal especially to the youth. The result is that the respective committee comes up with 66 new hymns.
Looking at this collection as a whole, one thing is clear: this collection will not appeal to young people in any special way. Except for the odd good one the great majority is just totally unfit for Calvinistic worship service.
If we really want something renewed, and I fully agree that something should be done in this respect we must keep in mind that poetry and music are forms of art and as such not restricted to certain age groups. (Any other form of poetry and/or music that cannot be classified as art but as entertainment does not belong in our worship service.)
The next thing we should keep in mind is that bad poetry is not transformed into good poetry merely by adding words like Calvary, the Lord or Jesus, or by substituting Thou for You, etc. That it does is a most serious misconception in Reformed circles.
The third thing is that an in-itself good tune is not necessarily suitable for use in congregational singing.
I hope to comment in a more detailed way in a later article about these matters.