Hymns And Worship
Worship
THE WINGS OF WORSHIP
Opening Activities
1. Prayer
2. Sing one or two verses of several favorite hymns such as: "Victory in Jesus," "Amazing Grace," or "The Old Rugged Cross"
3. Why do you like to sing? What is the purpose of singing hymns (Exodus 15:1; Psalms 101:1; 1 Corinthians 14:15)
Information
Music in churches is used as an aid to and part of worship and as entertainment.
Music had a long and important tradition among our Hebrew ancestors. It was used on every public occasion as a form of expression. About 1040 B.C. King David, who was a musician (1 Samuel 16:23), appointed certain of the Levites to provide music for liturgical services (1 Chronicles 14:4-7), and later on is found a listing of the number of services of musicians (1 Chronicles 25). In Hezekiah's reign we find that the Levites still played music for the temple worship (2 Chronicles 29:25). After the Babylonian exile and the restoration of the temple order in Jerusalem, the Levite families resumed that office (Nehemiah 12:35-36, 45-46).
The music in the temple at Jerusalem was very likely elaborate. There was possibly a large choir of Levites and an orchestra composed of many different instruments. The ceremonial trumpets gave fanfares. Because of the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the lack of authentic records, we do not know the exact nature of the music.
The Israelites no doubt had wind instruments (Genesis 4:21), stringed instruments (Psalm 33:2) and percussion instruments (Psalm 150:5).
Greek music had its impact on the early church. Our music heritage has been influenced through many avenues. It came to us through the Roman Christians, who used a borrowed musical idiom from Greek and possibly Jewish chants.
But what is a hymn anyway? It has been defined as "a generic term for any kind of song suited to congregational expression in worship."1 They may be expressions of belief, of prayer, of personal experience, of exhortation to one another or praise to God.
Technically speaking, the term hymn refers to the text and not the tune. Hymns are poems.
Poems are usually organized into sections of regular and equal structure known as stanzas. A stanza of a hymn consists of a series of lines, while a verse is a line, arranged together in a pattern of meter and rhyme.
In earlier times a hymnbook looked like most other collections of poetry with the words on pages in stanzas. The only references to tunes was the listing of names that could be found elsewhere.
When hymns are matched to tunes, the meter must agree as well as the musical and textual accents. By looking at the metrical index, one can see the tunes that can be interchanged.
A hymn can also be thought to be a poem because of its inner expression and content. The poet Milton said that poetry should be simple, sensuous and passionate. Hymns make use of rhetorical devices and figures of speech such as hyperbole (exaggeration), personification (representing a thing as a person), and many others.
Good hymns are difficult to write. They are a unique form of literary art. In the words of someone else:
It may not be as good as superior poetry, but it can have an excellence all its own ... By contrast the hymn writer has to produce something with others in mind, ... The hymnist, moreover, is not only speaking to others but on behalf of others to God.2
Hymns can be objective and subjective. The objective hymn turns the attention to God and should be used at the beginning of the worship service. It makes God the focus of attention.
The subjective hymn is a turning of the focus on human beings or on subjective experience. The subjective hymn should come later in the service. Hymns used for altar calls are subjective.
The hymn, therefore, like a good piece of journalism, is clear, memorable and short. It has a bit of heightened imagination, but it gives expression to universal religious truth.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think it makes any difference as to what type of hymn we use or where we use it?
2. What is your favorite hymn and why? Is it objective or subjective?
Evaluations
Have course participants complete the weekly evaluation form from page 63 (you may make copies) and hand it in at the end of the class period.
1. Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath, Sing with Understanding (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1980), p. 7.
2. Ibid., Eskew and McElrath, p. 24.
1. Prayer
2. Sing one or two verses of several favorite hymns such as: "Victory in Jesus," "Amazing Grace," or "The Old Rugged Cross"
3. Why do you like to sing? What is the purpose of singing hymns (Exodus 15:1; Psalms 101:1; 1 Corinthians 14:15)
Information
Music in churches is used as an aid to and part of worship and as entertainment.
Music had a long and important tradition among our Hebrew ancestors. It was used on every public occasion as a form of expression. About 1040 B.C. King David, who was a musician (1 Samuel 16:23), appointed certain of the Levites to provide music for liturgical services (1 Chronicles 14:4-7), and later on is found a listing of the number of services of musicians (1 Chronicles 25). In Hezekiah's reign we find that the Levites still played music for the temple worship (2 Chronicles 29:25). After the Babylonian exile and the restoration of the temple order in Jerusalem, the Levite families resumed that office (Nehemiah 12:35-36, 45-46).
The music in the temple at Jerusalem was very likely elaborate. There was possibly a large choir of Levites and an orchestra composed of many different instruments. The ceremonial trumpets gave fanfares. Because of the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the lack of authentic records, we do not know the exact nature of the music.
The Israelites no doubt had wind instruments (Genesis 4:21), stringed instruments (Psalm 33:2) and percussion instruments (Psalm 150:5).
Greek music had its impact on the early church. Our music heritage has been influenced through many avenues. It came to us through the Roman Christians, who used a borrowed musical idiom from Greek and possibly Jewish chants.
But what is a hymn anyway? It has been defined as "a generic term for any kind of song suited to congregational expression in worship."1 They may be expressions of belief, of prayer, of personal experience, of exhortation to one another or praise to God.
Technically speaking, the term hymn refers to the text and not the tune. Hymns are poems.
Poems are usually organized into sections of regular and equal structure known as stanzas. A stanza of a hymn consists of a series of lines, while a verse is a line, arranged together in a pattern of meter and rhyme.
In earlier times a hymnbook looked like most other collections of poetry with the words on pages in stanzas. The only references to tunes was the listing of names that could be found elsewhere.
When hymns are matched to tunes, the meter must agree as well as the musical and textual accents. By looking at the metrical index, one can see the tunes that can be interchanged.
A hymn can also be thought to be a poem because of its inner expression and content. The poet Milton said that poetry should be simple, sensuous and passionate. Hymns make use of rhetorical devices and figures of speech such as hyperbole (exaggeration), personification (representing a thing as a person), and many others.
Good hymns are difficult to write. They are a unique form of literary art. In the words of someone else:
It may not be as good as superior poetry, but it can have an excellence all its own ... By contrast the hymn writer has to produce something with others in mind, ... The hymnist, moreover, is not only speaking to others but on behalf of others to God.2
Hymns can be objective and subjective. The objective hymn turns the attention to God and should be used at the beginning of the worship service. It makes God the focus of attention.
The subjective hymn is a turning of the focus on human beings or on subjective experience. The subjective hymn should come later in the service. Hymns used for altar calls are subjective.
The hymn, therefore, like a good piece of journalism, is clear, memorable and short. It has a bit of heightened imagination, but it gives expression to universal religious truth.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think it makes any difference as to what type of hymn we use or where we use it?
2. What is your favorite hymn and why? Is it objective or subjective?
Evaluations
Have course participants complete the weekly evaluation form from page 63 (you may make copies) and hand it in at the end of the class period.
1. Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath, Sing with Understanding (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1980), p. 7.
2. Ibid., Eskew and McElrath, p. 24.
