As I prepare to preach on Romans 15 at the end of this month, I am reminded of our need. If the Holy Spirit does not illuminate God’s word then a sermon is just one preacher stumbling around in the dark trying to tell a blind man where to go. This is a prayer that I wrote in order to focus. I hope it helps.
All wise father
The beginning and the end of every truth
You have given us Your perfect word
That we may be instructed, taught to walk in Your ways
Your word is a light unto my feet that makes clear the path to your throne
Today I endeavor to add commentary to the reading of your word
Grant me clarity that I would not obscure the text with mindless rambles
Wisdom that I may discern the encouraging comments from the harmful barbs
Grace that I may speak to my fellow fugitives as one forgiven
Humility that I would see myself not as a king exalted to the platform but as a servant, washing Your children’s feet
And may Your children receive Your word with pure delight
May Your Spirit turn this service into a cool, refreshing stream that sustains us through the week
May the light of Your holiness convict us of our sins and lead us to repentance
Oh God of infinite mercy
Open every ear
Take the scales away from every eye
Melt every heart of stone
That Your word may enter in and transform us into the image of Your Son.
While I was down in Nashville for the Getty’s Sing! conference I had the great pleasure of visiting Edgefield Church. We received a warm welcome, met some other conference goers, and joined in some wonderful singing. Mark Dever was the guest preacher that day and he shared Exodus 12 with us, going through the first Passover.
One set of verses that stuck out during the sermon was Exodus 12:26-27 “And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'”
Pastor Dever then drew the connection between that and baptism. Why do we do baptisms in front of others? Why invite children to see a baptism? So that they will be inspired to ask “what does this ceremony mean?”
And if we do this with baptisms, why not with communion?
At Calvary we normally practice communion on the first Sunday of the month. We’ll have our normal order of service but with a little bit shorter sermon so that we can share communion at the end.
The thing is, by this time all the kids have already gone to children’s church.
They’re not there to ask “what does this ceremony mean to you?”
This stuck with me and when I got back I talked with Pastor Matt and Pastor Dan. They agreed and thought it would be a good idea to have communion with the kids still present. I also thought it would be good to send a letter out to the parents that would help them talk with their kids about communion. Pastor Matt and Dan agreed again and thought it would be good for me to write the letter.
I’m honored to have had the chance to write this and I hope it helps you reflect on why we take communion.
Dear Calvary Family,
This Sunday we have the joy of sharing communion together. We do this every month, but this Sunday will be a little different. Instead of taking communion after the sermon, we will set aside a larger portion of our worship service to reflect on and proclaim, the life, death, resurrection, and future return of Christ.
Perhaps the most significant part of this change in the order of service is that our children will be with us as we take communion together. This has profound implications when it comes to practicing Open Communion.
Practicing Open Communion means anyone, regardless of their denomination or church membership, who proclaims with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) is welcome to join us at the Lord’s table. In one sense, this is inclusive, inviting all to come. However, it is also exclusive. Only those who have put their faith in Christ should eat the bread and drink from the cup.
Parents, this is where you come in.
It is crucial that your children understand what communion is and if they should join when we share the elements. Before Sunday, take some time to talk with your children about communion. If your child is too young to understand communion, then it is good for them to see it practiced so that they are inspired to ask questions. Listed below are some of the major points about what communion is, why we practice it, and who should share in it.
It is a remembrance of Christ’s body and the life he lived (Matthew 26:26)
It is a proclamation of the Lord’s death and of His future return (1 Cor. 11:26)
It is the New Covenant (Luke 22:20). Christians do not sacrifice animals to God because Christ is our perfect and eternal sacrificial lamb (Heb. 9:11-15)
It is a practice that joins us with all the saints that have come before us, crossing the gap of 2000 years to lead us directly to Christ and His disciples at the Last Supper.
It identifies us as a local church that is part of God’s global church
Only those who have “examined themselves” and understand that by participating in communion they are proclaiming Christ, should take communion. Otherwise they “eat and drink judgement on themselves” (1 Cor. 11:27-32)
Communion is not for perfect people. Otherwise none of us would be able to take it. Instead, communion is for people who are saved by Christ through faith. Everyone who comes to the table must see that they need a savior, that Christ is that Savior, and that faith in Him is the only way to the Father. As the Jews painted their doors with the blood of a lamb in faith that God’s judgement would pass over their homes (Exodus 12:1-13) we now eat the bread and drink the cup in faith that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to secure eternal life (Hebrews 9:14). We look forward to sharing this hope with you and your children this Sunday.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an entry in the Reflections category but a recent discussion at the Getty’s Sing! conference got me thinking I should try one of these again. During Matt Boswell’s breakout session on crafting better lyrics, one of the attendees asked “what is your definition of a hymn?” and his answer was something along the lines of “I’m still working on it, but it includes the combination of poetry and music that is meant to be sung”.
I’m also still working on my definition of a hymn and wanted to record some of my thoughts in this reflection.
First, I think part of the difficulty of defining the word “hymn” is that we use that word to mean different things in different contexts. Like the Hebrew word רוּחַ (ru.ach) means wind, breath, or spirit our English word “hymn” can be translated many different ways.
When a historian says “the earliest composer known to us by name is Enheduanna, an Akkadian high priestess at Ur, who composed hymns to the moon god Nanna and moon goddess Inanna…” (Burkholder, “A History of Western Music: 8th Edition”, paraphrased) they mean that “Enheduanna wrote songs to a god and even though we don’t have the music we still have the text and that’s enough to call it a hymn”. So in one sense a hymn is just the text of a song that is dedicated to any god. Nice definition but its not really helpful in a Christian church context… to be honest I’m not going to be playing any hymns dedicated to Nanna or Inanna any time soon.
Let’s bring our definition a little closer to home. What about when that guy oh so helpfully and lovingly scratches “WE NEED GODLY MUSIC! PLAY MORE HYMNS!” on the back of a prayer request card. Well, antidotally this means “use the hymnal that’s been collecting dust ever since we got a SongSelect membership and/or projected lyrics”. This is also a veiled way of saying “play the songs that I grew up with and loved”.
In this we find the problem with using a hymnal to define the word “hymn”; not every song in a hymnal is a hymn, even in the most secular, historical sense of the word. I have “The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration” sitting on my desk and “hymn” number 576 is “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Although verse two references God, the song is not written to Him or for Him. Instead it is a patriotic song. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone sing verse two! But moving on… how about “hymn” number 37, which is the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s “Messiah”, an English oratorio. Or the ye olde ancient number 30, “How Majestic Is Your Name” by Michael W. Smith that was written in 1981. Wait… when was this hymnal published? MCMLXXXVI? 1986? Wow… that’s an incredibly up-to-date-for-the-time inclusion of a popular song. It’s almost as if a modern church played “Our God” by Chris Tomlin… hold on, you’re saying that “Our God” was released in 2010 and its 2022 now? Its 12 years old already?
But I’m getting off the path. The point is that we can’t use a hymnal to define what a hymn is because a hymnal is a curated collection of songs to be used in church life. Whoever puts the hymnal together can include as many genres as they want. Patriotic songs, Gospel songs, ancient hymns, modern hymns, praise choruses, Psalm settings, Christmas carols, and children’s songs, are all wrapped up in one book. What goes into a hymnal is more dependent on the editor rather than the quality of the individual song.
If we can’t use the hymnal to define what a hymn is then maybe we can use the Bible… Spoiler: it won’t help, it will just make things more confusing. In Ephesians 5:19 Paul gives us three genres of music to be used in church life, “Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”. What are these genres? Unfortunately Paul does not elaborate and the Bible scholars shrug and say “could be this… could be that…”. My favorite explanation, but by no means is this the final, inerrant interpretation, is that Psalms are those Psalms recorded in the book of Psalms. Hymns are the other songs in recorded in other places in scripture, like Miriam’s song in Exodus 15. Spiritual songs are everything else. Which means, according to these definitions, almost everything in our hymnals would be considered “spiritual songs”. Okay, that’s about as helpful as the guy saying “play more hymns”.
So where are we now? Back where we started.
The meaning of the word “hymn” changes with its context. Whenever we use the word “hymn” we need to look to the context to understand what is being said. Are these song texts that are dedicated to a god? Are these songs found in the Bible outside of the book of Psalms? Are these the songs that this person grew up with that just so happen to be in a collection called a hymnal? Depending on your context, any of these could be the right answer.
Now this should bring us to ask “what is our context?”. From what I’ve seen in non-denominational churches, the music is going in two directions. On one side there are songs that are more focused on the worshiper’s emotional experience. These are generally called “contemporary” songs and tend to have more casual lyrics with melodies that blend congregational accessibility and performance elements. On the other side there is the modern hymn movement where the lyrics feature vivid poetry and melodies more suited for congregational singing.
Don’t take this short definition as an endorsement or condemnation of either side. Although I favor modern hymns, I still use “contemporary” songs in my services. Instead I want you to think of these definitions as a sliding scale, or if you’re into math, a graph.
On the X-axis we have lyrics. Are they more casual or poetic? On the Y-axis we have the music. Is it more oriented for performance or congregational accessibility? When people talk about hymns and contemporary I think they mean something like this…
The hymns are generally more poetic than casual but still not as veiled as pure poetry. The contemporary songs have more casual lyrics but still keep poetic images like fire, water, desert, eagle’s wings, and other things we don’t say in normal conversation but make sense in a worship song.
In regards to music, The hymns go strongly towards congregational accessibility, sometimes at the danger of being uninteresting. The contemporary leans more towards performance but stays just accessible enough that its possible for a congregation to sing along with enough repetitions.
This means that our working definition of a “hymn” is “poetic lyrics, written to/for/about God, combined with congregationally accessible music”.
When I shared this definition with my wife she took it a step further and pointed out that the lyrics are generally more theological in nature rather than worshiper focused… which means I need a new graph just for lyrics…
Once again we have casual and poetic on the X but this time we have “worshiper focused” and “God focused” on the Y. We tend to think of hymns as being more focused on the attributes of God rather than how we feel about God.
Now if you’re a songwriter remember that you’re looking for balance. If your song reads like a systematic theology textbook then no one is going to feel the truths that they are singing. If your song is all about how God makes you feel then you might not say anything true about Him.
If I were to chart my own songs out it might look like this…
I tend to be more poetic in my lyrics but I hope that this shows that these aren’t scales of good and bad. The quality of a song is not determined by its genre. Instead, each song, or hymn, needs to be evaluated based on its own content and merit.
So what is a hymn?
Well, depends on the context.
It could be a poetic, theological, God focused text that is meant to be sung by a congregation or it could be a song like “In The Garden” that just happens to be in a hymnal.
Is that helpful? I don’t know. But I think there is something hidden beneath the surface.
If I’m hearing “we need to sing more hymns” or “could we sing more contemporary songs?” then that could be a warning sign. Now it could be that I’ve met the unpleasable critic. I can’t make everyone happy. But maybe, just maybe its a sign that I’m losing balance.
If I keep hearing “more hymns” maybe I’ve been giving the congregation too many songs about their own experience with God and they need something more solid to chew on. They need a real, present, and powerful God that stays the same from age to age no matter how they feel about Him.
Or if I’m hearing “contemporary please!” perhaps I’ve drifted into the land of heartless knowledge where trivia about God has replaced an intimate, personal, relationship with God.
However you define a hymn, pick songs that glorify God, that lead others to sing truth, and that minister to the people you are serving.
What do you think a hymn is? How would you chart your favorite worship songs? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re looking for new songs I would be happy to help. We have lead sheets and chord charts for our latest release “The Home That He Has Promised”. Links below.
I want to give a big thanks to Jesusfreakhideout.com for letting me be a guest on their blog. Click on the link to check it out and read about some of the inspiration that went into the lyrics of “Grace Every Day”.
If you’re around Newtown, PA on Friday, August 19th we would love to see you at Crossing Community Church at 6pm. Jarred and I will be playing through the entire EP along with some other songs. Its going to be a great night of worship and music.
Let us know that you’re coming by reserving a ticket (they’re free) and invite a friend!
Our new EP, “The Home That He Has Promised” is out now. Give it a listen on your favorite streaming platform or purchase it on Amazon (physical copies will be available sometime in August).
Thank you to all who have supported us along the way and we hope that you enjoy these songs.
So excited to share the first song off our upcoming album “The Home That He Has Promised”. Look for the full album, available digitally this Friday with physical copies coming in August. Be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think. Enjoy!
“How Great Thou Art” is such a wonderful portrayal of the gospel story. It captures this lovely balance between informative, poetic verses and the soaring, soulful chorus sung in response to that good news. This is definitely one worth memorizing.
