“Be Thou My Vision” and the Importance of Hymns

It’s March! And The song of the month is “Be Thou My Vision (All That I Long For)” . This one has a special place in my heart. “Be Thou My Vision” was one of those songs that helped me fall in love with hymns. Now it would be helpful to define what a hymn is. In their most general sense, hymns are songs written to God/a god/gods. There’s nothing inherently Christian about them. Really its the content of a hymn that determines if it is Christian or not. However, when worship leaders talk about hymns and songs we usually mean the hymns that can be found in a hymnal. These are generally older songs while the songs that we call songs are the ones that we listen to on the radio/streaming service. They are generally written within the last 10 to 20 years. Now be warned! It is only a matter of time until our favorite songs are considered old, stuffy, and unrelatable. So when I say “helped me fall in love with hymns” I mean “helped me fall in love with those pieces that have been intentionally gathered together over the generations of Christendom and that remind me that my faith is not an island”. To explain: an island is cut off from the main land and must be self sufficient. An island style faith must be able to provide for and survive by itself since there are no bridges or ships that connect it to the mainland of church history.

Now I could go on and on about the evangelical church’s relationship (or lack of relationship) with church history but each time I’ve tried to explore this topic I find myself ranting. Instead of sitting through a never ending rant, just know that I believe church history is important and that the study of our history leads to a deeper, better rooted, more vibrant, faith.

One repository of our history is our hymnals. In these books we have access to a collection of songs that, at some point in the story of the church, were considered significant enough to be officially endorsed by a pastor, board of elders, hymnal committee, church, or even an entire denomination. Now not all hymnals are created equal. The quality of a hymnal is dependent on those who are curating it. If heretics compile a hymnal you will most likely have a heretical hymnal. On a side note, when worship leaders select songs for their church to sing they are creating a type of hymnal for their church. If they were to actually publish that “hymnal” I am sure that more time, thought, and intentional consideration would go into selecting the songs that the worship leader is publicly asserting as beneficial for the spiritual life of the church.

Even if we don’t like the sound of the songs in our hymnals we should at least be willing to learn from them. What can we learn? Well, a lot. We can learn what Christians sang when they felt lonely, or lost, or jubilant, or motivated. We can see how they confessed through song and how they rejoiced. How did they respond to the trials of their times? Well just look at the songs they sang and collected. Then, if we are willing to learn we may just find some tunes or lyrics that speak to us and help us through what we are facing today. For me, “Be Thou My Vision” is one of those songs.

According to hymnary.org this ancient hymn is published in 139 hymnals (for reference the beloved “How Great Thou Art” only appears in 104 hymnals”. Still nothing compared to “Amazing Grace” or “Holy Holy Holy”). It is thought that the lyrics originated in the 8th century yet it was not until the early 20th century that the lyrics were translated from Irish into English and combined with the Irish folk tune “Slane” to create the hymn we know today. This means that when we sing this hymn we are joining with 1300 years of Christendom in imploring that God would be all that we long for and need. Suddenly, I am reminded that I am not the first Christian who has lost his focus and needs to reset his sights on God. Nor am I the first Christian to be tempted by riches or man’s empty praise and if the pattern continues I won’t be the last. This reminds me that I do not worship a new God, or an Iphone God who will need to be updated or replaced next year. No, I worship the everlasting God and 1300 year old words still accurately reflect how my relationship should be with the almighty, Ancient of Days. What other relationships endure, unchanging, for such a great span of time?

Now at this point you might ask “then why add a chorus to such a fine hymn?”. Quite simply: to give more options to modern bands and because I didn’t like the other options. See, some artists approach adding choruses to hymns a bit like Dr. Frankenstein approaches surgery: it doesn’t really matter if the parts match up, just stitch them together and call it a day. Whenever I add a chorus to a song, whether one of my own or a hymn, I try to make the chorus fit musically and thematically (Just a note: when it comes to adding choruses to “Be Thou My Vision” I think several bands have done a good job considering the lyrical content but the musical content seems out of place. I could add the new chorus to a different song and I would be none the wiser).

For “Be Thou My Vision (All That I Long For)” I sought to summarize the hymn in the cry “all that I long for and all that I need” then reiterate the aspirational nature with the plea “Lord be my vision, my strength, and my peace”. Here I also reuse the melody from the last line of the verse to emphasize the similarity and maintain the original, melodic flow. Yet even in this aspirational plea I’m drawing from material already in the song. The most obvious part is “vision”, that clearly fits into the original hymn. “Strength” reflects the line “heart of my own heart whatever befall” and the often forgotten verse “Lord be my battle-shield, sword for the fight” (perhaps I should add that verse to this rendition…). Finally we have “peace” which is a bit of interpretation. I see the plea for “peace” as reflecting what happens when we keep our vision on God. In Matthew 14 Peter saw Jesus walking across the storm tossed waters. Jesus called Peter who then stepped out of the boat and also walked on water. As long as his eyes were fixed on Christ, Peter was fine but as soon as he started worrying about the waves around him he began sinking, overcome by the storm. When Peter took his eyes off of the creator he became overwhelmed by the creation. For us, when we keep our eyes fixed on our almighty Creator we can have peace even in the most turbulent of life’s waves.

So all of that to say, I love “Be Thou My Vision”. It connects me with my brothers and sisters in the faith and encourages me to keep my eyes fixed on God, no matter what. I pray that this rendition encourages you as much as it has encouraged me and maybe, if you haven’t looked at it in a while, perhaps you’ll give that dusty old hymnal a second chance. Lord willing when I am old and unable to rise from my bed, I know I would appreciate hearing those songs that encouraged me in my youth (and maybe a few written by members of the Worshiping Songwriter. Who knows?).

Equipping The Saints

One of the most impactful, musical, experiences in my life is playing songs for the saints who are confined to nursing homes. Many of these brothers and sisters have Alzheimer’s and dementia. They are so weak that they cannot rise from their wheel chairs and if somehow they manage to stand they are in great danger. One sweet lady lights up every time she sees me with my guitar and invariably shares the same story “My husband plays one of those and I sang in the choir and the glee club”. She doesn’t remember that she’s told me this almost every week for the past four years but when I play the hymns that she sang in the church choir she remembers all the words. Even though she can’t remember me, the music brings back these words that sustain her even in this broken season of life.

This redirects how I approach singing in church. When I pick songs, I’m not just picking things that I like or songs that are popular. Instead, I am picking out the arsenal that the congregation will use in the battlefield of life. When they are sad these should be songs that encourage them. When they are angry these should be songs that direct them back to God (Psalm 4:4). When they are happy these should be songs that rejoice with them. When they can’t get up from their wheel chair these songs should remind them that even though they are weak, He is strong.

I write songs with this same lesson in mind. Equip the saints for spiritual warfare. Give them songs that sustain them in all seasons of life. Many times I will ask the question “Is this song for saints of all ages? Or do I have to be a healthy 20-40 year old to sing it?”. Now there is a time and place for upbeat songs but if that is our entire diet then what will we sing when we can’t even raise our hands in the air? Carl Trueman asked it another way “What can miserable Christians sing?”.

If you are a songwriter or a worship leader, take this as a challenge. The next time you write a song or pick a worship set, imagine this song or songs are the weapons and armor your congregant gets to take into battle. When struck by the hammer of life will their shield hold up? When combating the false teachings of the world will their sword cut? Or will the dull blade harmlessly rebound off the thick skin of sin, leaving both the Christian and the world unimpressed?

Equip the saints with songs that glorify God, songs that teach them His word, and songs that sustain them through all seasons of life, not just the happy ones.

Writing Songs That Teach

There are many ways to write songs. When I was young I used songwriting as an emotional journal. I would feel something and I would try to capture that feeling with my guitar and a pen. Eventually I grew tired of the angst and pain that accompanied my songs and took a break. For two years. At the end of that break something changed and I started writing worship songs. Suddenly, these songs weren’t just for me to record my feelings. Instead these songs had a goal: encourage God’s church through congregational singing.

I don’t want to dismiss the emotional journal approach to songwriting, some of the best songs of all time are emotional journals. However, an exclusive journal approach presents some dangers and barriers when it comes to congregational singing. What if the lyrics are so veiled behind the emotionally charged metaphors that the congregation only receives the feeling and not the meaning of the song? If we’re okay with that couldn’t we just play Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” on a Sunday morning and get a better result? Or how about when it comes time to refine a song? Will an the emotional writer respond kindly to critique that shapes the melody so that it is better for congregational signing? Or will they be willing to smooth their lyrics so that the song can reach a wider audience (For an example of smoothing lyrics: John Mark McMillan wrote “How He Loves” after the death of a friend and included the line “Sloppy wet kiss”. He graciously allowed David Crowder to smooth this out to “Unforeseen kiss”)? In my experience, songwriters go on the defensive when someone tries to critique something so personal.

“But Dan!” you might say, “The Psalms are full of these emotional cries and some of them seem very journal like. Why are you being so down on emotions?” And I might respond with “Good observation! But the Psalms, in their very nature, are meant for communal worship and they purposefully go beyond journaling to venture into the realm of teaching” So here’s the main point: we write songs that teach content.

Lets take Psalm 22 as an example. Verses 1 and 2 are about as close to an emotional journal as possible. These verses are a pure emotive cry. This is true whether David is crying out in his trials or if Christ is crying these words out from the cross. However, verse 3 brings in a sharp change. It is no longer a personal, emotive cry. Instead we are now reciting truths about God’s character. Verse 6 seems to resume the journal approach and verse 9 counters this with another look at God’s character. This alternating continues until Verse 19 where the Psalmist lets out a cry for God’s aid. This cry will carry us through to the end of the Psalm where the Psalmist reminds the singer that the Lord has accomplished His mission.

I find this Psalm to be such a wonderful example of how the emotional journal and congregational worship songs intersect. In the beginning of the Psalm God gives us the words to ask “where are You? Why haven’t You saved me?”. Then instead of condemning the worshiper for asking such questions He simply reminds them of who He is. In this Psalm, the emotional experience is used as fuel for better understanding the character of God.

I won’t pick on any particular song, I’ll let you do that, but compare this with the songs that we sing in church. Do the songs we sing teach us who God is? Or do they cater exclusively to human emotions?

The truth of the matter is that songs teach content. Many of us learned our ABC’s by singing it to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. If you don’t believe me try it out yourself. The next time you are studying for an exam or trying to memorize a list, sing it. You can thank me later. Back to the topic at hand. At this point we should be saying “If songs teach content then what is my congregation learning when we sing?”

My personal goal is to write songs that explore the fullness of God’s character. There are many songs that explore His love but what about His justice, wrath, holiness, goodness, or aseity (If you happen to know of a song that uses the word “aseity” would you pass it my way)?

If eternal life is knowing God (John 17) then I want my songs to teach me who He is.

How Harmony Impacts Lyrics

This past Sunday we sang “Your Grace Is Enough” by Matt Maher. Personally I love the song, its upbeat, has a great message, there’s a cool, syncopated guitar intro and outro, but there’s one line that always makes me go “hmmm… why do we sing that?”

Now when I tell you what line it is you’re going to say “really? You get bent out of shape over that?” And I respond with “It’s only a slight bend, but yes”. The line in question is “You use the weak to lead the strong”. Now this sounds like something God does. Right? It sounds perfectly Biblical and it is a good summary of how God uses the weak and foolish things of this world to shame lead the wise and the strong.

Ah, but see what I did there? I took the word that 1st Corinthians 1:27 uses and replaced it with the word that Matt Maher used. I first discovered this difference back in my undergrad days. My friends and I were having lunch and I was trying to tell them that God uses the weak to lead the strong but when I tried searching for that phrase to get the reference I came up empty handed. Instead I realized that I was preaching “Your Grace Is Enough” instead of 1st Corinthians.

Now Matt Maher is a skilled songwriter and his interpretation of 1st Corinthians 1:27 still gets the point across. Those word’s don’t lead me away from God and I can still worship with them. But this made me wonder two things. First: Are there songs that I sing that sound Biblical but actually lead me to worship a false god? And second: Why use “lead” instead of “shame”?

The first wondering is a post all in itself so lets focus on the second. Why use “lead” instead of “shame”? Both are one syllable words and if you use “shame” then you avoid repeating the word “lead” in the next line. It also adds to the alliteration of “shame”, “strong”, “song”, “salvation”, and “sing”. Not to mention its what is in the text. But when I try to sing “Your Grace Is Enough” with the word “shame” instead of “lead” it just feels out of place, like its wrong. What does it feel wrong to sing what scripture says?

I think part of the problem is our love of major harmonies.

There was a time when the original hymn setting of “Oh The Deep Deep Love of Jesus” would be just fine. Its a beautiful, rolling, minor melody. But it doesn’t sit well with us today. It’s strange singing about love to such a minor tune. Instead, most contemporary churches I have played at prefer Sovereign Grace’s major version. It seems to fit better with what we, as a culture, expect from our music.

Now back to “Your Grace Is Enough”. I started off by saying that it’s upbeat and might I add, quite major. Because of this it does not feel right to use such a charged word as “shame”. The word “shame” is just too heavy for the harmony to support. If we were to sing “shame” it would be a speed bump that shocks the singer out of the song’s flow. So instead of using a speed bump word Matt uses the more palatable “lead”. And it works! But how many times have we smoothed out the text of scripture for the sake of a song’s feel?

We, as songwriters, have to realize that we are shaping how people feel about God. When we choose harmonies, or melodies, or lyrics do they reflect the God of scripture or do they clean Him up for a contemporary audience? If someone goes from singing our songs to reading scripture will they feel like they are in the presence of the same God or will they feel a disconnect? Perhaps the God we sing about is so loving that we cannot comprehend the wrath that He displays in books like Genesis and Revelation, or even the church discipline in 1st Corinthians.

God is not one dimensional and our songwriting shouldn’t be either. Our harmonies, melodies, lyrics, instrumentation, recording techniques, and all matter of artistic choices should help others experience the the fullness of God’s character, not just the the parts of God that connect with a major harmony.

(P.S. There is no “one size fits all” approach to music. What one culture interprets as “happy” another culture, when they hear the same notes, might hear it as “anger”. This is why it is crucial to know the people you are playing/writing music for. We cannot write effective songs if they ignore the culture for which we are writing)

(P.P.S. I should clarify why I chose the word “harmony” instead of “key”. See, one of the problems that contemporary music faces is its obsession with being in either a major key or sometimes a minor key. The thing is, there is so much more to harmony than just major and minor keys. We, as songwriters, have access to a wealth of unused resources in the modes. One excellent example of a contemporary worship song that uses a mode effectively is “Revelation Song”. SongSelect says it is in the key of “D” but it is really “D Mixolydian”.

Yes, one “P” (and thoughts on worshiping)

Ever since The Worshiping Songwriter began there has been a debate about whether it should be “worshiping” or “worshipping”. Some people, who I greatly appreciate, are passionate about keeping my grammar and spelling in line with acceptable conventions. The Lord knows that I give them enough material to correct but in this instance I take my stand.

At the time of registering the domain, dictionary.com lists worshiping as the primary, American spelling while “worshipping” is labeled as “especially British”. The entry is pasted below.

“verb (used with object), wor·shiped, wor·ship·ing or (especially British) wor·shipped,wor·ship·ping.

to render religious reverence and homage to. to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).”

So as a proud American I eagerly embrace single P worshiping.

Now whether worshiping is spelled with one or two Ps is a small matter compared with the text that comes underneath. How we define worship says a lot about who we are and a lot about who/what we worship. One thing I do not like about Dictionary.com’s definition is it places the act of worship solely on the worshiper. In this definition, worship occurs when the worshiper gives something or feels something. There is no mention of the object being worshiped.

This leads me to the question “Is it worship if what we do is unacceptable?”

Consider the book of Malachi where the priests in Judah put defiled offerings on the Lord’s altar (Malachi 1:7). How does God respond? Well, He says to Judah “with such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” (Malachi 1:9). At this point, I think it is safe to say that God does not feel worshiped even if the priests feel like they are worshiping through their religious reverence. Now if God does not feel worshiped is it really worshiping?

This is a question that hovers over my shoulder when it comes to writing songs. The book of Malachi makes it clear that God does not just want a religious ritual. Instead He wants lives that are transformed by His grace. With that being the case, I strive to write songs that both exhibit and encourage this transformation. My prayer is that these songs help us, the church, live out the type of life that God desires so that we may worship Him in the way that He desires to be worshiped (that is, in Spirit and in Truth).

May our worship be not only a feeling of awe or reverence for our gracious and holy God but may it also be pleasing to Him. May we worship because we are so filled with the Spirit that we cannot help but praise God and all that He has done.