Yesterday, I found out that quite a few worship leaders lead "There is a Fountain" last week. What a wonderful thing "Sunday Set Lists" are. Thanks so much for this, Fred. (If you want to see what I'm talking about go to www.fredmckinnon.com.
While I stated that "There is a Fountain" wasn't my favorite - a couple of you stated that it was. That lead me to wonder what my favorite Hymn was... and why...
This proved to be a much more daunting task for me than I realized. You see, if you grew up in the church, hymns are an important part of your faith. You heard them every week and they're ingrained in your spirit. David said in Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you." Many of our Hymns are rooted in scripture, and these songs take root in our hearts. This is a good thing...
There has been quite a struggle between "contemporary" worship and "traditional" worship over the last few years. What is amazing to me is there really is no line between the two. There is no traditional. There is no contemporary. There is just worship. How you make it yours is up to you... How you make it His is what makes it worship. It all has to be about Jesus. It all has to be about God. Anything else should be called a "sing-a-long" or a concert. That's what makes our worship important. It is about worshipping Him. Paul implores us to worship in Colossians 3:16. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." We are called to worship and as evidenced by this passage, hymns are an important part of that worship. They not only please God, but they enrich and edify us. So what are hymns? You see, Paul distinguishes 3 different kinds of worship songs: Psalms (Praises in Hebrew - or from Greek songs sung to a harp), Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Greek : 'ode pneumatikos; meaning songs of the breath of God) Psalms and Spiritual Songs - we'll talk about later... But what about hymns?
Hymns are actually not a word that means "old church songs." Hymns are any song directed to God and/or songs proclaiming his majesty and goodness. Sounds like some of our new contemporary songs are actually hymns, doesn't it? You see, there are very blurry lines between the three of these elements of worship. But, there are some distinctions.
So, now that I've written all of that, I'd like to hear what your favorite hymn is and why? Make it short and sweet, but remember this is a taste of what you offer to God, so make it genuine.
Blessings - I'll follow up with mine in a later post....
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