One Church, One Song
Finding Unity Through Hymnody
Language and art have the power to unite and divide societies. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” helped mobilize abolitionists in the North preceding the Civil War. Conversely, the book was detested by most in the South. It divided the two sides of the country not by cold facts and figures, but by the imagery and emotion of a well-told story. Legend states that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he commented: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Language and art have real power and influence over people.
Unity With the Past
Likewise, the hymns we sing can either divide or unite. Much like the creeds, when we sing hymns we are declaring unity with the universal, apostolic church of centuries and millennia past. Some hymns, such as those that find their basis in the Psalms, have been sung by Christians since the time of Christ and before. By singing ancient texts, we identify with the great reformers, church fathers, and secret congregations who sung the same texts while in hiding. The very hymn you sang last Sunday in your comfortable sanctuary, may well have been sung 2000 years ago in the Roman Coliseum by a family as they were eaten alive by wild animals.
Good hymns with sound theology are still sung today because they are timeless. They are timeless because they reflect a Christ who is timeless. Although “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” may still be compelling, the book was a work of its own time and it found its full meaning in the time in which it was written. As history progresses further from the events of the book’s inspiration, its impact, however meaningful, dissipates as the world moves on to the next thing. Good hymns find their source of power in the never changing God who inspires them. As a result, a concise, theologically correct hymn never loses relevance.
The United Local Church
Beyond unity with the past church, hymns call our local congregations to unity. It is difficult for the church to be given over to strife and interpersonal troubles when she is regularly singing texts like “The Church’s One Foundation”. It becomes difficult to argue over the color of the carpet while having to sing “Brethren, We Have Met To Worship” in the next breath. Regular hymn singing requires the congregation to look beyond the temporal methods of doing church, to the real heart of the church, Christ Himself.
The use of the hymnal is a natural check on the egocentrism of modern western worship. Holding the rich hymn tradition in hand connects the modern congregation to the believers of the past. Additionally, sharing a hymnal with the person in the next pew encourages harmony that extends across the aisle beyond the musical element. While the use of hymns is not a guarantee of peace within the church, when used methodically and carefully, it forces the congregation to move past debate over style and on to singing the Gospel of Jesus.