It's time for the hymnal to make a comeback

In my opinion, one of the worst things ever to happen in the church was the abandonment of hymnals. Jonathan Aigner gives some good reasons why we should still be using them:

1. Hymnals actually teach music. We're making less music than ever before. Oh, to be sure, there's lots of music going on around us, but very few people are actually making it. We're just consuming it, or at the very most, singing along with music someone else made first. But even an untrained musician can look at the words and music in the hymnal and learn to follow melodic direction and rhythmic value.
   
   
2. Hymnals set a performance standard. Contemporary worship music is based on recording instead of notation. This is endlessly confusing, and it opens each song up to individual interpretation. Without notation, it is exceedingly hard to sing well as a congregation. Hymnals fix that. Everybody has the same notation, so we all know how the song is supposed to go.
   
   
3. Hymnals integrate the music and text. Words on a screen give no musical information. Hymnals fix that. Singers aren't dependent upon learning the song by rote.

He lists 12 more reasons, and I think he makes some good points.

Isn't it about time for the hymnal to make a comeback?

Making Church Cool in 1897

Trying to make church appealing to disinterested youngsters is nothing new. Today, it's pop music and skinny jeans. In the late 1800's, it was Gilbert and Sullivan:

How to Write a Worship Song

(via 22 Words)

No Children Allowed?

This was printed in the program at a church I visited in San Diego...

He's Alive!

A New Worship Album for Kids

"To Be Like Jesus" is the second Sovereign Grace Kids album from Sovereign Grace Music. It is due for release this month.

The album presents sound theology set to decent music, a combination frustratingly hard to find in the vast wasteland of contemporary worship music. For a preview, click here.

UPDATE (06/12/09):
SGM's first worship album for kids is "Awesome God."

The Beginning of U.S. Underground Churches?

Currently, it is perfectly legal to hold a Bible study in your home in California -- but only if you first obtain permission from the local authorities and pay the appropriate extortion fee. From WorldNetDaily:

A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

Now, this kind of "persecution" isn't anything like what we see happening to believers around the world, but is it possibly a glimpse of what's to come?

Psalm 98:4 (?????)

(Just in case you couldn't tell, the song is "How Great Thou Art.")

The Sound of a Young, Restless, Reformed Generation

Thabiti Anyabwile on holy hip-hop:

I've never really been into rap, but I think that had more to do with its bad reputation than the style itself. Now, I have to admit that with the recent surge of gospel-oriented, Christ-centered, Reform-minded artists, I'm becoming a fan of guys like LeCrae, Shai Linne, and Voice.

Voice, a.k.a. Curtis Allen, brought his unique form of ministry to John Piper's church, Bethlehem Baptist:

Needless to say he received a lot of criticism from fundamentalists and regulative principle types, yet he remained calm and responded in humility. (By the way, Voice's latest album, The Process of the Pardon, is definitely worth a listen.)

Holy hip-hop may not be your cup of tea, but there is no denying the sincerity of these artists or the genuineness of their message. May God continue to bless their ministries.

One of My Favorite Modern Hymns

O Church Arise
by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Does God Prefer One Style of Music over Another?

Scott Hill of Fide-O expounds on my previous thought:

I have reasons that I choose the styles I have in our particular services, but I am not saying that what we do is more biblical or more God pleasing than anyone else's style of music. Some find a butterfly more beautiful than a cockroach. God created both! Music is part of God’s creation and he set the rules and he is the only one that can truly judge its beauty. Because in reality he is the only one that knows a man's heart.

Check out his entire post and let us know what you think.

A Very Brief Thought on Contemporary Worship Music

All music was at one time contemporary.