I’m not one of those stiff-necked folks who insist that only hymns are proper worship songs, but given the fact that there’s actually a plethora of bad Christian music out there nowadays, I still prefer hymns to contemporary Christian music (CCM).
There’s just something majestic and magnifying of the Lord in hymns, unlike bad CCM that harp about “what I want from God” or worse, not mentioning God at all in the lyrics.
As you can probably guess by now, lately I’ve been harking back to hymns after having listened to CCM for awhile. Perhaps it’s a ‘grass is greener on the other side’ phenomenon, but for most of my time in a church it was in one that only sings hymns, and not CCM.
The only reason I started listening to CCM was that I was younger then and needed a beat. I mean, if you’re a teenager who’s listening to Run D.M.C. and Bon Jovi on normal days and had to go with the slow solemn hymns on Sunday, you would not have any interest in the latter.
So, perhaps it’s also because I’m older now and (hopefully) more matured as a Christian, I have a new-found appreciation for hymns, especially those sung by a good church choir.
Here’s one I found recently that I particularly like titled Worthy of Praise — it’s from the church choir of a church that I plan on visiting on Sunday.
Of late, I’ve also thought much about going back to my Bible-Presbyterian roots, hence the planned visit. Sure, I don’t agree with infant baptism, and the KJV-only stance, but it’s a Biblical church and teaches sound doctrine.
Not to mention a great choir and mmm… hymns!
If you liked Worthy of Praise, take a listen to the hymn Trusting Jesus too.
Soli deo Gloria!
Source: All hymns linked in this post are sung by the Calvary Pandan Church Choir. Photograph of the Calvary Pandan Church Choir taken from the Calvary Pandan Church web site.
Foreword: this is a word out to Christians out there, and please understand that I do it in all love as I care about your salvation and what you’re learning from church. Sure, I might not know you from Adam, but my concern for you as a brother or sister-in-Christ compels me to write this even as I know it might draw a ton of flak.
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