I have a soft spot in my heart for hymns. As a music minister’s kid, I grew up on all kinds of church music (and quite a bit of Barry Manilow and ELO), so this new trend of taking the lyrics from hymns and re-arranging them to new melodies is right up my alley. I think what I love best about the old hymns are the theological content. Pound for pound, I think you get more theology out of the old hymns than you do in much of the new music. That being said, I think that modern worship music creates a relevance and accessibility that is admittedly lacking in the older music.
I guess I don’t much understand the “Worship Wars.” There should be a place in our worship services for all these songs. To lose any of them is to lose an important piece of the church. That’s why I love the reworked hymns so much. They (and “modern hymns” like “In Christ Alone (My Hope is Found)”) are truly the best of both worlds. The video below is a song that’s one of my new favorites. It’s been out for a while, but I just heard it for the first time at a Casting Crowns concert in December. Awesome!
What’s your favorite worship song? Sound off in the comments section below.
