Church Music – Old Versus New?

Recently I had a conversation with another Christian and I was “challenged” (that may be too strong a word) to select more ‘modern’ hymns for Sunday worship than the hymns I had chosen. This actually was much more of an amicable discussion than you might think, but it left me thinking: “Am I more prone to select older hymns than modern?” “Are modern hymns that bad?” “What makes a hymn old or modern?”

These thoughts led me to these conclusions below, which others may find helpful for an edifying discussion about church music.

Firstly, there are a great wealth of ‘older’ hymns, quickly bypassed by many today. These are hymns whose doctrine is solid, whose poetry is excellent, whose associations are negligible and whose tune (sometimes) fits the words and is thus worth preserving. (Those to me are the four tests for church music). I am all for a revival of ‘old’ hymns! Granted some of these ‘older’ hymns could do with an updated tune, but some have a tune already that is unsurpassed by any modern renditions.

Secondly, I am beginning to think and note that everyone seems to judge hymns more critically depending on what they deem the age of the hymn is. By this I mean, some could criticize me for being overly suspicious of ‘modern’ hymns, and possibly, I do judge ‘modern’ hymns more critically than I do what I deem to be ‘older’ hymns. Likewise, I believe that a vast number of people have the same problem on the other side of the spectrum. It would seem that many in our day and age are more quickly approving of what are deemed ‘modern’ hymns and more quickly critical of what are deemed ‘older’ hymns. You note throughout this I say ‘deemed’ old / modern — as I also notice that people differ as to what is an old hymn versus what is a new hymn. Anyway … my point in all this is that if all Christians would recognize this universal prejudice we hold (whether that be for or against ‘old’ and ‘modern’ hymns) and our fickleness in establishing what is an old hymn versus what is a modern hymn, we might go a long way towards assessing / judging all hymns fairly and equally upon a common set of Biblical standards.

Thirdly, in all this I am trying to practise what I preach and evaluate the hymns I do choose to sing and don’t choose to sing on an equal playing field. In doing this, I want to follow Biblical principles as my guide, not just mere whims of fancy and my own personal taste. I want to develop a taste for hymns that fit Biblical principles whether they be ‘old’ or ‘modern.’ And rather than ‘throw the baby out with the bath water,’ I think a faithful application of Biblical principles will result in a mixture of old and modern hymns, with possibly some Christians balancing more in one era than the other.

In saying all this, I recognise that my current position is likely little to change, as few of the more widely recognised ‘modern’ hymns meet the Biblical standards I believe are correct to use: (doctrinal text, poetic merit, dubious association free and fitting tune). However, I need to be careful, lest I judge a ‘modern’ hymn too harshly…just because it’s ‘new’. Likewise others would do well to be careful not to criticise ‘older’ hymns (or even ‘old’ tunes, for that matter)…just because they are old.

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Rory Johnson preaches in small Baptist churches in Central Wales and serves as a deacon in the Llandrindod Evangelical Church. Llandrindod, Wales.

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