Tried With Fire

I recently finished reading Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns by Dr. T. David Gordon.  This is more than a book on the worship wars but an attempt to understand why the church at large can't and won't sing hymns and what we lose in the process. We live in a day when contemporaneity rules the day.  Newer is considered better merely by the fact that it is new. Therefore, anything that we cannot immediately relate to or understand is considered irrelevant and outdated.  But is being contemporary a valid criteria for songs fit to sing to God?  Dr. Gordon listed 6 criteria that are typical for selecting hymns for a hymnal: 1. Theologically orthodox lyrics 2. Theologically significant lyrics 3. Literarily apt and thoughtful lyrics 4. Lyrics and music appropriate to a meeting between God and His people 5. Well-written music with regard to melody, harmony, rhythm, and form. 6. Musical setting appropriate to the lyrical content How many praise choruses would pass this c...

In Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns , author T. David Gordon dedicates the book to his infant daughter Marian who was diagnosed with leukemia.  She lived only 14 weeks, but in that short time she taught her parents "the ancient Christian practice of singing praise through tears." Dr. Gordon held his daughter in his arms and sang hymns to her every morning while they lived with her at the hospital.  Because of his experience with his daughter, he writes, "I know that the hymns that accompany one's life are one of life's richest treasures." As I read this I couldn't help but remember my own recent history. When my husband first separated, I read the book of Psalms over and over. Perhaps it was because the Psalms helped me express the pain and questions in my heart to God. During that time, I started listening to probably better than average contemporary Christian music, but  those songs didn't help me. There was nothing in the lyrics to help me deal w...