Keith Getty and Cecil Francis Alexander
Keith Getty, one of our foremost contemporary song writers, tells the story of how Cecil Francis Alexander began writing hymns (she is famous for "Once in Royal David's City, "All things bright and beautiful and "On a hill far away" - a pretty illustrous trio if it was only these three songs!)
Cecil was disappointed with the songs children of her age (the 1800s) were encouraged to sing. Even at the age of eight children were being taught songs that were "shallow and trite." You can listen to Keith's talk HERE.
The first Christian hymn, which we are exploring each day runs like this:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
This wonderful first hymn sets the "gold standard" for all Christian songs and hymns, and we do well to notice the following:
Marks of a Great Hymn / Song
Let us make sure that the songs we sing proclaim truth. There must be some wonderful truth which is being expounded so that the mind is engaged as well as the heart moved. This is the most notable feature of this glorious first hymn: it is jam packed with high truths, which enlarge the heart by first inspiring the mind.
By truth we don't mean high language. There are wonderful songs which use simple langauge - especially for children - but are nevertheless full of truth.
By truth we do not mean long. This first hymn is not long.
Let's make sure the music serves the words. We have no idea what tune these words might have been sung to. And that in itself teaches us something profound. Scripture preserves the words, not the tune. The journey to the heart must not be through the tune but through the words.
There have been times I have been enthralled with the tune of a Christian song, only to realise - many years later! - that the words were "shallow and trite." While the tune is important, we must not be led astray by the tune - or the band!
The tune must serve not only the words, it must serve the congregation. All the best hymns and songs have a simple structure. The more complicated the structure or the tune, the fewer the people who can pick it up and sing along, and the less "congregational" that song is. Nothing wrong with Christian bands singing their Christian songs, but not all of those songs can be brought into corporate worship.
It is good to alow time to test the song. I remember attending a wedding at which not one hymn or song was known to me. The philosophy seemed to be "let's play all the new tunes, keep up with the Evangelical Joneses and impress the crowd!" But I wondered how many other tongues wanting to worship fell silent that day.
At the church I pastor, we rarely sing brand-new songs! Not because we are old fuddy dudies, but because we believe that time filters out the best songs. As the Global Church sings a new song and it spreads across the world, it will gain approval or gradually disappear. Within a decade or so, a new song will either wither on the vine or remain in circulation - or even grow in popularity.
We sing only a handful of the 6000 hymns the great Charles Wesley wrote! That's exactly what is to be expected. Time and the Church, and we believe through them the Spirit of Truth, have filtered out the wheat and discarded the chaff.
Let's make sure that our songs are Christ-centred. This first hymn in Philippians chapter 2 is Christ-centred. Here we need to be careful. A Trinitarian hymn, such as "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty" which helps us to worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a great hymn. A hymn that expresses some high joy or deep crisis a believer has passed through is a great hymn - the Psalms are filled with such. And if one such hymn was sung in a worship service along with other hymns that should be fine. But we should say that as a general rule, the more Gospel centred and Christ-centred a song or hymn is, the better.
Summing it all Up
What's your favourite Christian hymn? How does it stack up? Why not take it apart line by line and ask yourself: Is it truly a great Christian hymn or song?
A Song for the Day
Here is the favourite hymn of my wife and I. Tears sometimes come to my eyes when I hear it or sing it. It's on the wall in our front room. You be the judge - is it good, mediocre or poor? (Get that right, now!)
You can sing along HERE.
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our all-glorious Father in heaven,
We pause today to worship you, the Father, we worship God the Holy Spirit and we worship Jesus Christ, your Son.
There is no other god like you, majestic in power, glory and love.
We thank you for your amazing grace towards us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the grace of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will be the theme of heaven, so may we always thank you for your love and grace towards us.
Forgive us for our many sins and teach us to sing your praises, and especially teach us to sing words that are true and noble.
For we ask these things in Jesus' Name,
Amen
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