Hymnaling (and being Methodist)

I lead the singing at my church a couple of times a month. It is an eclectic United Methodist congregation in a fairly sketchy part of Lexington. I love it.  Leading worship in this unique setting taught me many things. The use of the hymnal in a congregation is the biggest lesson.

Methodists are a singing bunch.  Charles Wesley's hymns form a theological foundation for our tribe. I have a good buddy doing a Ph.D in Wesley studies and we have had some interesting conversations about the role of hymns.  I took a theology of song writing and one of the projects was answering the question "Can a robust Wesleyan theology be founding soley in the hymns?".

At The Rock (my church), I usually lead from the hymnal.  It makes it easy on an older congregation.  Even our younger folk enjoy hymns, probably due to the context. They really respond to older revival songs and we have several great musicans with their own interpretation of these tunes.

Using the hymnal means changing the way I play and chart out hymns. It has also been a great devotional study, going through these hymns early in the week and preparing for worship.  The great thing about the UM Hymnal are the distinctive sections of "Prevenient Grace" and "Sanctifying and Perfecting Grace".  This is the stuff of Wesleyans.

I grew up singing out of the hymnal and even though my home church started using screens when I was in middle school (mid 90's), I still ended up with a hymnal in my hand.  As a child, I casually flipped through the hymnal during the sermon. I had my favorite hymns that I always wished we would sing. The words drew me into the song.  Hymnals are a handbook on practical theology. 

Yesterday I led a hymn I grew up singing; "Only Trust Him". It was written by an old school Methodist, John H. Stockton.  He was converted at a camp meeting in the early 1830's, and spent his life as a minister, evangelist and hymn writer.  The fourth verse really plays into some classic Methodist language....

Come then and join that holy band,
and on to glory go
To dwell in that celestial land
where joys immortal flow.

The communal language and the focus on heaven struck me.  These are favorite plays for the people called Methodist. You can say they are themes that run wild in our songs. We know we need each other and we know we have been adopted as children of God.

Using these songs and songbook isn't a reversion to traditionalism, but tradition.  Worship is contextual engagement with tradition, narrating a story about what really matters.  Through the Holy Spirit, we are gathered in the song of the Church on earth and the Church triumphant. Our song is Jesus Christ and His eternal reign. That hasn't and never will change.

Comments

[Jeffrey Rudy]

Thanks for posting this! This hymn "Only Trust Him" has played a significant role in my spiritual journey. It was the hymn playing as I went forward to profess faith to the Church when I was 10. It was employed by Smalltown Poets on their first album, and I first heard that song "Trust" driving down the road in the midst of struggling with assurance of my salvation. Didn't know it was written by an "oldschool Methodist." I wrote on this hymn somewhere. Let me see if I can find the link.

[Jeffrey Rudy]

http://rudyramblings101.blogspot.com/2008/12/vita-7-trust.html

Here it is. From my old blog.