Hymns And Carols

It was back in 2008 that I decided to create a weekly blog featuring hymns. I thought that I would try it for a few weeks and see what would happen.  Four years and 225 blogs later, I continue to be amazed at its impact.  During the month of November my blog averaged almost 900 visits each week.  I have only had a few comments left, but these have actually come from all over the world.  I now view this blog as a ministry and pray that my comments and the words might be a spiritual encouragement to those who visit.  This growth also shows me that there are many who miss the hymns which were part of many of our lives for years.  Most church services today use just praise choruses and many of these are great and lead us to worship.  If any hymns are used, often the beat, the words, and the tune has been modified and just not the same.  And this is a hot topic in churches today and I don't intend to get in the middle of it.  I love both.  But I do miss hymns that speak about the blood of Christ, heaven and the Lord's return, and testimonies of what Christ has done for us.  These themes are usually missing from today's praise choruses.  And we now have generations who have never sung "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise",  "How Deep the Father's Love For Us", "Great Is Thy Faithfulness", "O Sacred Head Now Wounded", "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go", "Tell It To Jesus", "It Is Well With My Soul" and many more of these great works that have survived the centuries.  I often wonder which choruses, if any, will survive the decades as the great hymns have done.  How many of the choruses that were sung even five years ago are still used today?  I guess time will tell.  Music has changed over the years.  A century ago most churches did not use pianos.  I have a picture of my grandfather and my step-grandfather, serving together in an organization called the Gospel Heralds.  One of them is using a banjo.  Just a few decades ago, when we still had our family ministry, we had to turn down a ministry opportunity in a church which did not use a piano.   As a teen, my father questioned some recordings I had of Phil Kerr and that music certainly was mild compared to what is aired today.  When my boys were teens our elders passed a policy prohibiting drums in our church.  Today many churches no longer have pianos or organs and now most use guitars - maybe even banjos once again. Maybe someday pianos and even hymns will return to worship - who knows.  There are two reasons this topic has been on my mind recently.  First is because of the growing response to my blog.  Second is because I love Christmas and the traditional carols.  But even many of these are no longer part of church services.  Fortunately, here in Lancaster County, we have radio stations which play them daily during December.  And I love listening to them.  Well, no matter where you stand on this still controversial subject, remember that our desire should be to glorify and worship God in all that we do, even if the style of music being used isn't our preference.  Don't let your mental objections taint your worship.  We serve a great God and there are many ways to worship and praise Him.  I wonder what music will be like in heaven.