The Importance of Hymns

My father couldn’t carry a tune, but he loved music. He especially loved hymns, which he saw as an integral part of worship. Daddy picked the hymns for each service and marked the date in his personal copy of the hymnbook so that he wouldn’t use them too often. He had his favorites, but he liked variety, too.

He was also careful to pick only those hymns that taught good theology. I loved “In the Garden” because it was fun to sing, but Daddy hated it. To him, “In the Garden” was shallow and lacked a theological message. He did let me sing it around the house, but he would never have tolerated it in a church service.

Daddy must have taught me well, because I always feel let down when I attend a service without congregational singing. And, like Daddy, I appreciate hymns and songs with a solid message. But I’ll sing others, too, just for the pure enjoyment of it.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16, ESV.)

Amen.

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The photo shows DeTour Union Church, where I first discovered Daddy’s love of hymns. He took the photo as a slide in 1958 or 1959.