Pastor’s Blog

Who needs meth when you have this?

(posted 3/31/10)

One of the first things that a visitor to Old Peachtree notices in our worship service is that we still sing hymns. I say “still” because many churches have put hymns aside in favor of more contemporary praise choruses. In this day when many churches are falling all over themselves in an effort to appear “relevant,” why continue to sing hymns? There are a number of reasons that hymns still have great value today and that we continue to sing them at OPPC.

1. Heritage – When we sing hymns, we are singing words (and in some cases, tunes) that Christians have sung for centuries, or even for a millennium or more. Words that comforted, strengthened, and taught our spiritual forbears continue to do the same for us. How sad that many children grow up in churches today yet are robbed of this part of their Christian heritage.

2. Singability – Because of their regular meter (rhythm) and well-established tunes, hymns are easier for groups of people to sing. Many of the contemporary praise choruses in use today were originally performed by a single performer or a group. The artist is able to take liberties with the tune, performing the song different ways at different times. So people have heard the song different ways. (And even those who can read music have usually never seen any music to the song.) So people sing the song different ways. (It does not help when the “praise team” up front itself take liberties with the song even as they are supposed to be leading the congregation in the singing of it.) Many modern tunes use syncopation (emphasis on the off-beat) more than older hymn tunes, making them harder to sing.  Granted, there is some variation in hymn tunes as well, but to a much lesser extent. And not all old hymn tunes are equally singable, and some are not singable at all! But on the whole, the consistency, regularity, and “regularity” of hymn tunes make them easier to sing.

3. Durability – One of the advantages of using a hymnal like The Trinity Hymnal  is that we are singing words and tunes that have stood the test of time. How many of today’s praise choruses will be sung next year? In a decade? In a millennium? A church that sings only what is new is singing much that is fleeting.

4. Theology – What we sing shapes our theology more profoundly than we realize. I will be the first to acknowledge that there are hymns with lousy theology. But the better hymns over the years are packed with solid theology, along with the development of it and application of it. (“Whatever My God Ordains Is Right” comes to mind). Obviously, a praise chorus based on a verse of Scripture has good theology, but the truth of the verse is often simply repeated (chanted?) rather than developed.

5. Neutrality – The hymns, musically speaking, belong to no one demographic. That is to say, my age group didn’t grow up listening to hymns on the radio as “our” music. “A Mighty Fortress” wasn’t on the Top 40 countdown when I was growing up. Precisely for that reason, hymns are neutral ground, musically speaking. Because hymns belong to no one, they belong to everyone. They belong to the church. If not hymns, then whose style will prevail—the boomers? The busters? Gen X?

This article is not a screed against contemporary worship music (though at least some of it could use some “screeding!”). Nor am I saying old is good and new is bad. There are some old hymns best consigned to the dust bin of history. There are some popular new songs that are superb and may stand the test of time (Getty & Townend’s “In Christ Alone” comes to mind, a strong song both in words and tune that—it’s worth noting—is quite hymn-like in its qualities). My purpose is merely to point out the value of hymns, explain why we use them at Old Peachtree, and encourage their further use in the church.

(posted 3/31/10)

…according to counselor and author Ed Welch in this blog post.

(posted 3/19/10)

Al Mohler has an interesting post about pastors who don’t believe in God. Several of those interviewed keep their atheism secret and stay in the ministry because they need the money.

In case anyone wonders about me: I most certainly believe in God. A God who exists apart from me, the God who is there (to borrow from Francis Schaeffer). Not just a generic, least-common-denominator ”god,”  but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The God who spoke creation into being out of nothing. The God who planned, accomplished, and applies his redemption. The God of the Bible. That God.

(posted 3/18/10)

Or at least Mondays. The sun is shining as I write this.

I saw a blog this morning saying that for preachers Monday is often the hardest day of the week. A week of ministry has finished, culminating with the services on Sunday. On Monday, the preacher is tired. Maybe the sermon did not go as he hoped. Maybe attendence was down. Maybe someone hit him with a complaint or criticism. Now, he is at the bottom of the next hill, starting the climb toward Sunday all over again. (This may be why many preachers take Monday off.)

I have not found this description of Mondays to be my experience. I am in the study on Mondays and take off Tuesdays. It started this schedule mainly because our Session and Deacons meetings are on Monday nights. But I have found that I rather enjoy being on the office on Monday.

Being in Monday gives me a chance to process what happened that day before. It means reviewing my sermon notes of the day before and adding to them anything that might have come to mind in the act of preaching (where the mind can often be far more creative than in the relatively sterile confines of the study). Being in on Monday also gives me the chance to follow up on conversations I may have had on Sunday while they are still fresh on my mind.

Something else I like about Monday: It is as far from Sunday as I’m ever going to get. That means I can begin my study of next Sunday’s sermon text with little of the pressure I might feel when Sunday is only a day or two away. (Some preachers begin their study weeks in advance. I find doing that more of a hindrance than a help.) Since my mind is more relaxed, and I do have the whole week before me, I am able to meditate on the text in an unhurried way.

Also, since I am not yet feeling the pressure of Sunday drawing near, I am able to do some other reading apart from that required for sermon preparation. In that respect Monday becomes for me something of a personal retreat day.

So I like Mondays. Mondays are for me like Friday for most people–a little more relaxed, a little less pressure. And if the sermon did not go as well as I hoped the day before (as is usually the case)…well, to paraphrase the old sports cliche, “Wait till next Sunday!” Hope springs eternal that one day–maybe this Sunday–I’ll get it right.

(posted 3/8/10)