Controversies in Church Music

For the last several decades, there has been a heated debate over the inclusion of contemporary praise-and-worship music in the Church.  Some say that hymns alone must be used in times of worship; the new music is too shallow, loud, and irreverent.  Others say that hymns are outdated, both in style and in wording, and fail to reach to the younger generations.  The minority caught in the middle see no problem with incorporating the new songs along with the hymns, as long as it is done respectfully.

A little more than three centuries ago, there was also a controversy over the kind of music to be sung in church services. Like the "camps" listed above, there were those who wanted to maintain the status quo and those who desired to pioneer a new direction in church music (yet, as far as I can tell, there was no middle ground).  Just like today, churches split due to differences of opinion.  Ironically, the argument concerned whether hymns should be a part of congregational worship...That's right--hymns!

In England, during the latter half of the 17th Century, the common practice was to sing metrical psalms.  These were psalms that had been adapted so that there was a syllabic pattern, occasionally rhyming.  Whereas metrical psalms were acceptable in public worship, hymns (at first) were not.  The reasoning was that metrical psalms contained summaries of Scripture, but hymns were merely man's opinions and reflections on Scripture.

Enter Benjamin Keach (1640-1704), who had grown up in the Anglican Church but declared himself a Baptist at the age of fifteen.  He became the pastor of a church in Winslow in 1660 but moved to London eight years later due to the Cavalier Parliament's persecution of "dissenters" (i.e. those who did not belong to the Anglican Church).  After his ordination, he ministered at a Particular Baptist church in Southwark, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Although Keach wrote and preached many sermons, his largest contribution was to English hymnody.  He advocated singing hymns in addition to the Psalms.  In 1673, his congregation sang a hymn only after the Lord's Supper; they later added hymn-singing to "public thanksgiving days."  Over the next fourteen years, they extended hymn-singing to every Sunday.

This practice led to a split, and twenty-two people left Keach's congregation.  They established a "non-singing" Baptist church and named Robert Steed as their pastor.  For reasons unknown, Steed resigned a few years later.  Upon hiring a new minister, he agreed to come only if the church added hymn-singing into the worship services.

From 1690 to 1692, a plethora of books were written on the hymn-singing controversy.  One of Keach's major opponents was Isaac Marlow, "an influential layman."  In the end, the Particular Baptists requested that all of the books on the issue should be burned and no more similar books written.  Over the next decade,  many Baptists and Independents (other Dissenters) made hymn-singing a common practice.

Although Keach wrote more than 400 hymn texts, the vast majority of them were of poor quality. Granted, they rhyme and teach Scriptural truths, but they are not exactly suitable for congregational singing.  Take the following text for example: "A moth does eat things by degrees / A little now and then / So gradually Thou dost destroy / Sometimes vile, wicked men."

However, we must not discount his contributions to hymnody.  He paved the way for great hymn text writers such as Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley (even though they were not Baptists).  He also boldly spoke out against the Anglican Church and in favor of believer's baptism.  This, in part, encouraged other Dissenters to do likewise.

Looking for Suggestions

What would you like to read on this blog? (See my first post for a list of preferable topics.)  I've done several "Hymn Stories" now, but I'd also like to post about topics that are of interest to my readers. While this is primarily a music ministry blog, it doesn't necessarily have to be confined to such things.  I'd appreciate your feedback.

Hymn Stories: "Amazing Grace"

In his younger years, Newton had been a slave trader and a sailor, with no desire to know God.  However, a storm in 1748 nearly flooded his ship.  During the storm, he began reading Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, which had a great impact upon him.  Six years later, after much questioning, he became a Christian.  He lived in Liverpool for several years, where he met Whitefield, Wesley, and other Nonconformists.  He was ordained to the ministry, started serving at a church in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1764 and remained there for nearly 16 years.  He then returned to his hometown of London, where he passed away in 1807. His epitaph, which he wrote, reads in part:

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach
the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy

John Newton, an Evangelical pastor, wrote "Faith's Review and Expectation" (his title for "Amazing Grace") along with numerous other hymn texts for the 1779 collection Olney Hymns, of which he was the editor.  Many of Newton's texts use imagery from his life spent at sea.  For example, in "Begone Unbelief," he takes comfort in knowing that there is no reason to worry when God is in control:  "With Christ in the vessel / I smile at the storm."

Many people know three or four verses of "Amazing Grace."  However, the verse beginning "When we've been there ten thousand years" was not penned by Newton; it is anonymous, dating c. 1790.  One of Newton's lesser-known verses reads: "Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail / And mortal life shall cease / I shall possess, within the veil / A life of joy and peace."

The tune we associate with "Amazing Grace" (NEW BRITAIN) has American, not British, origins.  It did not appear alongside Newton's text until 1831.  Reporter Linda McCarty explains why there was not a specific tune for the text for over 50 years: "It was the practice...in the 18th Century to chant, rather than sing, hymns."  British hymnologist J. R. Watson states:

This hymn has had an unusual history.  It has always been popular in the USA and Canada....[Yet] in Great Britain this hymn disappeared from use for nearly two hundred years (Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology [early 20th Century] described it as 'unknown to modern collections.')  It was revived by a pipe band (the tune suits the bagpipes) and then by popular singers in the 1970s, and its appeal was seized upon by a delighted Church, which promptly began to reprint this neglected piece of eighteenth-century Evangelicalism.

 In 2003, Todd Agnew released "Grace Like Rain"; in 2006, Chris Tomlin followed with "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)".  Both renditions add a new chorus.  Agnew's version contains a new tune; Tomlin adapts the tune NEW BRITAIN, changing it to common meter.

Hymn Stories: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), "the father of English hymnody," was one of the most prolific authors of hymn texts, surpassed only by Fanny Crosby, Charles Wesley, and George Matheson.  From a young age, Watts took an interest in prose.  His friends (along with a doctor) were so impressed with his poetry that they offered to pay for his college education.  He kindly refused their offer, already having decided to cover his own tuition at an academy in Stoke Newington.  He attended the academy from 1690-1694 and then returned to his parents' home in Southampton.

Over the next two years, he wrote many hymn texts that would be included in his compilation of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, including "Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ" (his title for "When I Survey").  The text is a meditation on Galatians 6:14--"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

In addition to hymn texts, Watts also wrote on theology and philosophy.  He began preaching at the age of 24 and was ordained as a minister in 1702.  However, he had ongoing health problems, so his congregation elected Samuel Price to assist him.  A decade later, Watts' ailing health forced him to resign his ministry position.  He spent the remainder of his life in and near Stoke Newington.  He died in 1748 and was buried in London.

Lowell Mason (1792-1872) became interested in music during his childhood.  From 1808 to 1812, he worked with a church choir and taught a various "singing schools."  From 1812 to 1827, Mason worked as a bank clerk, studying and composing music occasionally.  In 1827, he started serving as the choir director of a church in Boston.  Over the next five years, he also presided over the Boston Academy of Music and established music education programs for public schools.  He is often called "the father of American church music."

Mason wrote the tune HAMBURG in 1824, stating that it was his arrangement of a Gregorian chant.  It first accompanied Watts' text a year later in The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, third edition.  Today, HAMBURG is still the most-recognized tune for "When I Survey."

Hymn Stories: "It Is Well with My Soul"

Horatio G. Spafford was a successful businessman in Illinois prior to the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871.  The fire destroyed his shop, and efforts to start another business failed.  Worst of all, his son died in the fire.  Five years later, Spafford and his family planned to go on a trip to England.  However, unforeseen circumstances forced him to stay behind, so he sent his wife and daughters on ahead of him.  On the way to England, the ship on which his family rode crashed into another ship.  His wife survived, but all four of his daughters died.  Later, as Spafford made the journey to England, his ship passed by the site of the collision.  He instantly felt prompted to write the text we sing today.

The S. S. Ville du Havre was the name of the ship on which Spafford's family had traveled.  Likewise, VILLE DU HAVRE is the name of the tune written by Philip P. Bliss.  Unfortunately, Bliss himself tragically died just weeks after composing the tune.  He was riding on a train with his wife when a bridge collapsed beneath the train.  Surprisingly, Bliss did not die because of this incident.  He had escaped safely, only to discover that his wife was still inside the train.  He went back into the train to rescue her, but to no avail.  Both Bliss and his wife died inside the train, which had caught on fire.

This hymn has been my favorite since my freshman year of college.  The text reminds me that God is in control of everything.  No matter what happens, I must always be content and continue to trust in Him.  The words echo the apostle Paul's: "Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it" (1 Tim. 6:6-7).
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Resources:
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm
http://nethymnal.org/bio/b/l/i/bliss_pp.htm

The Gospel...in the Book of Job?

When I say "the book of Job," what comes to your mind? Theodicy (the problem of evil and suffering)? A man whose friends tried to comfort and counsel him in his time of need? Job's faithfulness to God?  What about...the Gospel?  Yes; even in Job's account, we find a glimpse of it.  Zophar, fed up with Job's complaints, declares: "Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves" (11:6).

Implicit in Zophar's statement are the following themes:

• Our guilt.  Because of our sin (disobedience of God's law), we stand guilty before God.
• God's wrath--and His mercy.  Our guilt incurs God's wrath.  Those who continue in disobedience are called "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).  God would be justified in destroying us; yet God shows His mercy to us by not doing so.
• God's grace.  Put simply, "mercy" is not getting a punishment that we deserve; whereas "grace" is getting a blessing that we don't deserve.  God gives His common grace to everyone: "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good" (Matt. 5:45).  God eventually restored Job's possessions: "The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (42:10).  [Granted, common grace must be distinguished from saving grace.  I'll elaborate in a future post.]

In Job, we witness a foretaste of the Gospel that later would be fulfilled and proclaimed through Jesus Christ.  Therefore, we must not divorce the Old Testament from the New.  Without one testament, we can neither understand nor appreciate the other as we ought.  Both testaments must be viewed as a complete whole, with each relating God's work in and through His people.

Welcome!

Psalm 40:3 says, "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord."  As a worship leader/music minister, this Scripture is my prayer.  Through our worship of God (and moreover in the preaching of His word), may He open the eyes of the lost, that they might put their trust in Him.

In the forthcoming posts, there will be various topics:

• The histories behind hymns
• Devotionals
• Passages of Scripture
• Thoughts on church music, worship, ministry, etc.

Pray that God would use this blog to encourage His people and to show the lost of their need of Him.

Soli Deo gloria--To God alone be the glory
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My next post: "The Gospel...in the book of Job?"