Friday 22 January 2021

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown

Although I don't attend church as often as I should, I have many good friends in the ministry. They represent most major protestant denominations. I often argue with these good men about the hymns they sing in church these days. When I do go to church, I find that even in spite of 15 years of vocal training, I cannot manage the hymns which are always pitched too high and are likewise unfamiliar no matter how many times I sing them. When I was a lad they used to have an evening song service in the first Baptist church. A huge screen was directed above the choir loft on which were projected the words of the old familiar hymns.  Families would come to the service and together, at the top of their voices, sing Bringing In The Sheaves, When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder, Near The Cross, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, The Old Rugged Cross, all those old songs that seem to have passed into oblivion.  According to my friends in the ministry, these hymns have no "theological validity”,whatever that means. I still contend however, that "theological validity"or not, more people would attend church if just once in a while one of those old hymns was included in the morning service.

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