Hymns out Choruses in

I don't like choruses sung over & over. It isn't as new as we think. I went to a Charismatic church in the early '80s, that a friend wanted me to go to. Everybody with their arms in the air, swaying back & forth, same chorus over & over.

I saw Carman at the same place.

To quote Bill Monroe..."You call that religion ?"

Give me them old hymns anyday.

 

I don't mind old hymns once in a while. I prefer more contemporary.

 

In theory it depends on the hymns ejected and choruses replacing them...

In practice it is a cancer, as very few of the choruses used can get anywhere near most hymns.

(For the record I'm 33.)

Pete

 

Some hymns and choruses must be rejected because they are not Scriptural. But hymns that are solid theologically must not be jettisoned and choruses that are Biblical must be embraced.

 

I think much CCM stinks. I listen to very little.

But just cause I think it stinks, doesn't negate the fact that much of it also has Godly value.

 

I like the hymns, but I don't like the same ones every week.

 

I like hymns, new and old ones. Choruses are ok occasionally.

 

It all depends on the song. Some of both categories should not be used in worship in my opinion. But most songs can be used appropriately from time to time.

I generally don't like songs that repeat a thousand time either (neither hymns nor choruses), but occasionally even those are appropriate.

 

I love Hymns. I could sing five or six favorites week after week but we have a Music Leader that is much wiser than I. The product is that I now have many "new' favorites. Taking piano lessons has taught me some Hymn melodys that I had never been exposed to. That has been a blessing. After saying all of that, I also sing alot of the Gatither (gee I hope I spelled that right) music. At 2:30 am I cann't go and get the music book out of the bed room because of a sleeping husband, so the spelling will stand.

 

The question is choruses not CCM. Don't judge one on the merits of the other.

G'day mate, we've been over the choruses vs. hymns thing a million times, it seems to basically boil down to personal preference. Some like the choruses, some like the hymns. I believe that there should be a mix. Choruses are usually shorter then hymns, so IMO about 4-6 choruses and 3-4 hymns is generally a good number for a service.

 

I just can't resist this one

Let's take a closer look at this shall we?

Say you have one of the better products from hillzschlosch (Hillsongs) on the playlist. Something like Shout To The Lord. Lets not go over-board and do it 7 or 8 times straight like the Church I first heard it at did....Generally when using this song, if conservative about it, it is done twice with the chorus repeated. I have the hillz CD here, they do it that way and it takes 4min30sec. Now lets get that expensive drinks coaster out of the CD player and try something else.

How about the Fanny Crosby CD from the Hymn-Makers series. Blessed Assurance on this CD is 3min34sec, and it is not the traditional verse & chorus format usually used for a hymn. The chorus is done an extra two times, once as an introduction, then "Billy Graham style" at the end. So there we have almost a minute less by choosing the hymn over the newbie, which could go close to a minute and a half in front if we did it just traditional style

The best part is we are not just saving time with hymns, as most are a lot more solid than a lot of todays songs

Pete

 

Some newer choruses or praise songs are okay,as long as they are biblical....For example,"I will Glory in my Redeemer" is good one. Most are not,I have found. I don't mind once every once in a while. I prefer in depth songs about the character of God and His holiness. I love to sing about my nothingness and God's goodness....songs that teach and exalt God,not man.

 

I'll assume it was an "accident" that you just happened to pick possibly the longest popular praise chorus? There are many praise songs under three minutes(He is Exalted, Step by Step, Oh Lord your Beautiful, to name a few). But that's ok, you wanted to make a point. The problem is that you assumed that picking two songs at "random" would make that point, but my statement still stands. On average, choruses are shorter the hymns. Finding one or even a couple exceptions does not change that.

They should be, considering that there's been decades, or even centuries, to weed out the bad ones. Give the choruses a hundred years and the quality between them and the hymns will be comparable. Of course we could simply label them as inferior and stick with the "tried and true", but aren't you glad that our forefathers had more patience with the hymns then some here do with the choruses?

Molly, I agree. I love singing songs like Breathe, Hungry, and You are my All in All. In fact, IMO choruses can be even better then hymns for doing what you described, since they usually have a more narrow focus as compared to hymns, in which an entire 10 point sermon covering four topics can be contained. Everything has it's time.

God Bless,
~JD

 

I could have gone for a longer one "This Kingdom" from the Hills Friends In High Places CD is up around 5 minutes from memory. CCC Sydney's "For The Rest Of My Days" on the....ummmm....War CD goes 8minutes+. Picking Shout To The Lord just seemed like a good idea at the time

I have the canonical version of Oh Lord You're Beautiful (Keith Green), not going to look up time though

I think there was just a touch of a stir too in there with the point

Just thinking about it now I could get serious about this adventure and work out average time per song from Hills/CCC CDs vs that of Hymn-Maker CDs....Nahhhh, too much work, and if I was feeling energetic enough to start a project like that I would have to go the whole hog and check words per minute too...I have rough idea that the Hymn-Maker series would average about a minute less per song. It's just a good thing I do not have any Scripture In Song stuff floating around. Even 3 times through "This Is The Day" would come in under a minute

OH NO! You mean we are going to have to wait a hundred years to get rid of the worst of today's offerings?!?! <Simpsons> "NOOOOOOooooooo" </Simpsons>

We could? Cool, saves a lot of work...

D'OH!

Some of the new ones are good, but Shout To The Lord 20 times a year at the expense of When I Survey? Not for me

Pete