Ya know, people can say what they want about hymns- how they don't evoke emotion and they're dull.... but how many modern praise songs that you know of are as lyrically rich and thoughtful as hymns like Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended and others like it? When we were singing this in church the other day, I kept thinking how cool this would sound if someone performed it like spoken word.
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
That man to judge thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee.
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee:
I crucified thee.
Lo, the good Shepherd for the sheep is offered:
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered:
For man's atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.
For me, kind Jesus, was thine incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation:
Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee
Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
2 comments:
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Anonymous said...
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Another great thing about hymns, well the Trinity Hymnal in general, is that you know that these songs have been approved to be theologically correct by the church. It's also very eccumenical and way of singing with the all the saints. There's so much meat in hymns, while praise songs are generally repeating the same thing over and over again. A book I highly recommend on the subject of worship is John Muether's "With Reverence and Awe."
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Craig Sowder said...
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Here's what I love... my dad's church back home has started a new ministry called Refuge that is geared toward young people in their 20's-30's for the purpose of keeping them from leaving the church after they leave home and start college. So on their website they say that on Monday nights they have a worship service that is meant for people in their 20's and 30's. They say that they have a "modern" worship service. I just laughed when I saw it. Modern, eh? As opposed to what, old and outdated? Is traditional worship not modern? Are we stuck back in the 1950's or something?
It amazes me how church leaders let idealistic, know-it-all, inexperienced youth pastors and young adults insult the church like they do, all in the name of "ministry" and "outreach".
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