In October, at our presbytery's Committee on Ministry meeting, the ministers and elders were asked to name our favorite hymns.  Can you guess the hymn mentioned most?  "In the Garden" was mentioned the most, by far.  Though you might be surprised to hear it was mentioned the most, as the favorite and least favorite hymn of those present.  Some elders and ministers really like it and others clearly don't.  So, is "In the Garden" a good hymn?  It depends on who you ask.
 
On Sunday, we sang a hymn in worship, "Jesus Comes with Clouds Descending".  As I listened to the recording of our worship, it seemed the congregation sang as well on that hymn as they did on any of the others, including, "The Church's One Foundation."
 
After worship, a member of our congregation complimented me on the service, but asked me to lose that last hymn.  I laughed and said, "I can't sing it either, but it is a good hymn."  Why would I think a hymn that I can't sing well would be a good hymn for our congregation to sing in worship?
 
This is a good question and it will be hard to answer in the space allowed, but it comes down to knowing the difference between a worshipping congregation and a performing choir.  If I were a choir director, I imagine, that while I might pick some challenging pieces for rehearsal, that would help my choir grow in their ability to sing, when it comes to selecting pieces for a performance, I would pick the pieces my choir could sing well, challenging or otherwise.  For with a choir offering a public performance, one of the priorities is to offer a polished performance.  Few people want to listen to, or sing in, a choir that cannot sing the music.
 
A congregation is not a choir.  While both a choir and a congregation sing with their hearts, as well as their voices, the focus for a choir is on the quality of their sound while the focus for the congregation is on the quality of their hearts.  So when I pick hymns, I do think about how well we will be able to sing them, or how familiar/enjoyable they are, but these are not my first priorities.
 
Some of the questions I ask are:  Which hymns compliment the proclamation of God's Word on that particular Sunday?  Of those hymns, which ones compliment each other and fit the respective parts of our order of service?  Of those, which ones are musically solid?  Of those, which ones have we recently sung and which haven't we sung for a while?  These hymns will help us grow, spiritually.  There are other questions I ask, but "Will people like this hymn?" is pretty far down the list.
 
So why did I pick "Jesus Comes with Clouds Descending" on Sunday?  First, as an Advent hymn, it is filled with Apocalyptic imagery, which complimented the text from Mark.  Second, the hymn proclaimed the conflict/controversy caused by the ministry of Jesus, which was also a significant part of the text from Mark.  Third, the melody, though difficult, is uplifting and the harmonization was composed by Vaughan Williams, which speaks for itself.  While it may be beyond our comfort level, it is never a bad thing for us to be challenged by good music, as long as we remember our audience.  (God, I believe, would rather have us sing challenging hymns, loudly and joyfully, albeit off key, than simply going through the motions of singing hymns we could sing in our sleep.)  Finally, "Jesus Comes with Clouds Descending" is an Advent hymn.  We don't get to sing Advent hymns very often (which is why we don't know this particular hymn so well), so, when there is an opportunity, outside of Advent to sing an Advent hymn, I generally try to take it.
 
As people of faith, one of the ways we are spiritually fed is through the music we sing.  Certainly, we should sing hymns we enjoy and from the comments I receive, it seems, most people enjoy most of the hymns we sing.  Nevertheless, from time to time, it's good to sing hymns that challenge us.  Last Sunday, we had two challenging hymns and two old favorites.  This Sunday, we'll have four old favorites.  So, if some Sunday, you come upon one that is simply unsingable, give thanks to God, sing with all your heart and know that soon enough we'll sing one you enjoy.

 
See you in church!
 
Pastor Myers
revhaggis1@hotmail.com