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The Power of Hymns—Lily Caswell

I’ll say this now: I am arguably a better piano player than a singer. However, I love to express myself through song, especially in church. And something I’ve noticed over the years is that I prefer the older traditional hymns to the modern contemporary songs that you hear on K-LOVE. I feel like they have more of the truth about who God is but I am not saying that the newer songs don’t have that, it’s just that as a whole, the older hymns are better. Psalms are the same way. Psalm 23, 27, 90, and 91 are just a few of my favorite psalms simply for the fact that they declare who and what God is. I really like how St. Basil says that the “singing of psalms brings love, the greatest of good things, contriving harmony like some bond of union and uniting the people in the symphony of a single choir.” I’ve always believed in the power of music and that hymns can bring people together. “Revive Us Again”, “Amazing Grace”, “Jesus Paid It All”, and so many more all have such powerful messages that bring us together if we merely stop to think about it. Isn’t singing hymns to God an act of praising and worshiping Him?

I commented on Haylee Lynd’s post and Jamie’s post.

Comments

  1. Jackson RiddleJanuary 26, 2021 at 12:18 AM

    I love how such beautiful melodies can bring together people from all around the world, uniting to praise and bring glory to God. During my missions trip to Thailand last year my group traveled to many different locations throughout Bangkok , Fang and Chang Mai singing Christmas carols to Thai families. Despite the fact that we sang in English and they followed along in Thai, the message stayed the same. I loved being able to see firsthand the power of music and the unity it brings, it really is something special.

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  2. IsabelleJanuary 26, 2021 at 8:16 AM

    Girl, you are preaching to the choir! What you said goes back to what we read in "Overview of Early Christian Period." Music started out so simplistic, and it was all about showing love to God (not that modern Christian songs don't). The worship music became complicated as new techniques were formed. Breaking the music down to its core is necessary sometimes to uncover its real meaning and intent. I agree, it's nice to go back to the simplistic, old gospel hymns.

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  3. abbieheddenJanuary 26, 2021 at 8:49 PM

    Lily, I really liked your blog post. I feel like there's a key distinction between most popular Christian music and most hymns (note that I said most: blanket statements are ALWAYS bad). This is that most popular "Christian" songs are more geared towards the human experience OF God, whereas I would say hymns are looking AT God.

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