NEW SONGS AND OLD SONGS

Those  campaigning to impose changes on churches of Christ have high on their
list, changes in our song worship. They wish to make the use of instrumental music in worship acceptable to our people. They also want to introduce choirs and soloists.  They feel driven to replace our traditional hymns with "contemporary Christian music" and "youth songs." To enhance the emotional aspect of song worship, they want to be free to clap their hands, and lift them high in imitation of their Charismatic neighbors and the tele-evangelists.

In this article we wish to address the choice of hymns we sing in worship assemblies. Some preliminary thoughts are in order:

	With the exception of the psalms and a few songs based solely on a scripture text, all hymns are human productions.  Their quality and value depends on the poetic and musical skills of the author, his knowledge and understanding of the Bible and the Scriptural sentiments incorporated in them.
	All the songs in our hymnals were once new. Thus, being new is not itself a proper objection to using a hymn.*
	That a song leader selects a song that is not in our hymnals does not make them wrong or suspect.  Hymnals for all worshipers are of fairly recent origin. Though they are a wonderful convenience they are not essential to our salvation or acceptance to God.
	That songs are projected on a screen is not a question of right or wrong.  It matters not whether we read the words from a printed page in a book or from a printed page projected on a screen.

Some things do matter. If singing is to be congregational, everyone needs to be able to participate in it.  If a leader chooses songs, not in the hymnal, that only young people know, then older members have little choice but to sit and listen to the others until they can learn them by memory.  If the use of such songs creates resentment or dissatisfaction within the church family, then we have to think in terms of one person's choice of his favorite songs, causing offense to his brother. This is the same type of issue as the eating of meats which had been sacrificed to idols, which Paul addressed in I Corinthians.   The apostle demonstrated the proper Christian response, "If meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble" (I Cor. 8:13). If my insistence on changing the type of songs we use in our worship causes division, and it can and will happen, then I will bear the responsibility of having caused division over a matter that at best is a matter of opinion and preference.

For such I will surely stand condemned (Rom. 16:17-18).  Without question, many of the contemporary Christian songs have lovely, spiritual lyrics and can be used in our worship without Biblical objection. Some of them will eventually find their way into our hymnals and become a permanent part of our body of hymns. Those that have unscriptural sentiments should be weeded out and cast aside.  Those that are trivial should not be introduced as songs of worship.

My concern is that we not cast aside great hymns of the faith that have earned a place in our hymnody and that generations of saints have sung in worship.  While popular music is generally on the charts only for a few weeks, or at best for one generation, some Christians hymns have been popular with saints for a hundred years or more. It is arrogant for a new generation to declare such spiritual treasures obsolete or boring and insist on replacing them with their "new" songs.

In one of his great books C. S. Lewis expressed his disdain for those in his Anglican church who were constantly tampering with the worship and especially rewriting or discarding the old hymns. He correctly observed that sacred songs are the ties that link our faith to those gone before.  When I sing "The Old Rugged Cross," it evokes precious memories from my youth when with my grandparents I  sang it in worship. Goethe wrote, "Music, in the best sense, does not require novelty; nay, the older it is, and the more we are accustomed to it, the greater the effect." Mrs. L. E. Landon observed "Music–we love it for the buried hopes, the garnered memories, the tender feelings it can summon at a touch."  By eliminating the great and familiar hymns of the past, we separate today's Christians from their ancestors in the faith

When thoughtless leaders fill their song service with new songs, known only by a select group, it forces those not of that group to listen to the others perform. When one group is relegated to the role of observers, it makes for an easier transition to a choir who sing for the entertainment of spectators.

Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians is applicable for today. If your new songs are sung with the most beautiful tongues of men and angels, but you have not love for your older brethren, you are become sounding brass and clanging cymbals. (I Cor. 13:1). If you are truly zealous of spiritual singing, "see that ye... abound unto the edifying of the church" (I Cor. 14:12).  New hymns should be introduced and used like salt on food; sparingly.  Too much will defeat the purpose for using either of them.