The third direction
John Wesley gives us is like a shotgun blast. His aim hits the target, but does
so in a way that covers a lot of ground. I initially intended to give my
thoughts on this entire point in one go, but I happened upon a few interesting rabbit
trails along the way and allowed myself to meander.
3. Sing All. See that you join with the congregation as
frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder
you. If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.
Today I’d
like to look at the first sentence: Sing All.
When I
read “Sing All” I am immediately aware of three possible meanings: 1) Sing all
of the hymns in the hymnbook. 2) Sing all of the words in the hymn. 3) Sing
all, every one of you. Wesley may have intended it to mean only one of them,
but since we cannot ask him (for he’s been dead for over two centuries) and
since I think all of the meanings I’ve gathered from these two words would be
agreeable to Wesley anyway, I’ll go for it.
Sing All of the Hymns in the Hymnbook
Sing every
song. Every one of them. The whole shebang. Even that one. Allow me to backup
before I run and jump into this. Singing all the hymns from the hymnbook is
almost a foreign concept to our PowerPoint-shaped minds. Technology today gives
us the ability to sing a 400 year old song and a song written 2 hours ago in
the very same service without even a hitch. Even if you don’t have access to a
projector, most have access to a printer that will meet your immediate needs
(Gutenberg would be so proud). The way we view the hymnal today is vastly
different from how it was viewed back then. Don’t miss the importance of this.
In the past, the hymnal was more or less a requirement. Today the hymnal is optional. One could think of the
physical hymn book as a well, and projected (or print-on-demand) lyrics as a
faucet.
.JPG) |
| "Spring up, O well! sweet fountain, spring!" |
In many
ways the ‘worship wars’ transition of the recent past could be boiled down to
how people viewed the physical hymn book. Folks who were used to the well,
sustained by the well, whose lifestyle developed around the use of the well,
were suddenly introduced to this newfangled doohickey called the faucet. No
longer did one have to go outside to the well for water, you could just flip it
on in the house. When they went to the well they knew exactly where their water
was coming from. But this new plumbing brought water to the faucet from
somewhere else. Surely there must be a reservoir somewhere, but how do we know
where it came from? How can we be sure someone hasn’t put something else in it?
Besides, this tap water tastes funny.
 |
| "Pour out your power and love" |
Do you see
what happened? Nothing essentially negative has occurred. But something
negative might occur. And it
certainly changes the rhythm of how life used to be. Something solid and
reliable has been removed. The hymn book, for centuries has been a haven. A
place of solace. Between these two covers is sustenance and safety. If you take
a look back at the preface of hymnals such as those developed by pastors like
Gadsby and Spurgeon, you will see that one of their concerns is to have a body
of songs that have been vetted and approved and are ready for consumption. This
is more or less the same reason there is a different hymnal for every
denomination. For the good of their people they tailored their hymnbooks to
gather the good stuff and avoid the junk.
Along comes
technology and it allowed immediate access to new and different songs. The well
water that is good for drinking, the one our fathers’ fathers have been
drinking from for all these years, is suddenly unnecessary. Now, only pragmatists wish to destroy that which is
unnecessary, and believe you me the modern church is chalk full of pragmatists.
And because the modern church is chalk full of pragmatists that means they
lined up on both sides. The Hymnbooker Pragmatists were of the opinion that the
Projector and the music it brought with it were unnecessary in light of what
they already had. The PowerPointer Pragmatists stood firm in their belief that
the hymnbook was impractical in light of what they now had. Are you starting to
hear the war drums beat? (Well…at least one side was pounding drums…) Meanwhile
those Christians who hadn’t succumbed to the temptations of the goddess,
Pragma, were taking part in a revolutionary concept in our day in age; they
were singing together. For Christians are the best at reveling in that which is
gloriously unnecessary.
Well
that’s enough backing up, now for the run and jump. All of that was said so
that we can see the reason John Wesley directed his people to “Sing All” was
because this Hymnbook was the Well he dug and he knew it was good. Like
Spurgeon and Gadsby after him, Wesley developed this hymnbook for sustenance
and safety. Every song was included for a reason; to glorify God and to edify
the Church. He wanted his people to draw deep and drink all the well had to
offer.
Sing All of the Words in the Hymn
Growing up
I figured there must’ve been some Baptist rule in hymn singing that went like
this: “You Shall Sing Verses 1, 2, and 4. Never Verse 3.” Is it me or did they
always skip verse 3? Perhaps the third verse was the Baptist version of diabolus in musica? Whatever the reason, skipping verses in this way conveyed to me, even at a young age, a
pretty strong message: The length of the song trumps the content of the song.
This, in turn, conveyed the idea that singing didn’t matter much. It was just
something we do because it’s something we’ve always done. Get on with it. And
if singing didn’t matter much, what
we sang didn’t matter much. And if what we sang didn’t matter much, well then; songs
to and about our Creator and Savior that don’t matter to Christians are the
devil’s favorite tunes.
That said,
skipping verses is not a bad thing. Sometimes it is appropriate and necessary.
Sometimes singing one verse is enough. But this shouldn’t be the rule or
arbitrary habit in gathered worship and I think John Wesley would agree.
Skipping verses in singing is like skipping verses of Scripture. Imagine
someone reading Scripture during worship and always skipping every third verse.
You might get the point across but really you are betraying the context and the
content. A hymn is more likely to build upon itself than our modern
verse/chorus/verse/chorus songs. More often, hymns, like a puzzle, require each
piece to see the whole picture. But in the end wisdom and discernment should
prevail. If you as a leader, or you as a singer, choose to omit a word or a
verse then it ought not be arbitrary or done without thinking.
Sing All, Every One of You
Out of all
of the meanings I’ve pulled out of “Sing All”, I feel like this one likely hits
closest to Wesley’s intention. The emphasis he places on “All” with italics
causes me to want to interpret “All” as “Everybody”. And the immediate “see
that you join with the congregation” also leads me there.
Whatever his intention, this is good advice.
I would
that you might suffer me another ‘growin up Baptist’ anecdote. I mentioned how
skipping the third verse caused me to slide down a slope of Doesn’t Matter Much
of Whatcha Sing. So it comes as no surprise that there were many mouths clamped
shut during our times of singing. Singing was (is!) a burden to many. I grew up
in a church full of lackluster singing. But I never knew how bad it was until I
attended another congregation. The song was “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
and before I uttered two melodic syllables I was struck dumb. I stopped singing
because I was amazed at the sound around me. The voice of the congregation
boomed. I checked the ceiling to make sure it was still intact. I looked around
me to make sure the heavenly host hadn’t joined in. And there was one more
thing that took me a moment to pin down. What was that sound? That deep rumble.
That punch. That sound that invigorated and fortified my soul. It was the sound
of men singing. I mean, really singing. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
The following week found me again at First Baptist Church of Dreary Song and as
we stood to sing verses 1, 2 and 4, my soul was dismayed. No wonder Wesley
encouraged everyone to sing.
We’ll dig
a bit more into this in the next installment.
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Previous installments of the Direction's for Singing series
