Hymnblogging: You Learn Something New Every Sunday

I don't really like the music ministry at our new church. Didn't expect to; it is what it is and we knew that coming in. The kind of music we like doesn't fill pews. Longtime readers know I get kind of picky about these things, and we picked this place because of the biblical basis of the sermons and certainly not for the music . We usually just sit outside in the parking lot listening to Bach until the last possible moment and then run in.

But today was a pleasant surprise. We sang a neat song I hadn't heard in a while, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". That's the one with the line about "Here I Raise My Ebenezer". I didn't mind the drums and guitar arrangement; I loved it and sang along heartily. (It's not the instrumentation I mind, it's the fact that so many of these new praise songs sound like Lite Rock! with "Jesus" plugged in for "Baby".)

The worship leader--whom we have nicknamed "Dude", cause of the sideburns and the folk guitar--helpfully explained beforehand what that line means. My granddad explained it to me as well whenever we sang that song, but as I recall his explanation, he said it was something like a cup that is raised as a toast. Whether that's actually what he said or not, that's the image that had been rolling around in my head whenever I heard that song. So I got home and checked it out.

Survey says: Dude was right, Granddad wrong. It's a reference to a memorial stone set up by Samuel in 1 Samuel 7:12. And I found that in an interesting article in Christianity Today about why we shouldn't try to modernize the language of old hymns too much, but leave some of those odd phrases sticking out there to catch people's ear. They're usually there for a good reason, and it's all right to challenge people now and then.

Christianity has a history, just like it has a future. There's a lot of wisdom in the past and we need to try to understand and remember it. Those old hymns are, I think, one of the greatest treasures that the historic church has passed down to us. It's a shame to water them down to fit our current Top-40 sensibilities.

We should remember that. Maybe raise up a memorial stone so we don't forget.