The Traditional Church in the Twenty-First Century: Doing Something about the Church Music—Part 2

By Robin G. Jordan

The Hymnal 1940 was published seventy years ago. At that time a denomination, if it published a denominational hymnal, produced a new hymnal every twenty-five years. In recent years every twenty-five years has been reduced to every ten years. Some denominations have stopped publishing denominational hymnals and are producing hymnal supplements. The Southern Baptists launched an innovative program with the publication of their most recent hymnal. It will be producing a yearly supplement and other worship resources, including split track CDs and MIDIs.

The compilers of The Hymnal 1940 sought to produce a hymnal that was more dignified in its selection of music. They took as their model two English hymnals—Hymns Ancient and Modern and The English Hymnal. Consequently they dropped from the hymnal a number of popular gospel songs written by Anglicans. Later these same gospel songs would become associated in the minds of Episcopalians with Baptists and Methodists but they were actually Anglican! The compilers of The Hymnal 1940 also set a number of hymns to the tune that it was sung in the British Isles and not to the tune that is was sung in the United States. As a consequence, the tunes to which Episcopalians sung these hymns were unfamiliar to Americans from other church backgrounds. The words were the same but the tunes were different. This did not help the Protestant Episcopal Church to attract unchurched individuals and families from non-Episcopal church background. It has not helped the Continuing Anglican churches that still use The Hymnal 1940.

In the 1980s I was involved in the music ministry of a new Episcopal church plant in southeastern Louisiana. We made a point of using hymn tunes from the Ecumenical Hymn List rather than The Hymnal 1940. Most of the newcomers to our church did not come from an Episcopal background. They were Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. There were a lot of mixed marriages. They were able to sing the hymns right off the bat and did—with gusto!

The Hymnal 1940 was published before the hymn explosion of the twentieth century. Later in that century the hymn explosion became a hymn mountain. Many new hymns were written and many new hymn tunes were composed. The Hymnal 1940, when it was published, did not include a number of standard hymns, which are among the great hymns of the Church. It did include a number of hymns that are rarely sung. All the German hymn tunes were renamed. MIT FREUDEN ZART, for example, became BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.

In the 1980s we used the most popular hymns in The Hymnal 1940. We also made a point of working different people’s favorite hymns into the hymn selection for a particular Sunday if it fit with the propers or otherwise might be used in the service. We supplemented our core hymn repertoire from The Hymnal 1940 with standard hymns that had not been included in The Hymnal 1940, hymns of more recent composition, metrical Psalms and canticles, and what were in the 1980s known as “celebration songs”—simple hymns and songs from the Songs in Scripture collections, Songs for Celebration the Sounds of Living Water collections, the Come Celebrate Hymnal Supplement, and other sources. We picked hymns and songs for their accessibility, singability, and winsomeness, as well as their usefulness in the liturgy.

If your congregation is wed to The Hymnal 1940 but is open to new music, I recommend the foregoing approach. In the twenty-first century we have an even larger mountain of music that we can mine for new hymns and songs to incorporate into the congregation’s repertoire. We should be deliberate in this process, selecting the best and most useful of the most recent compositions. We should also pick the best and most useful of the standard hymns that were not included in The Hymnal 1940. We should be like the householder of Matthew 13:52 taking from our storeroom treasures new and old.

In the 1980s I adopted the practice of regularly purchasing the latest hymnals and music collections. In more recent years I have also purchased CDs. Nowadays the music of the newer hymns and of the latest songs in the contemporary Christian and praise and worship genres are on the Internet and can be purchased and downloaded. This enables me to gain an idea of what music is available and what music might be usable in traditional worship.

The musical preferences and tastes of the region in which the church is located is an important factor to consider in deciding what music to add to a congregation’s repertoire. This does not mean that a church must adopt what is the most popular kind of music in its region but it does need to be sensitive to regional preferences and tastes in music.

Selecting a new hymnal is a complicated process and purchasing a new hymnal is an expensive proposition. Since the life of contemporary hymnals is so much shorter, the development of a local hymnal or hymnal supplement may be the simpler and more cost-effective route to take.