Praise Songs and Hymns

The difference between a contemporary praise song and a hymn is like the difference between a mountain stream and Niagara Falls. Neither is better than the other, both deliver something we need, and both are beautiful for different reasons.

As a pastor of worship, I am very concerned with the words we sing. I look through lyrics for scriptural references and truth, but also ambiguous ideas and falsities, too. Because in the context of worship, lyrics are more than just words that sound good to music: they become praises, prayers, proclamations, laments, exhortations, and calls to action. For example, as I mentioned Sunday morning, the first song we sang was a praise, and the second was a prayer. These songs stick in our head, and we find ourselves singing them as we go through our week. They become our theology. We had better make sure those lyrics on repeat in our brain are true and consistent with God's word to us.

Then there's the number of scriptural references or theological ideas in a song. And here's a big difference between contemporary songs and hymns. Contemporary songs tend to have fewer theological ideas expressed than some of the classic hymns. Take two of the songs from Sunday for an example. From "King of Heaven," I can parse out 15 unique Scriptural ideas/references (email me if you want the list). Compare that to "The Church's One Foundation," which has at least 30 Scriptural ideas/references (and that's only in the verses we sang... there are more)! After services I was talking with some members of the team, and we discussed that the hymn has almost too many ideas to comprehend and reflect upon. It's so much to try to think through. Every time I hear the hymn, a new idea strikes me.

So which is better? 

Neither. Both help us worship.

I've had the words to "The Church's One Foundation" memorized since I was around 10, because we sang it so much growing up. And as I've grown, I've learned more of the meaning of what I'm singing. Like a waterfall, hymns bring a deluge of ideas roaring at us. Hymns feel old because of the harmonies used, so they can inspire awe and remind us of the great history of the church.

By contrast, "King of Heaven" is easy to learn and sing. By the middle of the first time I heard it, I could sing along and begin to internalize the truths presented. Like a mountain stream whose water is refreshing and clear, contemporary songs use contemporary language to help us access deep spiritual truth easily. They remind us that the church has new songs to sing of our God.

But both contemporary songs and hymns have in common the water of the streams or the falls: both forms of song put to music the truth of God. At New Cov we will always try to strike a balance between easy-to-access praise songs, and harder-to-process hymns, because sometimes we need a simple nugget to replay in our heart through the week, and sometimes we need to wonder, to dig, to seek God's word. May you find God this week as He brings to your heart songs and Scripture.