The Singing Church: The Hymns It Wrote and Sang

by Edmund S. Lorenz

In this case the postlude will be bright and joyous, preferably with some soft and tender episodical passages.

Hymns for a Missionary Service.

The preacher plans a missionary discourse: what is his order of service to be?

That means an aggressive, spiritual program whose purpose is stimulation of enthusiasm, of courage, of conquering faith, of bold decision.

The organist will be asked to play a bright prelude with pronounced but dignified rhythm, and striking harmonic progressions. The anthem by the choir may be based on some text of praise from the Psalms with stirring, somewhat rhythmical music that will stimulate the nerves of the people rather than soothe them. The responsive reading should be a Psalm of triumph, say the ninety-sixth. The long prayer for once may drop out of the omnibus conventionality and lead the people in magnifying the irresistible power and the conquering love of God, with enough reference to current sorrows in the congregation to serve as a contrast, to make the realization of the strong right arm of God more vivid.

The hymns should be in keeping with this joyous recognition of God’s invincibility and assured triumph.

The first hymn may be Charles Wesley’s “Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.” This is worship—mingled with faith and with aggressive purpose, it is true, but nevertheless distinctly worship.

An equally appropriate selection from Charles Wesley would be “Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim.” Care should be taken that the tune used for either is vigorous and well known. A dull tune for either would be a stumble on the threshold of the service.

The point in the service has not yet been reached where a distinctly missionary hymn is called for; aggressiveness in the Lord’s service is still the mood to be created. There would be a choice between Shurtleff’s vigorous “Lead on, O King Eternal,” with its specific dedication of self to any forward movement of the Christian Church, or Baring-Gould’s marching hymn with its American tune written by an English composer, “Onward, Christian soldiers,” which can hardly fail to stimulate the pulses of a presumably already stirred congregation, unless it is sung in a drawling, unaccented way.

If by this time the congregation is not prepared to be thrilled by an unexpected missionary sermon, eloquent with an appeal hardly to be equaled by any other topic connected with the Church’s activities, there has been something wrong with the preacher or his people.