The Good Old Days
‘They sure don’t make things the way they used to!’ Have you ever heard that expression before?
If you are a child of the 1960s or 1970s at one time you had family/extended family that grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when things were built to last.
Growing up I don’t ever remember my parents purchasing a new refrigerator, stove, washer or dryer; they didn’t have to. Why? Because things were built to last, to endure.
The hymns are like that…songs for the long haul, written to endure….songs that have stood the test of time.
God brought me to Himself through the evangelistic efforts of my very first friend in life, Adam Christing, as well as the ministry of the church then known as Whittier Area Baptist Fellowship, or “WABF” as we used to say. The foundations of my faith were formed there. There I was baptized. And it was there that I was first exposed to the hymns.
I remember how awkward the hymns seemed to me…how stodgy the music was…who plays an organ anyway? But when I tuned out the music and read the lyrics to these songs, my heart was filled with a desire to sing these old dusty songs with as much gusto as I could.
The truth is modern “worship” music is very different from the hymns. We’ve all seen the many jokes and memes that have been written, poking fun at the shallow lyrics and endless repetition of modern worship music. The reason why these memes are funny is because they are true; our own experience confirms it. One cannot say that about the hymns, however; there is nothing shallow about these songs.
Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of Love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, Opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day. [by Henry van Dkye]
For those who may not have been exposed to the hymns or who may not as of yet grown to love them as we do, we present this appreciation in the hopes that you, the people of God, would honor Him through worship and adoration of your King!
— Pastor Chris Dorman