by C. Michael Hawn

Members of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia play traditional instruments. Image by: Chris Heckert/Global Ministries Source: New World Outlook Bolivian flute players at the World Council of Churches assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Image by: Courtesy C. Michael Hawn Source: New World Outlook

New World Outlook, March/April 2009

It is the hymns, repeated over and over again, which form the container of much of our faith. They are probably in our age the only confessional documents which we learn by heart. As such, they have taken the place of our catechisms. . . .

There is ample literature about the great formative influence of the hymns of a tradition on its members. Tell me what you sing, and I'll tell you who you are!
Albert (Hendrick) van den Heuvel

In 1996, I attended worship in a modest-sized congregation in the hills outside T'ainan, Taiwan. As the service began, a lay leader in the congregation led a series of songs. His strong voice and inviting manner engaged me immediately. This was my first visit to Taiwan and I knew only a few words of Taiwanese. Despite the language barrier, I was able to participate in all of the songs during the gathering time. You might assume that these were familiar Western hymns in translation. A couple were, but the majority were songs from beyond the west--songs of the world church. We sang Zimbabwean "Alleluia" and a joyful chorus from Argentina, a Caribbean praise song, and a Chinese refrain. I learned right away that this congregation in a rural area of Taiwan had a global vision of the church. I could tell who this congregation was by what they sang.

In the quotation at the beginning of this article, Albert van den Heuvel of the World Council of Churches was speaking from the context of the mid-1960s. The world was rapidly changing. In the United States, we were in the middle of a Civil Rights struggle, Vietnam protests, and a string of assassinations of public leaders that would leave us reeling. On the continent of Africa, countries were attempting to shake off the shackles of colonialism and declare independence. The space race was on with the former Soviet Union and the world was taking sides between the United States and those behind the Iron Curtain. Oppressive regimes were the norm in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America. Many parts of Asia were also struggling to shake off colonial bonds and establish themselves as viable governments in the face of tremendous obstacles, such as overpopulation, poverty, and natural disasters.

Singing as an Act of Faith
It was at this point that a leading figure in the World Council of Churches, Albert van den Heuvel, a person with a global perspective, addressed--of all things--the importance of singing. As van den Heuvel indicates, hymn singing is a matter of faith formation. This is not exactly a fresh thought. Obviously the major reformers, such as Calvin and Luther, and later the Wesleys, understood this. Going deeper, I believe that van den Heuvel was not just speaking of community faith formation, but ecclesiology--what it means to be a faithful body of Christ called to witness to and pray for the world in need.

The quotation at the beginning of this article comes out of a specific context. Amid so many changes in the world scene, van den Heuvel was lamenting the lack of recent congregational songs that could shape both our individual faith and our corporate vision of the church for, as Harry Emerson Fosdick said so eloquently, "the living of these days." The witness of previous generations, the saints of the faith, was still spoken with authenticity, but the world needed new songs ringing with the melodies of hope in what seemed like a hopelessly divided world.

Bishop Joel Martínez, recently retired bishop of the Southwest Texas and Rio Grande conferences and former president of Global Ministries' board of directors, understood this same principle some 30 years later when he made a profound observation at a conference exploring the resources of the then newly published United Methodist Spanish-language hymnal, Mil Voces para Celebrar (1996). Bishop Martínez noted that "each generation needs to add its stanza to the great hymn of the church."

What does it mean to add our stanza to the great hymn of the church? When we sing a hymn with four stanzas, we do not start on stanza four, but we sing the preceding stanzas as well. Our faith rests upon the best of the songs of the saints throughout the centuries. To ignore or forget these witnesses to our faith is to suffer ecclesiological amnesia. The church can only be the church of the future when it knows where it has been on the journey of faith.

Likewise, when we sing a hymn, we do not sing the first three stanzas of a four-stanza hymn and stop before the last. The church of Christ is caught in the creative tension of a rich heritage and a promise of future hope. It must always sing the last stanza of the hymn--the stanza of its current reality--not with an arrogance that our stanza is any better or more important that those that have gone before, but with the knowledge that our vocation is to discern God's vision for the church in our time. What Albert van den Heuvel and Bishop Martínez have in common is that they believe that the church's song should voice the reality of our world and imbue the church with both the prophetic tones of justice and the comforting sounds of hope.

Our Stanza
The question arises then, what does our stanza look and sound like? As Bishop Martinez suggested, and I concur, this is the most diverse stanza in the history of the church. We have more varied possibilities for singing our faith than at any other time in the history of Christian experience. If our song begins to reflect our local communities as well as a global Christian faith, then we will sing not only Reformation chorales, gospel songs, and Victorian hymns of the saints, but we will sing "with the faithful of every time and place." (This phrase, or one very similar, is a part of the Communion liturgy for many Christian traditions, inviting all to join in singing "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.")

We will sing North American praise chorus, Anglo American songs by recent hymn writers such as Ruth Duck, Dan Damon, or Carl Daw; a Native American "Heleluyan"; African American gospel songs, and Latin American coritos--and that is just the prelude. We will join with Christians in South Africa in a Freedom Song; we will pray with minority Christian groups in the Middle East singing an Orthodox hymn; we will sway with the rhythms of a Filipino Christian folk song; we will chant the Lord's Prayer with Christians from India; and we will dance a cueca (Chilean dance) with Christians from Chile.

Christians around the world have been singing the songs of the northern church for well over 200 years. Now that two-thirds of the Christian community lives in the southern hemisphere, the 21st-century church has the opportunity to reciprocate and sing a truly global faith. What does our stanza look like? Our stanza is one of immense range, unequaled diversity, and unparalleled variety. Our stanza is one that sees worship as a cosmic gathering of saints from every time and place and Christians from every corner of the globe. Our stanza not only prays for those who are near and dear but intercedes for a world in pain, oppression, and poverty of substance and soul. Our stanza is one that renounces the security of the provincial and embraces the possibility of the cosmic.

Coming Soon to a Hymnal Near You
There is good news! On the heels of van den Heuvel's plea for new songs to speak to a 1960s world in turmoil and division, the Holy Spirit moved among Christian poets and we experienced an explosion of thoughtful, creative, and prophetic song equal to any time in the history of the Christian church. At the same time, missionaries from the northern church began to encourage the creation of songs from African, Asian, and Latin American Christians who were nourished by the joys, struggles, and hopes of these regions of the world. Through international gatherings of Christians in ecumenical and ecclesial venues, these songs became a part of worship and fellowship and found their way back to the four corners of the earth. Hymnals such as The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and its supplement The Faith We Sing (2000) led the way with their inclusion of diverse musical witnesses of the world church. Projects such as the Global Praise program of Global Ministries have cultivated and published collections of songs from the world church, making available both in print and recordings the witness of Christians around the world.

In 2006, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America published a new hymnal. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has formed a hymnal committee. United Methodists have approved the creation of a new compilation of congregational song for a 21st-century church. Just as The United Methodist Hymnal led the way in producing a diverse and prophetic hymnal 20 years ago, a new collection in various formats can point toward a global vision of the church today. A hymnal should be more than a collection of old favorites and current popular hits. A collection of the church's song is a statement about where the church has been and what the church might become. A hymnal is an album that draws upon the best wisdom of saints who have gone before and the light shining toward the future of where the church may go. The present is a dynamic reality that doesn't just define the current age but celebrates our heritage in song and looks forward to a hoped-for time when we will praise God as one body.

I remember thinking when I was singing with the rural Taiwanese congregation in 1996 that I wished my home congregation had the same vision of a global church. Knowing that what we sing has the potential to shape the very nature of the church, I propose that we affirm van den Heuvel's premise of the 1960s--"Tell me what you sing and I'll tell you who you are!" As we face the immense challenges of being a faithful church in the 21st century, perhaps we should modify this refrain as we shape our stanza of the great hymn of the church--"Sing with Christians worldwide, and we may learn who we could become!"

C. Michael Hawn is professor of Church Music at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and director of Perkins' Master of Sacred Music Program.

	See Also... Topic: Communities |  Ecumenical |  Music |  United Methodist Church |  Geographic Region: World |  Source: New World Outlook
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Date posted: Mar 01, 2009