Top United Methodist Hymns
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Here's a really interesting story. Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources at the General Board of Discipleship, has compiled a list of the favorite United Methodist hymns and worship songs. In this article, he compares the list he compiled in 2000 with one he did in 2006. There are some changes between the two, including a greater prevalence of both praise & worship songs and Charles Wesley hymns in the 2006 edition.
From my experience as a local church pastor, I can second pretty much all of the ones on this list. Interestingly, at my church we never really sang, "In the Garden," although other favorites of the Greatest Generation crowd like "Old Rugged Cross" and "How Great Thou Art" got plenty of play-time. As an associate pastor, I went to 3 worship services every Sunday: a contemporary service, a traditional service, and a Sunday evening service with a "hymn sing" that featured lots of selections from the Cokesbury hymnal. One of the things I really grew to appreciate was how nice it is to sing a wide selection of praises to God - from praise & worship, to classical, to old time gospel.
Here is the top 10 from the 2006 list:
1. Amazing Grace
2. Here I Am, Lord
3. How Great Thou Art
4. O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
5. Hymn of Promise
6. In the Garden
7. Great is Thy Faithfulness
8. Holy, Holy, Holy
9. Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
10. Spirit Song / Blessed Assurance (tie)
There were more praise & worship songs in #'s10-20. It is interesting that most of the praise & worship songs that made the list are older. That is, they aren't exactly what I would call "cutting edge" in contemporary worship music.
So what is your favorite hymn?
From my experience as a local church pastor, I can second pretty much all of the ones on this list. Interestingly, at my church we never really sang, "In the Garden," although other favorites of the Greatest Generation crowd like "Old Rugged Cross" and "How Great Thou Art" got plenty of play-time. As an associate pastor, I went to 3 worship services every Sunday: a contemporary service, a traditional service, and a Sunday evening service with a "hymn sing" that featured lots of selections from the Cokesbury hymnal. One of the things I really grew to appreciate was how nice it is to sing a wide selection of praises to God - from praise & worship, to classical, to old time gospel.
Here is the top 10 from the 2006 list:
1. Amazing Grace
2. Here I Am, Lord
3. How Great Thou Art
4. O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
5. Hymn of Promise
6. In the Garden
7. Great is Thy Faithfulness
8. Holy, Holy, Holy
9. Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
10. Spirit Song / Blessed Assurance (tie)
There were more praise & worship songs in #'s10-20. It is interesting that most of the praise & worship songs that made the list are older. That is, they aren't exactly what I would call "cutting edge" in contemporary worship music.
So what is your favorite hymn?
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 5:23 PM
7 Comments:
My favorite Methodist hymn of alllllll time is the Saints song-- I sing a Song of the Saints of God. It's number 712 in the UM hymnal. It makes me smile every Halloween when we sing it on All Saints Day!! Look it up the words are FABULOUS-"...one was a doctor, and one was a queen...."
I do truly love it. But I also adore "How firm a foundation" Especially since it was sung at my wedding : )!!
And Can it Be #363
Best theological hymn in the whole dang book.
Makes me cry every time we sing it.
Favorite hymn: Sweet, Sweet Spirit #334
Why are not all hymns considered to be part of the new, so-called catchphrase name of “Praise and Worship?” Why is there a distinction? Seems odd to me…
Which brings up a struggle I have and maybe it is part of why it is harder and harder to attend church – not just for me – but others as well, I think…
Does God really need my/our praise and worship? Am I the only one who thinks that for God to need my praise, worship and adoration seems foolish?
To me worship needs to more about drawing us – individually and collectively as a community - closer to God and closer to one another because the Christian story is about God in Christ displaying the love of God so totally that we can be love and be loved just as we are and called into the possibility of being all that you can be.
We seem to get bogged down in creeds that become more difficult to say with any integrity. We are handcuffed with prayers of confession that beat people up and make people feel guilty and unworthy. Then there are the hymns focused on atonement messages and the fetish of blood. And our liturgies…
Our Service of Word and Table IV - page 30 – “We are not worth so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.” – what kind of message does this instill in us? Why are we unworthy?
Do you not think it is ironic that the number one hymn on the list reinforces the message that we are wretches?
Why does seem that the only way to glorify God is to concentrate on human shortcomings.
We are so fixated with the concentration on guilt and sin that we totally miss the message of Jesus. We say: "We are born in sin." And we believe that this sin is so prevalent- so ubiquitous and dreadful that it required Jesus to die "to pay the price of our sins." We are blamed for the death of Jesus. Is this not psychologically abusive?
Do we encourage parents to brow beat their children with such debilitating communication? Do you talk to your children as if they are miserable and unworthy?
Why can’t we move away from such negative, repulsive language in our liturgies?
Why can’t our church services empower us to be all they can be instead of denigrating our humanity?
Worship to me should be about becoming aware of the presence of God so that we become more deeply and fully human.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade but I think these are legitimate questions and areas that the church needs to address.
#626: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
One of the oldest hymns in the book - singing the utter majesty of the Christ who meets us in the Lord's Supper and who, as our king, "demands our homage" - our covenant faithfulness through the covenant meal. It blows me away.
wow, i don't really care for the ones on the list that much - to me they are overdone and not musically that beautiful. i recognize i'm a big snooty snob when it comes to all things music. i should probably be anglican or at least episcopalian. here's my list, in no order.
1. For all the saints
2. all creatures of our god and king
3. be thou my vision
4. hail thee festival day
5. all glory laud and honor
6. gift of love
7. praise to the lord, the almighty
8. o the depth of love divine
9. o come o come emmanuel
10. we know that christ is raised
I'm looking for hymns to be included in our wedding ceremony and stumbled across this blog and figured I'd give my input. One of my favorite hymns is Surely the Presence
Our Service of Word and Table IV - page 30 – “We are not worth so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.†– what kind of message does this instill in us? Why are we unworthy?
Come now, friend, Word and Table IV is number 4! There are 3 other services before it. Form I on page 6 is the preferred form and has been for many years! No debasement here. I am 71 years old, a cradle UMC, and it has been many, many years since I attended a communion service using Form IV
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