Hymns may not regularly crack the top-40 charts, but building, updating and listening to a hymns playlist can transform more aspects of your life than might seem possible.
While hymn recordings often go unheralded in “music news,” the genre offers remarkable talent and renewing effects. Hymns and devotionals are expressions of music in which even the King of Rock ‘n Roll strove for excellence.
In modern times music is available almost without limitation. When waking up, spending time with family and friends, working, privately praying, exercising, driving or falling asleep, the range of mental attitudes we can bring to these events and situations is also wide.
The Bible states not only, “Jesus knew their thoughts” (Matthew 9:4), but also:
I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways
(Jeremiah 17:10)
As central as attitude is to us (1 Peter 4:1, Romans 15:5), and as known for affecting the mind as music is, the logic favoring mind-renewing music is evident.
For example, “Christian Lullabies for Quiet Moments” features musicians like Brock Thornsbrough, Sharon Gentry, Amy Rouse and more that can lift our situational experience of the parent-child bond. Mostly consisting of hymns, the playlist is highly moving for postpartum times and for establishing and reinforcing family ties on sacred ground close to the Lord.
Closeness to the Lord is a spiritual and mental measurement, not a geometric one. 1 Corinthians 14:15 reads, “I will sing praise with my spirit, I will sing also with my mind.”
Revelation 14:3 says, “I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne.”
Scriptures convey that the aim of music is strongly related to new life in the presence of God.
When this writer switched mostly to listening to hymnal music, a momentous shift occurred towards more meaningful experiences. It was as if gifts of God throughout the day that had been previously being left to lay unreceived now started to be received.
In this way, song producers, singers, stations and listeners act as branches connected to the “vine” spoken of in John 15:1-8. Hymns Songs can be accessed via land-based or satellite radio stations, music apps, sites like praise.com and hymnary.org and channels on Rumble and YouTube.
Within a common devotion to God, an enjoyable aspect of hymns is their variety. Some lyrics rejoice; others seek counsel. Some worship songs touch us in places where God can heal us, and others call us towards honoring and conforming to His justice and plan.
Stylistically, hymn recordings may draw on country, folk, R&B, classic rock, modern rock, “gospel” and other influences.
Performers in the worship genre include both community singers and big stars with household names, alike. If you like country music, you can have a playlist with Randy Travis’ “Open the Eyes of My Heart” followed by Steven Curtis Chapman’s “My Redeemer is Faithful and True.”
Likewise, hymns that resonate with guttural vocals and rhythms, like Andrew Ripp’s “For the Love of God” and Keith and Kristyn Getty’s “The Lord Is My Salvation,” are easy for classic rock fans to appreciate.
In listening, there are also few if any give-aways as to the age of a hymn.
Taking in worship music is like swimming in an unbroken sea of human wonder at the awe of God, in songs that emerged in the last decade and those that were inked centuries ago.
Knowing that much worldly fame will be denied, singers of praise music release songs from their love of God as a way of life, it seems. A Christian music station such as Family Radio opts to let the hymns play uninterrupted without announcing the name of the band, as part of their mission of “worship all day, every day.”
Imagine pulling into traffic Monday morning, job and family stress front and center. Then, a bell-clear singer of a loving hymn to God rings out.
If a person’s view of life in that moment was transformed, that would be something. But one still might chalk it up to a fluke on the commute home.
Not once but every time, in rush hour or not, when this writer listens to a devotional hymn, a door somehow opens. Something shifts for the better.
“Every morning, His mercies are new,” indeed.
In a country with large music recording industries and a plethora of Christian life and evangelization, it’s surprising that the public doesn’t read or hear more about the benefits of a quality hymns playlist.
One possibility is that the apparent lack of publicity for hymns and their benefits is only real outside of church life. It is in America’s vast church life, then, that hymnal music spreads and flows.
Muted coverage of hymn music including Christian music awards might also be connected to the ballyhooed demise of Christianity in America–even though Christianity on Earth is in fact growing.
An American who values Christian civilization and culture in the nation might respond by increasingly choosing hymns and worship songs as musical listening selections. Personal conviction stands only to gain, while simultaneously supporting radio and music ministries and missions for spreading the faith.
Perhaps leaving the definition of “hymns” somewhat open, the scriptures refer to singing them on multiple instances.
In Collossians 3:16, the apostle writes:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Singing of our relationship to God has flourished in new and original forms ever since biblical times, testifying to the renewing power of spirit, truth, faith, hope and love.
A playlist can include an assortment of audio that, beyond human definition and understanding, serves to accompany and elevate one’s day with a deeper connection to God and satisfy gnawing hunger we sometimes forget that we have.
Photo by Jessica Da Rosa on Unsplash
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