'Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns' is a short, clever and timely work addressing how contemporary influences have modified the standard regarding music used churches today as the church moves to embrace a spirit of modernity. I've been bothered by the contemporary movement's sway in the church

today and the utter mindless emotionalism most church music seems to have these days so I appreciated reading Dr. Gordon's thoughts and analysis. I believe he nails the issue on the head early on describing how previously hymns would be selected by a criteria of theologically orthodox and significant lyrics, thoughtful lyrics, and songs well-written in regards to melody, harmony and form (p.47). Unfortunately today, so many churches of the seeker-sensitive model, or church intended more for those who are "not taking it(religion) seriously" (p.155) and the "music-lite" invariably reflects a church that also practices "worship lite."

On p.130 Gordon sets out a thoughtful consideration of if a hymn would it still exist as Christian verse if it were not set to music. Personally, I can think of a number of theologically rich hymns such as "A Mighty Fortress" with powerful words that, isolated from their music would still have a very significant message of the glory and magnitude of God. Yet when I think of a Houston-area mega-church I visited recently I recall the lyrics to one song that repeated over and over and over again... "greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city" that, if repeated as verse without music repeatedly would be just inane (and maddening).

Gordon digs in with an analysis of contemporary music and the dangers of mindless sentimentality, or emotion in music for emotion sake, which as he puts it, "reflects and endorses a trivial culture." From contemporaneity the after-effect is that anything not contemporary is rendered odd, quaint, antiquated or outdated, and we're left with trivialized, simplistic, sappy music reflecting the romanticism and primitivism of era's like the 60's, with guitar music led by "middle-aged former hippies unwilling to leave Woodstock." This later point might be something of a generalization (Gordon does do that through the book, and to be fair he sometimes does veer into odd tangents, such as the one on Gillette shavers and landfills(???) on p.107-108) but I do see his point about music trivialization (and I think I have listened to the music of a few of those same 'hippies' in a couple churches that I've been to in recent years.)

The biggest negative of this work, though, is I got to the end of the book, agreeing with most of T. Gordon's points, but I was left wanting a little more of a take-away, namely: if the church needs hymns, then what hymnals does the writer suggest? More specifically, say someone is in a contemporary church, and they're getting fed up with the maudlin sentimentalism of the music, and they want to be in a church with more richer, deeper music, but this is the only church that they have ever knows. Then what churches actually use hymnals, and how would this person find them other than just endlessly church-hopping? Any practical suggestions of where to go to even find that music if a church with contemporary music is all that you've ever known? Maybe even a hint or two could have helped, such as some direction to seek out something like a more reformed, confessionally-centered church congregation, etc. I think a little direction would have helped, even if in the form of some suggested denominations or churches in an appendix) Additionally, there was no real mention of WHAT hymnals would be considered better or worse than others. I think there was a passing reference to the Trinity hymnal, but what other hymnals are there, and how does a layman discern one from another? Again, some practical suggestions of hymnals, and pros and cons, would have been of great value. As it stands, there was only one appendix with a debatable "pop versus classical culture" chart that didn't help much. I would have liked to see a few more resources to help direct people in the right direction with music.

All the same this was an insightful read and worth checking out if you're hungry for something more substantial and edifying in church music. Hopefully in a future edition Dr. Gordon could include a few helpful appendixes.

“The Family Worship Book” by Terry L. Johnson

The Family Worship Book by Terry Johnson serves as a good resource for those looking for a more deeper and substantial time of family worship, going beyond basic devotional practices and actually digging deeper with example outlines of worship, Scriptural reading, hymns, prayer, creeds and confessions, etc. The first few sections introduce what family worship is, why it's important, and how to get started. After the first few chapters the book feels like it goes directly into reference-mode, including a Bible-reading checklist, catechism, and then copious inclusion of psalter songs and hymns.

And while I'm all for this book and think that it's an excellent resource for getting started, the problem becomes that for things such as the sample responsive readings in the book, you're either left having to get multiple copies of the same book, or make copies of the pages that you want to use, and repeatedly in reading this book I found myself wondering, "so why wouldn't you just get a stack of Trinity Hymnals and use those for family worship time?" since so much of what this book includes as reference material is already in the Trinity hymnal (including the Westminster Confession, the Shorter Catechism and plenty of responsive readings, etc.) In fact, it seems like HUGE sections of the book could have been skipped and that Johnson could have just said "Go and buy a stack of Trinity hymnals for your family worship time" (a quick Google search for "trinity hymnal" will find a bunch of sites selling these, around $20 each, in both regular and Baptist flavors, too...) Using individual hymnals for each family member allows everyone to have their own to use for singing and catechism, and they can also make notes in their own copies of favorite hymns, etc.

One other issue I found was the fact that although this book includes a number of hymns, the songs don't include the actual musical notation, only the words, and are followed with comments at the bottom of the song like "All saints old 8.7.8.7.7.7", and speaking as someone with limited musical skills, that type of notation means nothing to me. It would have helped tremendously if the hymns included the musical notation as well, because in that situation if you aren't familiar with the melody you could at least play out the melody on the piano first if it's a hymn you don't know.

So those few gripes aside, it's still a good book for someone new to the idea of family worship who wants to get started, and there are some excellent ideas to incorporate, but again, seems like much of this material could have been skipped, and much more sensibly, simply pick up a few copies of the Trinity hymnal (enough for each family member) and go that route instead.

Revelation 14 and "For all the Saints"

A favorite hymn of mine from the Trinity Hymnal that we sang tonight is 'For All the Saints', a hymn with a melody and lyrics that are just beautiful.  I'm particularly in awe of the lyrics from the last verse:

From earth's wide bounds,
from ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl
streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost,
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The verses speak of the gathering of the saints from the furthest reaches, brought in through the "gates of pearl" and singing praises to the Triune God.  Beautiful hymn and such a blessing to sing this during time of worship.

Trinity Hymnal Baptist Edition

A link for ordering the Trinity Hymnal Baptist Edition.  I currently use some of the standard Trinity hymnals for family worship, and merely skip the paedobaptist songs.  :)

The Trinity features some of the most excellent of hymns of the faith, and I appreciate that they offer a "Baptist" flavor of this hymnal.  The songs, with midi, can be found listed here.  Alas, no sheet notation, but if you hear it a couple times you can pretty much pick it up in order to sing it without instruments.