the singing of hymns in the worship service. Hymns, psalms and spiritual songs all date back to the Bible, and they prove to be a serious part of Congregational worship and reverence of God(Johansson 126). Hymns were sung regularly by God's people for inspiration, guidance, and expressing praise and devotion to God. This premise is confirmed by the more than two hundred references to singing all throughout the Bible, by the Jews, the New Testament Christians and the early church(Ashton 92). In my church we always sing at least two hymns every service, one usually relating to the theme of the sermon. The hymn is concerned first with rational content artistically revealed so that its performance would have an emotional impact based on a concrete objective worth. The hymn's particular balance between reason and emotion makes it unsurpassed as a vehicle for praise, adoration, exhortation, education and narration. Many of us that have been exposed to hymn singing in church have groaned more than once when a is announced. We tend to think that the music and lyrics are so outdated and old-fashioned. These were words that our great- grandparents may have sung, and this fact turns many off. Yet, as part of the Congregational faith, it is important to not focus on how boring the songs are, for we are singing them to God(Syndor 17). The hymn has many spiritual merits that I was not even aware of before I researched for this paper. One of the main reasons that I chose this topic was because I have always been the one to complain in church of the necessity for these ancient songs. As I looked over the values of hymns in my general, I could see where they became incorporated into my own church and its distinct worship service. To begin, hymns allow Christians to express their feelings and ideas. The individual Christian in worship holds converse with...
