The sub-note on the cover of the February Record struck an odd note. It read: Why the Music in Church No Longer Inspires, and the whole series in the issue was well done, indicating it certainly can inspire. Maybe the problem is the selection of music? Now we’re back to the old argument of the traditional versus the contemporary, a switch indended to gain potential newcomers. I know of few people that come solely because a church has selected “modern” hymns; but I know of several who left because the old ones had been dropped. Tough to prove, except the latter is factual. So it’s a matter of emphasis, one would guess.
When I was working in Montreal in the late 1950s, Rev. Rawson of St. James United Church had lunch gatherings for some 60 businessmen, which included at least one of the well-known, cross-denominational hymns (plus a brief, appropriate sermon and good lunch!) If he felt we were not singing his selection properly, he stopped us, pointed out our transgressions and began again forcefully! As the naval gunnery section said, “Get it Right!”
In the spring there was an all-comers evening service, plus wives, and you ain’t heard nothing (outside a Wales versus England football match) until you’ve heard 250 or more Canadian men singing Cwm Rondda under his direction. “Guide me, oh Thou Great Jehovah” indeed! And we were all there voluntarily, at noontime and that annual service.
It’s not what it is, but how it’s used.
