Learning to Appreciate Hymns

This post was written by Brianna Ma.  She is a Chapel Team member and a senior at OCHS.

The first day that we pulled up to Calvin and trudged through the snow for morning worship I was exhausted and not at all pumped for the service. As we filed in to our seats, all I could think about was the coffee and snacks that were waiting for us in the lobby and how we were some of the youngest participants. The service was filled with organ playing, hymns, unison reading and a structure that I have never been exposed to before. When the service concluded I couldn’t help but compare it to funeral services, not because it was sad but because that was the only time that I had ever attended a similarly structured service.

As time went on, I realized that it was important to be exposed to different worship styles because not all churches worship the same way. I decided to stop complaining and instead learn something from a style that differs from what I am used to. I realized that even though it felt robotic and impersonal at first; group reading connected the audience and forced everyone to reflect on the meaning of the words. Even though it is not my favorite way to worship, I also accepted that hymns are more theologically deep and are a more accurate representation of the Bible than many contemporary songs that I hear on Sundays or on the radio. The older people who were at the Symposium also taught me that the pastors and worship leaders put tons of work into Sunday services and people complain no matter what service is like or how much time is spent in preparation.

During one of the sessions that I attended I realized that there can be a better connection between traditional worship and contemporary worship styles. I know that our school does a great job of tying the global/historic church to the modern one but I think that we have a hard time adding variety and aspects of connectedness to our services. 

At my second session I learned that we should start a document where we write down what books of the Bible that we used and our main message so that we can assure that our services are a healthy mix of messages and styles which will interest the audience and ensure that we are serving a healthy variety of things to our spiritual life.