"What's your favorite hymn?" is a difficult question.
"What's your favorite hymn text?" is, I find, even more difficult.
I know I've been guilty of not spending enough time reading, studying, pondering, considering the meaning of the texts our hymns are set to.
But what a course in doctrine, human emotion, and powerfully helpful brainworms they can be in times of crisis and need.
Just the thought of the opening lines of Hymn 140, "Did You Think To Pray" remind me so vividly of my Grandma Pew. Each time I sing it, floods of memories return. I can hear her sweet little grandma voice asking me if I say my prayers every day. I can hear her telling me how much she loved Jesus.
Eliza R. Snow's are particular favorites of mine.
Especially texts like "Behold, the Great Redeemer Die."
I love the texts of the Sacrament hymns because they depict Christ's atonement with varying and delicious ways that, when combined with music, bring new appreciation.
"There is a Green Hill Far Away" always bowls me over.
Just the thought of it now as I type gives me those tingling feelings from the Spirit.
How simple, how clear, how moving. And isn't Christ's Atonement the most simply beautiful, moving thing ever?
"We may not know, we cannot tell, what pain he had to bear. But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there."
Mmm! Maybe it's the juxtaposition of brutal hanging and suffering mixed with tender flowing music.
But my favorite line of text in any hymn...
Which also happens to be my favorite hymn musically as well...
It's the end of the 2nd verse of hymn 197, "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown."
In 11 words, the depth and meaning of the Lord's sacrifice is on great display...
"The very foes who slay thee have access to thy grace."
Every time I sing it, I see Judas with his betraying kiss, his 30 pieces of silver.
I see the men hammering nails.
I imagine those immortal words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
And when combined with Bach's stirring music, which slips back and forth between D major and B minor, depicting both the beauty and the terror of that eternal sacrifice...
I swoon, and I feel so grateful.
While we continue to have home church, though we may miss the traditional singing of hymns with organ and our congregations around us, we can still have moving moments of inspiration from the hymns.
In fact, I wonder if these moments can be even more special now.
This Sunday, I'm going to take the time to study at least one hymn text with my family during our private Sacrament Meeting.
We love to sing in our house, but I want to make sure the kids grasp the full experience. That they make the connection between music and words, gospel meaning and auditory vibration.
Perhaps you too can have a special moment of focus in the hymns with your family.
When you do, I'd love to hear about them.
Please let me know what you experience. I'd love to hear your stories.
Well, that's all for today.
I hope you have a lovely weekend and find comfort in the texts of these and other hymns.
Best,
Doug