Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved singing hymns in church: learning to sing alto at my mother's side, the sound of familiar voices around me, the harmonies, the succinct theology, and feeling the tie to past generations who have sung the same hymns. My very first favorite hymn was "Holy, Holy, Holy." I was about age 7 or 8, and was always so awed at people who could sing the hymns without referring to their hymnal the whole time. In "Holy, Holy, Holy," I, too, was finally able to look up from my hymnal for a few seconds!
But the hymns I sang as a girl, and in my most recent church are being cast aside in favor of insipid praise songs. Or modern words are being put to wonderful old hymn melodies. The longest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 119) is a song of praise to God. The entire Book of Psalms is in the heart of the Bible. It is certainly pleasing to God's heart to hear us sing praises to Him.
As I've been pondering music in worship, I've been lamenting the loss of old hymns in many of today's churches. Perhaps you will find the following to be some food for thought. This article from Christianity Today discusses the negative effects of modernizing old hymns.
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