In 2016, I was at a pastors’ conference where everyone was given a recently released hymnal called Hymns of Grace. This hymnal was put out by Master’s Seminary, where John MacArthur serves as president. He was speaking at the conference, so in one of the sessions they interviewed him about it. One of his statements deeply resonating with me. He noted how grateful he is for song writers who are able to express the deep truths of our faith in song. they gave substance to his worship. He is not gifted in that way, so he is deeply indebted to those whom God has used to give the church rich songs of praise.

There was a time in the English-speaking world when every Christian owned two books: a Bible and a hymnal. The Bible informed their beliefs, while the hymnal gave expressing to their praise. Worship has a two-beat rhythm of revelation and response. We begin with truth about God as He has revealed Himself in His word (revelation); then we respond to who God is with appropriate worship. One form of worship is song. This is where the hymnal came into use.

Times have changed. We rarely use hymnals today, as the words are projected onto screens. Many of the ancient hymns have been replaced with modern ‘praise’ songs. Neither of those things are bad. The New Testament talks about variety in worship. The church is to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16). I am thankful for several modern-day hymn writers who are giving fresh expressions to the ancient truths of our faith. Yet I also believe that hymnals still have a valuable place in corporate and private worship. There are three reasons why.

First, they allow you to see the entire song at once. Technology is a wonderful thing. By projecting the song onto the screen, it eliminates the pause between songs as people find the next page. This allows worship to flow uninterrupted. Yet it has its limitations. We never see the entire song at once. This makes it harder to trace its flow of thought or fully engage its theology. This presents a danger. this makes it hard to notice if a song has disjointed thoughts or contains suspect theology. Some modern church music contains both those problems. Hymnals do not eliminate all of this. There are songs in some hymnals I would not include in a worship service due to their bad theology; yet having it in print form makes it easier to identify.

Second, hymnals provide a wonderful reference. Many times, I have found myself reaching for a hymnal during a worship service. Sometimes a song comes to mind during communion, or the pastoral prayer prompts a thought, or a comment in a sermon brings a line from a song to mind. I find myself reaching for the hymnal. In that moment, the words of the hymn writer became my expression of praise. The longer I preach, the more I find myself quoting hymns to help connect a principle in the bible to its usefulness in life. Like John MacArthur, I do not have the capacity to put deep truths from God’s word into poetic expression. A hymnal does this for me. 

Finally, and I would say most importantly, a good hymnal is a collection of the best songs produced by the church throughout the ages. Every generation has songs that do not last. I thoroughly enjoyed singing Shout to the Lord last Sunday. It brought back good memories of spiritual growth during my teenage years when it was at its height of popularity. It is a great song, which I had not sung in a long time. Yet my grandchildren will not sing it.

Contrast this with the hymn Be Thou My Vision. I have a lot of favorite hymns, but this one truly tops the list. We sang it at our wedding, and it will be sung at my funeral. The song is from an ancient Irish hymn. It has been giving expression to people’s worship for centuries. When we sing it, we are praying with the saints through the ages that God be our all in all (Col. 3:11). My grandchildren may not sing Shout to the Lord, but they probably will sing Be Thou My Vision.

Hymnals preserve the best songs produced by every generation. I have greatly benefited from Keith and Krystin Getty’s music. Yet most of their songs will pass away. But I am pretty sure their hymn In Christ Alone will still be song in the generations to come.

The fact that many good songs pass away should not surprise us. I have read that Isaac Watts wrote over 1800 hymns. You will find 18 of them in Hymns of Grace. What happened to the rest of them? They disappeared. But the best remained. A hymnal is a treasure chest of the best songs the church has written through the ages. Although we need not limit ourselves to the songs found in our hymnals, we do not want to lose the treasures it preserves for us either.

Hymnals are useful for corporate worship and private devotion. It is good for Christians to use two books. The Bible alone is our authority and source of truth, upon which we should feed daily; yet a hymnal can help us express worship to the amazing God we find in the Bible. If you have never used a hymnal, I would encourage you to give it a try. It will expand your worship of God.