Reviving Hymns for a New Generation
Worshiping with the words of earlier centuries with tunes that work today
One of my favorite series of articles that predates this Substack is what I call “Revive a hymn”. The philosophy is simple. There are old hymns that, at least in some circles of the church today, are not much used but should be.
Some people reading some of these articles may say “but we sing that one all the time!” which is great, and I am always keen to hear about that. Others though, will never have even heard of the hymn at all despite its great heritage and much love in previous generations. I try and choose hymns that perfectly poetically portray some wonderful truth.
I am not necessarily advocating for simply using the old hymn with its old tune, although often that is a great approach. We should not feel too precious about the tunes we inherited from previous generations, though there is also no need to change them simply for the sake of it. But remember what is an old tune now was once contemporary when it was written. Blending old words with new music can often be one of the most potent combinations possible in our worship.
When I write these articles, I try and include examples of the hymn being sung to both the traditional tune it is most associated with, and modern adaptions, some of which add a chorus or new verses.
Which other hymns should I look at? As you peruse these examples, which adapations that you love have I missed? Please follow each link for more information about each hymn.
Here in this summary article I will simply share my own favorite version of each hymn, and a link to an article where I gave other examples, the lyrics, and in many cases some backstory behind the hymn. If you are a worship leader and feel inspired to write a new tune to one of these hymns then let me have your recording when it is done, and I may add it to the hymns homepage on my site.
How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds by John Newton
I Asked the Lord that I Should Grow by John Newton
Breathe on me Breath of God by Edwin Hatch
And Can it Be by John Wesley
O God of Burning, Cleansing Flame (Send the Fire) by William Booth
It’s not deliberate, but a lot of these hymns that I’ve looked at so far have been updated by people from the same family of churches that I was a part of most of my life. But I’m sure I’ll share hymn updates from other church groups in the future as well. Hymns have become more and more important to Newfrontiers churches over the decades, even though we were considered to be part of the “new church” movement.
Which of these hymns, old version or new, do you like the best? Which others would you like me to look at in future editions of Revive a hymn?
Read More by Adrian about Worship
I Once Was Blind But Now I See: John Newton explains his famous phrase
Jesus Commands: Worship me Part of a series on what Jesus wants from us and works in us
