Disposables, Semi-disposables and Survivors

Attended an interesting discussion last night, entitled "What shall we sing?". The talk was basically about the tension between hymns and more comtemporary and modern Christian music. I went there with an open mind, determined not to let emotions override my sound judgement of the speaker's thorough research into the field. I decided not to let whispers of an underground dissatisfaction with the worship team (of which I am part) influence my attitude towards this evening.

The speaker spoke very knowledgeably about church music and how in every era you have the "survivors" (those that make the grade and get into official hymnbooks), the "semi-disposables" (those that make it into song collections of that time), and the "disposables" (those that don't even make it into any compilations, and are forgotten within a few years). The speaker also mentioned that each era has a specific theme that songs focus on. In the early half of the 20th century, the theme was on mission (in this country anyway). In the 60's, 70's and even 80's it was about loving your neighbour - focus on social responsibility.

Even though I was still young, I clearly recall my parents having weekly Biblestudies in their lounge, singing out of these very compilations that were "in" at the time, singing these very songs about loving your neighbour. It was a little sad for me to realise that only a few of these songs will or have survived into this next era:

The praise and worship era. This is my era. The music I feel at home with, the music I use in my quiet times, the songs I sing to praise God, to worship God, to thank God, to lament to God, to feel close to God. This is how I feel about these "disposable" or "semi-disposable" songs. This is how my parents probably felt about the songs in their era, and how my grandparents felt about their era songs.

And this is how the cycle goes. Sooner or later there will be a new era, with a new theme. And only a handful of these songs that I find so meaningful will make the grade and fill the few coveted positions in our hymnbooks. A bunch of people that sit down and decide over the fate of a song that could mean the world to me, but probably not mean much to them.

BUT in a time where church membership is dwindling, especially in my denomination, is it really of such importance to ascertain which era we are in and which songs will be the ones that make it into the next hymnbook? Is it not much more important to discover which songs are meaningful for the youth? Those people who are the FUTURE of our church? If we don't, we might end up with wonderfully compiled hymnbooks but no-one to sing out of them.