Hymns are an important part of our worship on Sundays and other special occasions. We all have our favourites, and there are some we don’t like.
The words are important. I remember doing a project with children where I asked them to draw what they thought God was like. Many of their images were clearly strongly influenced by the songs we sang in assemblies.
Many of our really great hymns can be read as poetry, and are very inspiring. Others are perhaps more simple, but still have a message for us. Tunes matter too – and sometimes we are irritated when a hymn is sung to the “wrong” tune!
We choose hymns appropriate for the season, and there are particular hymns which are suitable for the gradual (before the Gospel reading) and offertory hymns. We also try to make the final hymn one that the children know. And of course the hymns have to be in our hymn book.
Recently I have had several people comment on the hymns we have sung, and this set me thinking. Currently I mostly choose the hymns at St Thomas, and Carol Bolger chooses them for St Agnes. But I am open to suggestions for hymns to be included, and I am sure Carol is too.
So, if you have a favourite one you don’t think we sing often enough (or at all!) let us know and we’ll see if we can include it.
Edith
