Hymns

All our worship, then, should be given to God and this applies also to the hymns.  People who find it very easy to sing hymns, often find it very difficult to sing hymns to God.  This is because, in singing the tune, they do not think about the words.  Indeed, sometimes it is almost as if the words were an excuse for singing the tune.  It is even worse when people sing hymns because they like listening to their own voice.

There is a story told of a monastery in the Middle Ages where the monks were spending much time and labour in practising a special programme of music for a festival.  At last the great day came and everything went off splendidly and the monastery choir was as pleased as Punch.  But that night the Abbot had a dream in which Jesus appeared to him and asked, “Why has the choir been silent today?”

So it is that, if one sings for one’s own enjoyment and not in honour of God, one’s voice may reach the roof of the church, but it will not be heard in Heaven.

SUMMARY

1. Our first purpose in saying our prayers and in going to church is to give our worship to God.  To worship means to honour God and to show him our love by praising him and in particular by offering ourselves and our lives to him.

2. The great and central act of worship, and the only one which Jesus himself has given us, is the Eucharist.  No other service can possibly take its place, because at the Eucharist we offer to God, not only ourselves, but also Jesus.