January 10, 2009
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Hymns
In the last issue of the Dutch magazine “Eredienst” (means “Worship”) Dr. Jan Smelik gives an overview of Hymn singing in the protestant churches in the Netherlands following the Reformation.
Some people might remember that the Dutch Psalm books contained a small hymn section called “Enige Gezangen” (“Some Hymns”). This section was expanded by the Synod of 1933 (last year 75 years ago). On that occasion Mr. Smelik tried to give the perspective of the affaire of hymns in the churches.
This is a very relevant topic in the Netherlands because the addition of hundreds of hymns in the last ten years caused controversy and the hymn issue seems to be a moving target from Synod to Synod. I am wondering if the addition of Hymns has served and serves the church in increasing the joy of worship to the greater glorification of God, or that it took the joy away, dividing churches, creating disagreement and frustration.
THE 12 HYMNS
The Synod of Dort (Dordrecht) in 1618/1619 decided that only the 150 Psalms and these Hymns ought to be sung: The Ten Commandments, The Lord’s Prayer, The Apostles Creed, The Song of Mary, Song of Simeon, and the Song of Zachariah. Some hymns were added before publication: Credo, Morning Prayer Song, Prayer Song before supper, Song of Thanksgiving after supper, and the Evening Song. For almost two centuries these were the only hymns sung in the church.
MORE BUT NOT SCRIPTURAL
In 1806 the Regional Synods (Particuliere Synode) published a hymnal “Evangelical Hymns” (Evangelische Gezangen). This publication was not endorsed by Synod and there were concerns about the text (the influence of the Enlightenment). The hymn issue became a significant obstacle in the Secession of 1834. Reverend De Cock was against the singing of the new hymns in the church. The churches that separated published in 1882 a hymnal “for school, society, and family” that contained hymns with good, Scriptural texts. The additional hymns were not sung in the church.
A few years later the Doleantie took place, led by Abraham Kuiper. The churches of the Doleantie were not in favour of the singing of (additional) hymns in the church.
CHURCH SONGS
Synod The Hague in 1914 rejected the request of the church in Brussels to develop a bundle of “church songs” (the word “hymns” was to controversial so they used “church songs” instead). But there was some support in the churches, which let in 1915 to a committee “Kring van belangstellenden in de verrijking van ons Kerkgezang” (Group of stakeholders in the enhancement of our Church Song). This committee presented to Synod 1920 (Leeuwarden) a bundle with a majority of hymns from the hymnal “Evangelical Hymns” (Evangelische Gezangen) of 1806. Synod rejected the proposal (for the same reasons as before), but mandated their Songbook Committee to review and revise the existing hymns.
THE 29 HYMNS
Hard work, discussions, and many meetings over the next years resulted in the approval of Synod Middelburg in 1933. The hymn section was expanded from 12 to 29 hymns. All of the selected hymns were familiar amongst the church people, as they were all selected from books and bundles that were widely used in the community. There were no unfamiliar hymns in the new hymn section.
Yet, there was again controversy: Synod Amsterdam 1936 received 109 letters expressing serious concerns. Synod did not change anything, but asked to communicate and work with each other in love.
FROM 29 TO 471 ... TO 1,000?
The next time a (Liberated Reformed) Synod discussed the hymns was in 1961, resulting in hymn section revision in 1975. A total of 36 hymns were published in a “Proefbundel” (publication to try out).
In 1986 the selection was increased to 41 hymns. There was very little opposition in the churches, which had opened the door. Ten years later (1996) a decision was made to add more hymns, and today the churches can select from 471 hymns in the church services (and there are still the 150 psalms).
An important factor of the decline in opposition after the Second World War is because there was no longer a strong link with the theological principals and other developments in the church (opinions on e.g. Genesis 1). In the last half century that relationship has diminished which made it much easier to add more hymns. I am not convinced that when the theological principals do not play a huge role anymore by the selection that the singing of those hymns could not have an impact on theology in the church over time.
In June 2008 the Synod of the Gereformeerde Kerken (vrijgemaakt) decided to participate in the oecumenical hymn book project (Liedboek voor de Kerken). With a total of 800 to 1,000 hymns this hymnal is expected to be published approx. in 2012.
We know that the Lord Jesus said that He came to bring division instead of peace (Luke 12: 51). It might look like He was thinking about the hymns in the churches. Or maybe church music in general…?
WHAT ABOUT US?
What does this mean for our Canadian Reformed churches? We are adding more hymns… We can learn from history not to make the same mistakes. We can ask the question: what is it worth? Or what are we risking?
One thing is sure: the Dutch churches have sung the same Psalms for three and a half century. The rhyming was very old. The Psalm-singing churches were busy debating the hymns, and overlooked the Psalms, taking them for granted. Today they seem to be pushed to the background. That is one mistake we clearly don’t want to repeat!
TESTING
We are still testing the hymns that the committee presented: a process that needs to be done well. After last Synod I published a CD with these hymns to facilitate the testing and evaluation.
This CD was/is sold out, but recently a box of CD’s was found somewhere and returned to me.
If you still would like a CD, please let me know! (15 dollars) (link)
By the way, an instrumental CD with these hymns was recorded later, and also still abailable!
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