Humor and Great Lyrics – Hymns

I grew up with this book; well, not this exact book – mine was blue – and I still have it. It’s all marked up from piano lessons. My repertoire included Mozart, Bach, a little contemporary stuff, but ALWAYS some hymns. I wouldn’t trade the time spent practicing those hymns! (Thanks goes to my parents and my piano teacher for instilling my joy in quietly playing through the hymnal as a time of peace and worship and reflection.)

The Baptist Hymnal was one of the consistencies in my life as a kid. Each Sunday (morning and evening) we would get the ‘song book’ from the pew in front of us and sign along. Sometimes we knew the words by heart and didn’t even look at the book – but we held it anyway, propped on the pew in front of us. We also made up some awesome games using the hymnal – quiet games of course (unless we got silly tickled and then got the evil eye from our parents sitting in the choir loft).

I love hymns! Not so much for the melodies, because some of them are not pretty. Some follow staunch standards of rhythm and chord progression and are so predictable. Yet the words of most hymns are such great examples of praise and worship. My favorite worship sets include some old hymns (at least the lyrics) and some powerful moving melodies that are relatively new. Music and worship – a powerful way to praise Him and to pour out your heart.

The list below is just having a little fun with the title of some hymns (if you call “Pass It On” a hymn???). The message behind these old songs is valid today – sing praise to God for He is holy, reminders that all good things come from Him, and promises of eternity hope.

• The Dentist’s Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns
• The Weatherman’s Hymn: There Shall Be Showers of Blessings
• The Contractor’s Hymn: The Church’s One Foundation
• The Tailor’s Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy
• The Golfer’s Hymn: There Is a Green Hill Far Away
• The Politician’s Hymn: Standing on the Promises
• The Optometrist’s Hymn: Open My Eyes that I May See
• The IRS Agent’s Hymn: I Surrender All
• The Gossip’s Hymn: Pass It On
• The Electrician’s Hymn: Send the Light
• The Shopper’s Hymn: Sweet By and By

FYI – One song that I can barely sing these days is “Lead on O kinky turtle”; makes me laugh every time.