Thoughts From 1 Timothy - Day 11

... the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:

He appeared in the flesh,
    was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
    was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
    was taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:15-16

       I'm not a big fan of hymns. It probably stems from my Christian upbringing sitting in Churches where I would get dressed up in my best clothes and a tie, sit in a pew with my parents who would make sure I looked attentive, stand and sit at the proper proscribed moments, sing from a hymnbook, songs written by people named Fanny, and listen to a preacher for 35 minutes use words I didn't understand and preach about things I couldn't relate to. Now, as soon as I hear a hymn, I tune out because it reminds me of dead religion. Don't get me wrong, that church experience was deeply meaningful to my parents, just not to me. So when faith became my own, I wanted new expressions. I enjoyed singing songs TO my savior rather than ABOUT Him. To be perfectly honest, most hymns are theological truths put to tunes as if the Westminster Confession was "musicalized". 

                When I memorize scripture as an older person, I put it to music because it helps me remember it. I feel most hymns were meant to preserve the faith as Paul mentioned above, the Church was to be a pillar or stalwart of the truth. In the passage above, we see probably an early hymn the church sang which could be summarized like this;

        God became man, died for our sins, triumphed over death, was worshipped by angels and feared by demons, ascended into Heaven and this message was preached throughout the world and saved many.

         This was a great creed that the early church memorized by putting it to music. An early hymn. 

          Do we need creeds and hymns anymore? I'm not sure - we have the Bible. I'm not a fan of creeds because they are formed by a group of men telling us the proper way of interpreting scripture. Sounds sort of like The Watchtower Society to me. But the early Church did and with all the lies creeping in, it was essential that the church was taught to hold on to the essentials of the faith.

"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him " 1John 2:27