In 1964 I went to college — lost. I was saved under the evangelistic ministry of Harvey Springer [1] — a cowboy evangelist. Years later, my mother accepted Christ as her Saviour, at the age of 60. She would often say . . .
“I love reading the Bible in German. It speaks to me so differently.
“German” says it differently to me than the “English” words.”
German was her native language! It was her childhood language for 16 years – plus.
Mom came to America at the age of 16. She was sent over by her parents during the rise of Hitler. Her parents have serious misgivings and fears of where her country was going as it saw the rise of his power and the rise of wars. She was sent to live with her uncle — “Uncle Louie” — a German tailor who lived in North Jersey.
During the years of raising us, mom and dad often spoke German. They attended a German-Methodist church where the adult services were in German. Throughout her life, she was fluent in speaking “High German” [not “Platt·deutsch”/Low German, like dad, who was raised on a farm in Bremerhaven, northern Germany]. We “always” heard mom speak German to others who knew the language — and in North Jersey, there were many!
She was always self-conscious about her ability to speak English, though we never understood why. In fact, in her early years in America, she became a legal assistant for an attorney. Then in our pre-teen years pursued an education and career in nursing. She worked as a nurse at Paterson General Hospital into her 70’s.
Again, she would often say that she loved reading the Bible in German. Why? The fullness of meaning and word usage that accompanies a learned language and culture were part of what made reading it rich in German. Language is not merely words, but a culture, an upbringing — an emotional diary of events and personal historical nuances.
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“Music” Two Artforms:
“Music” is a combination of two elements — two artforms — the poetry and the musical score. There is an obvious trend that is occurring today, and it can be heard when listening to Christian music on the radio and in the church. Different musical scores are being used when playing and singing well-known hymns of the faith.
I am not addressing the “arrangements” of great church hymns. “Arrangements” of the hymn, which typically follow the original musical score, or arrangements which “begin–vary–come back” to the original musical score, is not my contention.
Nor am I making the argument that “changing up the musical score” has no merit, but there should be clarity and understanding as to the ramifications. The frequency and breadth of this trend may well be indicative of such a lack of understanding of the ramifications — or just a disregard of them regardless.
Church music, like a native language, carries with it an experiential history. [2]
“Music” is more than words; it like a “childhood learned language” carries with it the emotions, the experiential and cultural chronicle, and the original congregational worship context. Sing “The Old Rugged Cross” to a different musical score and then sing “The Old Rugged Cross” to its original musical score and tell me that it is the same musical experience!
Again, that is not to contend that there is no merit in changing up the musical score. Nevertheless, do not do so thinking that the “ministry dynamics” have not changed. [3]. Do not believe that nothing has been lost in regards to the worship value for those who learned that music in their “native tongue.”
Let me also argue that variant musical scores often disregard the creative “musical” elements that went into the original creation of that hymn. The musical score works with the poetry for it to reach its fulfillment and become a well-known and liked hymn over centuries. The proof of that is seen in listening to some versions of “It Is Well With My Soul” played in a minor key. When I hear those versions, I often say — They messed up that hymn.
To go to the metrical index of the hymn book, and attach the “hymn” to an alternate “musical score,” disregards how the music draws out the fulness of the poetry, and the “emotional diary of events and personal historical nuances” which ARE all part of that hymn. [5]. This trend of taking the words and attaching them to a different musical score is to — “Read the Bible in ‘English’ when the native tongue is ‘German.’ ” That is why people say — “I miss the old hymns of the faith!”
Worse than this trend is the trend to repeatedly choose and use musical scores that repetitively bear a particular composer’s marks. The revisionist music begins to all sound the same.
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1. Harvey Springer — see below
All Things Church 