An Inexhaustive Walk Through the Church's Hymnal

Breathing life back into the old hymns

I grew up in an “old fashioned” church where we didn’t do much for modern praise music, and instead leaned into all the old hymns. We still do, in fact. There’s a lot of great modern praise songs out there, but there’s also a lot of not so great ones, in my opinion.

You just can’t beat the theology and depth of the old standards, though they seem to be falling out of style by and large. I’ve seen it said that some of the hymns are too difficult to understand, and honestly, in some cases, that’s sorta valid. (I mean, what the heck does “raising my Ebenezer” even mean? Isn’t that Scrooge’s first name?)

So to combat that, I’d like to start a series where we deep dive into the lyrics of some of the old standard hymns. Find out what those old fashioned words mean, what lines are rooted in Scripture and where, and why they’re still favorites for plenty of people in spite of passing a bit out of vogue. Maybe you’ve heard these hymns before, or maybe I can have the pleasure of introducing you to them for the first time.

Either way, I hope this is a project with some depth and meaning that will speak to and encourage you. You can expect the first post on How Firm a Foundation next week, and if you have a favorite hymn you’d like to see included in this series, or one that you find difficult or confusing, please feel free to drop it in the comments and I’ll try to give it a deep dive as I work through this series!