In mid-October, we visited our daughter’s family in Lake Jackson, TX. On Sunday we attended their church. One of the songs we sung was “It Is Well With My Soul”. What a wonderful throwback for me. Let me set this up, as neutrally as I can.
There’s no doubt I live in another culture than most of the people around me, than most of the people in the church I attend. Modern music leaves me flat, both popular music and church music. As far as popular music is concerned, with few exceptions I’m stuck in a world that ended in 1974. That was the year of my religious conversion, senior year in college. Right after it came my move from Rhode Island to Kansas City. More or less simultaneously I made the move from the liturgical church to the evangelical church, and from popular music to church music. But to be honest, popular music had already moved away from my preferred tastes. Give me the songs of 1961-1965 and you can have the songs from 1974 on. How far am I removed from the music of pop culture? When Tom Petty died in 2017 and there were huge headlines, I said “Who’s Tom Petty”, and ignored the story thereafter. It took me another five years to learn who Tom Petty was and what he meant to pop music.
When I entered the evangelical church world, I fell in love with that music, mainly what was popular in the 1970s and into the 1980s. Bill Gaither. The Imperials. Lanny Wolfe Trio. Doug Oldham. Andre Crouch. Now I’m stuck there, again with some exceptions. But added to the music mix for me was all the wonderful hymns of earlier decades. I found the music moving and uplifting. Give me the hymns of 1840 to the gospel songs of 1980, and I’ll be happy.
I suppose I’m stuck in the 1970s with my church music preferences. Almost all the songs sung in the evangelical church since then leave me flat. Oh, I can sing them with gusto, my stroke-and seizure-altered voice now drowned out by the loudness of the instruments. The songs of today give me a momentary lift. I suppose the message they tell is good, but the music style mostly leaves me unmoved, especially with the similarity of form (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-bridge-bridge-verse-chorus-chorus-chorus seemingly ad infinitum).
So anyway, I’m a guest in this church service on Oct. 12. The worship team consisted of three women singers, a keyboard, rhythm guitar, flute, and drums. They all mixed well. The third song (I think it was the third one) was “It Is Well With My Soul”. This was one of those songs I was introduced to in the evangelical church in the 1970s. I for sure never heard it growing up in the liturgical church.
On this day they played it “straight”. No chorus added as a bridge section, no endless repetition. No overly modern instrumentation. Just the simple verses and chorus, played into the sanctuary at a volume that let me hear my own voice. The third verse, which is always my favorite, moved me to tears as it always does.
My sin, oh the bliss, of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole
is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord oh my soul.
Needless to say, I was transported back in time five decades. I don’t expect that to happen very much in the future. But I had a chance to think back to the mid-1970s, when my life changed, and the music changed for me as well.
Thank you, David, my thoughts exactly the word.Bless you and keep you and continue to make his face shine upon you and be gracious on to you
Bessie:
To you, also.
I share most of your sentiments here! Lovely reflection.
Susan:
A few of us still exist in the world. We are mostly hiding in plain sight.
I love this blog post! My background is very different than yours but I identify with your perspective.
I grew up in the church but grew up with what I think of as “Gospel” songs and “Camp Meeting” songs. In College I discovered Isaac Watts, Fanny Crosby, Charles Wesley and the other great hymn writers of the church. I also discovered the Gaithers and Andre Crouch – the great song writers of that generation. In the late 1960s I discovered Jesus Music and by the mid 1970s the predecessors to Contemporary Christian Music – The Imperials, Servant, The Archers, Larry Norman, Amy Grant, DeGarmo & Key, Dallas Holmes & Praise, Andres – Blackwood & Co, Barry McGuire, Carman and others. I grew up hearing George Beverly Shea, The Statesmen Quartet, The Stamps Quartet and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet – the vinyl albums that my parents had. I prefer the Hymns, Gospel Quartets, Gaither, Crouch as my sacred relaxation music. I can get the Jesus Music and rocking sounds of the 1970s cranked up from time to time. I learned to live with Modern Worship music but would prefer it in concert.
My favorite hymn is “And Can It Be” by Charles Wesley. The last verse moves me to tears every time I hear and sing it:
“No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.”
Martin:
That C. Wesley hymn is certainly one of my favorites. It’s a shame the verse you quoted didn’t make it into most hymnals after the 1950s. That’s a song I sang on my walks, when I was able to take long walks.