What isThat in Your Hand?

God asked Moses an interesting question in Exodus chapter four, "What is that in your hand?"  In and of itself the question is actually quite reasonable.  I can remember several incidents as a child when one of my parents would ask, "What is that in your hand?"  Usually it was because whatever was in my hand probably should not have been.  While my parents may not have always known what was in my hand when they asked, we can say for sure the Lord knew what Moses held.  The point of the question was to get Moses to see what he held.  God then demonstrated to him what could be done with that old walking stick when it and its owner were in the hand of God.

Moses was equipped with a shepherd's staff, a unique experience with God, and the portion of God's Word given to him in his day.  While we may not have the same sort of burning bush experience Moses had, we have the completed cannon of scripture available to us in multiple translations, paraphrases and media.  We have over two thousand years of writings of Godly men who have studied those scriptures through the ages and recorded their thoughts, insights, prayers, laments and conclusions.  On top of all that we live in an age in which through technology we can access any of that information at any time at no great expense. Truly we do hold much in our hands, and no doubt should be held accountable for these blessings we take for granted.  

There is something else you hold in your hand.  Every week you pick it up on cue, confidently turn in its pages and are exposed to some of the content already mentioned in this article.  There you see words of scripture, the thoughts and prayers of Godly men, and tears of great theologians on the pages of your hymnal.  As the words of our creeds, catechisms, and confessions link reformed believers past, present, and yes, future; so the songs of our hymnal link us through the years.  

You probably seldom think about the hymnal, other than to be exasperated when there is not one in your pew slot.  Many churches have made the decision to do away with hymnals.  It is so much cheaper now to simply project the words of songs on a wall or screen rather than waste resources on dusty books used only once a week.  Although I have always considered myself one who idolizes innovations and promotes progress, I mourn for a new world so brave it does not need the comfort and consolation provided by the companionship of a good hymnal.

Sadly, we don't make use of our hymnals.  Perhaps that is because few know of the tools, resources, and structure of hymnals.  Maybe that is because our church members have never been properly introduced to their hymnals.  Our hymnal, the Trinity Hymnal, is more than an anthology of old music.  It is a rich resource for personal and public worship.  Have you ever looked at the Table of Contents?  You may have assumed there was no rhyme or reason to the order in which hymns are listed.  Did you ever notice ours are arranged based on their general content or use. For instance, the first 99 are about different attributes of God.  Other sections are devoted to the Trinity, God's Word, The Church, etc.  In other words, if you were depressed because of the struggles you have had against Satan and temptations, you might want to look at hymns 570 through 582 that deal with spiritual warfare.  Could singing or reading the words of #570 Faith of Our Fathers, #571 Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus or #582 Yield Not to Temptation, be a source of encouragement to you at such a time?

At the back of the Trinity Hymnal there are a number of different cross referencing tools allow one to look up a hymn by author, (of the text) composer (of the tune), Biblical reference, name of tune, poetic meter, first line of the hymn or hymn topic.  Personally I find it exciting that  we have hymn text going back to Ambrose of Milan (340 A.D.) and as current as Michael Card's El Shaddai #42.  We have hymn tunes composed by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Bach, and Handel, as well as folk tunes from various continents.  Creative combinations and switching around of hymn texts is made possible by using the poetic meter index.  For instance, both O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (#164) and Amazing Grace #460 have the same meter.  That means either set of words can be sung to the tune of the other.  From the scripture reference index we can see that the largest set of hymns find their source in the book of Psalms.  I count somewhere around 260 hymns having their references there.

There is a big emphasis these days on singing new and modern songs.  Have you ever noticed that the Trinity Hymnal has 742 hymns in it?  Did you know there are 576 different tunes or melodies used for those 742 hymns?  As best I can figure, of those 576 tunes we utilize only 263, and we are probably only comfortable with about 200 of those.  Now I will be the first one to say that a lot of the hymn tunes are just not very singable.  I will also admit to you there are a lot of hymn tunes I really don't like and dread when I see we are going to sing them.  But, just because you or I don't like a certain hymn does not mean it can't minister to someone else and touch their heart.  Through the years there are hymns I absolutely could not stand when I first heard them, but now they are some of my favorite.  Maybe we should try and learn the hymns in our hymnal that have stood the test of time while we also explore the new and modern.

Beyond the anthology of hymns, the Trinity Hymnal also contains printed creeds, the Westminster Confession, and the shorter catechism.  These have little to do with music, but much to do with worship. These resources are available to the individual for personal devotion, or for use in corporate worship.

I am looking forward to the coming months as we attempt to make greater use of our hymnal.  As always, I would like to point out that if you are interested in learning more about music, singing, our hymnal and want a deeper worship experience, then perhaps the choir is where you belong.  We begin rehearsal at 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings.  We have some who go to their Sunday School class at 9:30 and rejoin us at 10:15 for a final run through.  Others stay and we work the whole hour and a half preparing for the coming weeks. You are welcome to come give it a try.  I do warn you though.  Praising God is addictive and once you start it is hard to quit.  Now I ask you that simple question, "What is that in your hand?"