Attack on ‘infantile’ modern hymns hits the wrong note

From: Ruth Pickles, Hutton Road, Hutton Cranswick, Driffield.

I MUST take issue with Martyn Scargill (Yorkshire Post. August 22) on his diatribe elucidating the merits of “countless beautiful hymns from all periods” while decrying modern hymns as “happy-clappy rubbish, pointless, tuneless and infantile”.

The main point that I would like to make is that hymns are a part of worship, and not once does he mention that fact.

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Most people who are in the over-60 age group will remember their school assemblies with stirring hymns which we can probably still recall the words to. I don’t dispute the grounding that it gave in the Christian faith.

However, as with all things, progress is inevitable in all walks of life. Without progress we would still be living in caves and hunting for our food. Progress has to come to the Church, as it has in any organisation, but at the same time we do not have to abandon the traditional.

I believe very strongly that there is room in the Church for all types of worship, and who are we to prescribe what is right for any other person to allow them to worship God in their own way?

At the village church that I attend, we have Holy Communion services from the Book of Common Prayer as well as from the Common Worship Book. We also have family services, Service of the Word and Evensong. Members of the congregation choose a service that suits their personal style of worship; the best attendance is the monthly family service where the music is led by a church band consisting of keyboard, guitars, trumpet, drums and singers. The service attracts many young families who do not attend the more traditional services. This is obviously filling a need. Some of the hymns at this service are traditional, many are classed as “modern”.

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If Martyn Scargill would care to look at the words (and the tunes) for the wonderful hymn Majesty, similarly Be still for the Presence of the Lord or Shine Jesus Shine, to name just three, I fail to see how they could be described as “mindless drivel”.

Finally I would remind Mr Scargill that His Grace, the Archbishop of York, at his inauguration ceremony played the African drums with such joy, one could not help but be caught up in the fervour of the moment.

Not a traditional moment but a very modern, contemporary moment in a solemn, otherwise conventional sacrament.

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

WHAT a sanctimonious letter from Martyn L Scargill.

He must have been a very precocious child if the singing of traditional hymns at school set him up for “all the trials and tribulations of the day ahead and put them in a proper perspective” and gave him “the strength and knowledge that there is a purpose to life without which all is void and meaningless”.

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I sang these songs of praise at school, badly but with relish, because I liked to sing. However, what I sang went completely above my head; only in adulthood did I appreciate the wonderful lyricism of what I had been singing. Hills of the North Rejoice, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Abide with Me, Mine eyes have seen the glory... and, especially, Lead, Kindly Light are among my favourites.

As a non-believer, I still sing them around the house, as badly as ever but with feeling.

What a shame that your correspondent uses these works to sneer at ordinary people and score points against “do-gooders and liberals”, sometimes called “bleeding-hearts” by the Right.

Does not a Christian see the irony of using such terms of compassion and tolerance in a pejorative context?