Verse Two

Inspired by Timothy O.

Christmas season on college campuses is always a little off, since we have break and most of us go far away, back to our homes, and thus do not spend Christmas together. It's kinda great: you get to celebrate Christmas with your friends first, to get you ready for the onslaught of Christmas-yness waiting for me back home. So Friday night I went to Christmas party with a bunch of buddies hosted by my R.A., who lives in town. I got there late, and was just getting out of the car when the throng of sweatered celebrators poured out of the house, announcing their plans to carol.
I love many things, not unlike Rupert Brooke, and among the things I love are Christmas carols. This love I attribute largely to my parents and to my family's annual Christmas parties. At my church we sang the verses. All the verses. I do not come from the three-song-worship-set background, I come from the sing-til-you're-done church. That plus the annual Christmas festivities, which find my immediate and extended family members packed into some great-aunt's living room, singing for hours on end. We like it.
That and I have a memory that retains lyrics like socks retain smells.

There are certain hymns to which everyone knows the words. "Amazing Grace," "How Great Thou Art," "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." But who knows the other verses? We do know they all have more than one, right? The same thing happens to Christmas carols. "O Holy Night," "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," "Silent Night"-- they all have more to them than the chorus. And no one knows the verses anymore. It makes me sad. It also means that whenever we go caroling (see the first paragraph) I am always the awkwardly loud one who tries to go for the second verse of "O Come All Ye Faithful," with the end result being me singing with exaggerated enunciation while my fellow carolers hum in the background. With everyone coming in a beat late on the "O come"s.

The same thing happens in church, when they start playing hymns, which have lasted for hundreds of years in some cases (which will, please God, NOT be the case for "History Maker" or "Break Free") and either use the chorus to segue into another song, or simply go back and sing the first verse again. Okay fine. The first verse is great. It's beautiful. But--brace yourself-- let's look at the other verses.
Gasp!
Are hymns not trendy enough anymore? Maybe because they weren't written by long-haired dudes in girl jeans and fitted t-shirts today's Christian won't be able to follow.
Well heck, some of these hymns were written when guys wore WIGS. And fitted breeches. So fashion should not be a barrier. In fact, let's bring those wigs back! Let's issue a call for the new worship trend to be a throwback to the way they used to worship-- 17th century style. Isaac Watts-- he's so hot right now!
!!!!!
What I really fell is going on here is deeper than people not knowing verses to carols. We only sing them for, generously, a month out of the year, so maybe it's unfair to expect people to remember them. (Even though we sing the same songs every year in that one month...)
I think what really irks me about this is the dumbing down of the church. Why do worship leaders assume that Christians do not have the attention span to be able to appreciate more than one verse? Do they think that the theology is too hard, too advanced for us pew-warmers? Is it just too much to ask a Christian to memorize a few more words? I mean, they're already taxing us with lyrics like "take take take it all" and "won't you break free won't you break free", so I assume it would be way too much of a burden for us to have to LISTEN (instead of breaking free) to words like these:

My sin-- oh the bliss of this glorious thought--
My sin-- not in part, but the whole--
Is nailed to the Cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!
--It Is Well With My Soul

Maybe the problem is the obscure language. Definitely couldn't ask 21st century people to try to understand-- oh wait. All of the words to the verse just given are completely and totally understandable. Unless you're illiterate.
As for tough theology, yes. The concept of Christ bearing our sins on the cross is maybe too obscure for us to handle. We'd rather hear "All day / All Daaaayayayay." Not only is that cooler, it's a lot more relevant too. It just has more bearing on our lives as Christians. Plus we can hop while we sing it. Which obviously literally brings us closer to God.

This post is wandering a lot. The point is, people, the men and women who wrote these hymns wrote more than just the first verse for a reason. the words to these songs are some of the most powerful declarations of faith that have ever been penned, and now we relegate them to obscurity because they have no electric guitar riffs. Please, look at the verses. Maybe sing one. Or two. I'm cautious about pushing as far as three, but if you go there, you may as well take it all the way to four, right? These words will make you think. Thinking is good.

I'll close this with my inspiration for the post-- the words to one of those carols no one could follow the other night. We already know the tunes to all of these songs-- these words go right along with it. So handy.

Hail, the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and Life to all He brings
Risen with healing in His wings!
Mild, he lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of Earth,
Born to give them second birth,
Hark! the herald angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King!"