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by Sharon Ely Pearson

From Miriam’s song in Exodus through the Psalms to Mary’s Magnificat in Luke to the hymns in our worship services, the people of God have always sung our prayers, praises, and laments. Hymns tell the story of God’s wondrous acts and are the gospel set to music.

Music is so integral to the human experience of God. One’s own heartbeat keeps a steady, uncompromised rhythm for an entire lifetime — we don’t even notice how consistently it has served us and kept us alive, like our breathing,

Some of our earliest memories are sealed through the music that was the soundtrack of the event. Hearing a gently sung “Silent Night” can transport us to our early childhood. We didn’t know what “’round yon virgin, mother and child” meant, but we deeply resonated with the tenderness of the song that celebrated a baby and a mommy. Accompany that sweet music with some soft Christmas lights and the company of someone who loves you and you may have a lifetime believer in the incarnation.

Cynthia Coe, a Christian educator in Knoxville, Tennessee recently shared her thoughts about “Sing-able Songs for Children” at ETChristianFormation. She shares, “Songs we sing with children endure for a lifetime.  In my visits to my dad’s nursing home, I am continually amazed at Alzheimer and dementia patients who literally cannot put a sentence together but can enthusiastically sing out four stanzas of hymns without missing a note or a single word.  I wonder, what songs are our children learning now that will stay with them when they are 80 years old and infirm?”

Hymnals can be helpful guides as educators and parents engage children in learning the songs of our faith. Cynthia has been examining hymnals and believes, “Songs stick with us – and even drift into secular culture, as well.  We need to give children of this generation sing able songs to stick with them as part of their own lifelong Christian formation.” Her reviews of two hymnals:

• My Heart Sings Out, ed. Fiona Vidal-White (New York: Church Publishing Inc., 2005).  This paperback volume, written specifically for Anglican worship, is an excellent resource for Episcopal choir directors working with children and Christian formation directors.  Vidal-White, who worked in music ministry in the Church of England before coming to the United States, fully appreciates that elementary school-age children need fairly simple lyrics and melodies.  This volume provides an ample selection of such tunes, divided by liturgical year.  A topical index in the back is also very helpful. At $18 for the pew edition, this book is a bargain.
• Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise, compiled by The Church Hymnary Trust (Norwich, UK: Canterbury Press, 2008).   This is an official hymnal of the Church of Scotland.  Pricey at $56?  A bit.  Worth it?  Absolutely!  The section entitled “Short Songs” in the back is worth its weight in gold if you work with children.  “Short Songs” is a treasure trove of easy to learn, highly sing able songs from all over the world – including Honduras, Kenya, Ukraine, the Taize community, Argentina, Switzerland, China and others.  If your congregation seeks to teach about ministry and faith in other countries, the Millennium Development Goals, or other global issues, you will want to have this hymnal.

Kathy McGovern, who writes for Living the Good News says in “Music and Our Experience of God”: ”We can give our children music, lots and lots of music. Start in the womb with Mozart. Teach the alphabet and a foreign language and arithmetic with melodies and rhythms. And when it comes to the really important stuff—-passing on a faith that can go the distance of a whole lifetime of shifting theological certitudes—-stamp the heart with beautiful melodies that teach the faith that matters: Jesus loves me, this I know.”

What hymns do you remember from childhood? How can you incorporate singing hymns in your ministry with children?