What would God have us do?

May 19, 11:51 AMDallas Methodist ExaminerCynthia Astle

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There's something of a spiritual movement going in The United Methodist Church. And it isn't coming from some contrived program out of one of the denominational agencies.

Like the UMC Young Clergy's "40 Days of Prayer for the United Methodist Church" prayer campaign going on right now, a Facebook group, New United Methodist Hymnal of 1,715 members is pondering, discussing and praying about prospects for the new hymnal.

Some might think that their efforts are being wasted, since the United Methodist Publishing House has already put the kibosh on the project by announcing it doesn't have the money to publish a new hymnal. The last hymnal revision came out in 1989, and a major supplement, "The Faith We Sing," came out 10 years later. The church's highest body, the General Conference, established a new hymnal committee when it met last year in Fort Worth. The hymnal committee met this week by telephone conference, but its latest conversations haven't been made known yet.

In light of these factors, the Facebook group seems like a minuscule drop in the ocean of some 11 million United Methodists worldwide. Yet discussion participants, led by Dr. Dean McIntyre, music resource director for the General Board of Discipleship, remain convinced that it's time to bring out a new songbook for United Methodists.

To understand why a hymnal is so important for the UMC, you have to understand a little bit about Methodist heritage. John and Charles Wesley, the Anglican brothers who founded the Methodist movement, took popular tunes and put Christian words to them. That's how "Father John" and "Uncle Chuck," as some of us cheekier UMs call them, taught Christianity to hundreds of people who couldn't read. (That's also why the Wesleys started Sunday schools, so they could teach children faith by teaching them to read the Bible).

Consequently, hymns are a Big Deal for United Methodists; they're one of our defining attributes. In fact, it's often been said that Methodists sing their theology. Trouble is, since the UMC is now an international denomination the likes of which the Wesleys couldn't have envisioned, theology can vary widely. And therein lies the rub.

Being the self-centered consumers that we are, Americans were decidedly focused on what the hymnal meant to them during the last songbook revision. The poor hymnal committee was flooded with angry letters (no email back in 1986) when it proposed to remove "Onward, Christian Soldiers" for being too militaristic.

However, few of the U.S. respondents then seemed to appreciate how that hymn might play today in cultures still recovering from  damages inflicted by colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Christianity was inextricably linked with white conquest and oppression. African Americans and those of us with Native American heritage -- even "city Indians" like me -- still cringe at the memories of slaughter wrought by Euro-Americans moving across the continent to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers."

So it seems anthropologists are right: Music is an integral, defining part of culture. In a world that's just become aware of how multicultural it really is, music too often becomes a weapon. That's why musical styles lie at the center of what we call the "worship wars," meaning how congregations shape their corporate worship.

And that's why creating a hymn book is a Big Deal for United Methodists.

This time, however, Dr. McIntyre wants the Facebook group to take counsel from United Methodists in Africa. The question posed on the Facebook group this week was reported to McIntyre by a Dallas-area pastor, the Rev. John Thornburg, a superb hymnwriter himself who's helping to craft a hymnal for the United Methodist Church in Cameroon. The question draws from an African practice in which Christians are asked to ponder: "What is God saying to us in this hymn?" or "What would God have us do in this hymn?"

Writes McIntyre: "This is a very different approach to hymns for most Americans. Some hymns are quite direct and specific: "Go, Make of All Disciples" being one of those. But most others will require some thought, perhaps prayer, to discern a word from God."

A word of warning: Often the word that comes from God is one that makes us squirm at the status quo. So be prepared to be made uncomfortable.

If you're on Facebook, you can join the UMC hymnal group. If you're not on FB, you can post your comments below to the same process that McIntyre has proposed.