May 20, 2009 6:40 AM
Top 100 Hymns - your input please!
My friend Sherry at Semicolon has come up with a very intriguing project - cataloging 100 Top Hymns. She needs your input:
So, this past Sunday in church while listening attentively to the sermon, and even taking some notes in my Bible, I thought up a new project. I get some of my best thinking done during church. My excuse is that I can listen faster than my pastor can preach, so I have time left over to think. And I like projects. At least, I like thinking them up. Sometimes I'm a little bit lacking in the follow-through.
At any rate, inspired by Fuse #8's Top 100 Picture Book Poll, which I enjoyed immensely and would recommend as a beginning reading list of picture books to accompany my Picture Book Preschool, I thought a Top 100 Hymns Poll would be a great summer project. I might learn something and be encouraged in my own worship. You might learn some new hymns or be reminded of some oldies. We all might enjoy visiting and re-visiting the hymns of the faith together.
Here's how I think this poll/journey is going to work (I stole some of the rules from Fuse #8):
1. Make a list of your top ten hymns of all time.
Hymn (according to Webster): a song of praise to God a metrical composition adapted for singing in a religious service.
For the purposes of this poll, I'm limiting the choices to Christian hymns, but the form of the song doesn't matter. In other words, the songs on your list should be suitable for congregational singing and should be Christian. Handel's Messiah is Christian but probably not suitable for congregational hymn singing. Anything you sing in worship service, even what are normally called choruses or gospel songs or spirituals or CCM, is fine. (Oh, English, please, or at least translated into English. Sorry, but it's all I really speak.)2. List these hymns in your order of preference. So your #1 hymn would be the one you feel is the best, and so on. I will be giving your first choice 10 points, your second choice 9 points, and so on.
3. Submit your list to me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom. Write "Hymn Survey" in the subject line. I'd rather you didn't leave your votes in my comments here because it'll be easier to tabulate all the votes if they're all in my email (plus I want everyone's votes to be a surprise). Deadline for votes to be sent to me is May 31, 2009.
4. If you like, you can submit a justification for each hymn. Or you can send me a link to an audio or video version online. Include the name of the hymn's author or lyricist and the composer of the melody you prefer if at all possible, especially if you think I might be unfamiliar with your particular hymn. At the beginning of June I will tally up the totals, and I will pull from the submitted pieces why one reader or another liked a particular hymn (naming the reader, of course). That way we'll be able to hear from a whole bunch of people why they love one hymn or another. I will then count down from 100 to 1 over the course of the summer the top choices of what folks feel the best hymns of all time are.
Y'all know I love hymns. It's going to be hard to choose ten, but fun going through the hymn book. Think I'll make this a family project - could lead to some beautiful singing time.
