Dr. Daniel Zager, a Lutheran church musician from Rochester, NY, tells an intriguing story about singing a hymn of the final judgment in his parish. On a Sunday in Advent not many years ago, Dr. Zager chose the hymn, “The Day is Surely Drawing Nigh”from the judgment section of the hymnal. The following week, he was summoned to a meeting of a “self-appointed music committee” to hear one member of the congregation express her anger over singing this hymn of judgment. She claimed that, while she could handle the idea of judgment, her neighbor would have been sorely offended if she were forced to sing that hymn. This hymn was deemed “too depressing for the unchurched visitor.” She concluded, therefore, that Lutherans should not sing hymns from the judgment section of the hymnal because her neighbor would be offended if she came to that church (The Good Shepherd Institute: Journal for the Fifth Annual Conference, November 7—9, 2004, p. 115).
An entire dissertation could be written on how subverting our doctrine and practice because of how an unchurched neighbor might feel if she came to church is, in a word, ridiculous. Let us simply ask, Why do we sing judgment hymns on selected Sundays at the end of the church year and on selected Sundays in Advent, especially the Sundays that address the end times and the final judgment?
An entire dissertation could be written on how subverting our doctrine and practice because of how an unchurched neighbor might feel if she came to church is, in a word, ridiculous. Let us simply ask, Why do we sing judgment hymns on selected Sundays at the end of the church year and on selected Sundays in Advent, especially the Sundays that address the end times and the final judgment?
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