"Last Stanza Please"

The announcing and use of gospel songs and hymns during sacred services is an aspect of the ministry that needs attention. One illustration will help to explain. The elder rises impulsively during the last song of the eleven o'clock service and cries out (with a sheepish look on his face): "The last stanza, please!" So the saints skip the third stanza (which is probably the best one of all), move down to the last stanza, and sing it. And the audience welcomes the elder's words and accepts them with an inaudible sigh of relief. They didn't want to take the time to sing the third stanza anyway!

Vocalized Confusion

This bizarre behavior is symptomatic. Christians nowadays don't have time—not even during worship hours—to waste on the long song. Three stanzas are plenty and two would be better. Is that why our Sab­bath school superintendents sometime sug­gest that we sing the first, the second, and the last stanzas of a song? Well, nobody hears the announcement, at least not many. Those who do hear it may forget it by the time they reach the third stanza, so they sing the third stanza when they should be singing the fourth. Those who do remem­ber start singing the fourth stanza as they should but by that time the people who did not hear the announcement are sing­ing the third! It is then that the vocalized confusion begins. One part of the audience is singing the third stanza, the other part is singing the fourth. The ones with the loud­est voices win! It is confusion compounded. It does not make for reverential worship at all.

Now the solution of the whole thing is, of course, to sing all the stanzas of all the congregational songs. Then there is no problem. I have a letter before me from a young musician in Detroit, Michigan, writ­ten just a few days ago. He asks, "Did Mrs. White tell us how many stanzas of a given song should be sung during a worship serv­ice?"

Well, Mrs. White does not spell out such specifics. The Ellen G. White counsels do, however, present principles that should govern public worship services. These in­clude reverence and order in worship and praise and gratitude to God. The dis­order produced by the bad habit of emas­culating sacred songs by chopping out the very heart of the song-poem should not be tolerated. I have a few ideas that I would  like to share.

Steps Out of a Stairway

First of all, let us think through our skip-a-stanza habit. Really, why should we skip any part of a song?* It only takes a minute to sing it, more or less. Why be­grudge that joyful minute to the saints? Eliminating stanzas from song-poems may destroy the message and damage the struc­ture of the song-poem. To illustrate: See Church Hymnal, song No. 328 (not page 328; the page numbers and song numbers are not the same!). This lovely song be­gins: "At first I prayed for light." The next stanza starts with, "And next I prayed for strength." The third stanza: "And then I asked for faith." The fourth stanza begins, "But now I pray for love." And the fifth stanza, "And light and strength and faith Are opening everywhere." And the song concludes with "God waited patiently until I prayed the larger prayer." But we don't have patience to wait until the song is sung!

How can a congregation get the message of a song like this unless all five stanzas are sung? Each of the five points of thought is like a division of a preach­er's Sabbath morning sermon. In fact, the song is a musical sermon in itself.

Another illustration is found in the Church Hymnal, No. 272, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord." Each of the four stanzas, if the reader will observe carefully, devel­ops a different way in which God may have His way in the Christian's life. Each way suggests a new and different development in the sanctification process. To eliminate one stanza is like taking a step out of a stairway. How can people help but stumble over a breach like this! And may I say, it is a breach also of worship, order, reverence, and dignity.

Note also No. 273, where Francis Ridley Havergal develops the idea of surrender. In stanza one, "Take my life, and let it be . . ." In stanza two, "Take my feet, and let them be . . ." Stanza three, "Take my lips, and let them be . . ." Stanza four, "Take my will and make it Thine . . ." Stanza five, "Take my love; my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store." Then the sum of it all, "Take myself, and I will be, Ever, only, all for Thee." Isn't it a little short of a crime to divorce one of these stanzas from the total hymn prayer?

Manhandlers of Sacred Things

I appeal for totality in the song-worship phase of the Adventist sacred service. It cheapens the service to cut out song stan­zas. It sounds as though we regard our Adventist "ritual" as expendable. It leaves the impression that we are irreverent, man-handlers of sacred things. Lutherans, Epis­copalians, Presbyterians, Catholics, who worship with us and observe these indig­nities, are offended and don't come back. I am not a ritualist. I abhor too much cere­mony in divine worship, but I believe there is a place for some, and I think that it adds to the order and dignity of the serv­ice if we allow time for reverential and joyful singing.

And while we are on the subject of music in Adventist meetings, I would like to sug­gest humbly that I think we have reached the place where the song services that we conduct prior to our regular meetings—that is, before the Sabbath school, Sunday night evangelistic services, et cetera—should be exposed to a new treatment from our congregations. It is the duty of church leaders to ransom this phase of the Adventist worship service from the unhappy role it too often occupies a mere time consumer; a sort of filler in the worship chapter of the church. How often we hear the singing evangelist say, "Well, people are late coming tonight; let's sing an extra song or two."

Epaulets on Shaky Shoulders

And why cannot we remove the "song service" cliché from our worship vocabu­laries? These two words make some people feel and see red. They know that during this five to ten-minute lull we are just mark­ing time until the real program starts. To them the "song service" is a plug, a mere occupier of space until the really good things begin. This is unfortunate and un­dignified. Why not glorify the "song serv­ice"? Give it a name, depending upon the kind of meeting. Call it something special like "Hymnsing" or "Songfest" or "A Sing With the Saviour," or "Worship in Song." Give the "song service" a new twist. Let it be well planned. Make it a part of worship. But whatever you do, graduate it. Give it a diploma. Put some epaulets on its shaky shoulders! Give it rank and title!

Now, I can speak only as a layman on this subject. I am not a professional. I am not even an amateur singer. But I know how to carry a tune. I know good music when I hear it, and I know bad music. As a minister I know something about pul­pit courtesy and manners, and I think we are positively discourteous to God, to the angels, to the congregation when we per­petuate some of our careless practices in song-worship ethics. Let's declare wart Let's go all out to win over our people to a more thoughtful, worshipful spirit in our use of sacred music.