Jem Kamran- Van der Leeuw, Hymn

Van der Leeuw seems to infer that that the church music during his time has lost its meaning because it does not provoke the same kinds of emotions in a church goer like it use to. Basically he is inferring that church music in his time had become boring and mundane. Since Van der Leeuw had written his book church music has gone through many revivals, it has become more contemporary and more relatable. There are as many genres of worship songs that there are in main stream media. Yet I have noticed that there is a shift in the younger generation at least in my church towards old hymns again. Today in church we sang both old hymns and some new worship songs written by artists of our generation. However when we were singing one of the old hymns, "Come Thou Mount of Every Blessing" a song written way before my time. I really felt what Van der Leeuw was talking about in his discussion on aesthetics of church music. I found myself disagreeing with him that old hymns have lost its vigor. To me the familiar words of the hymn moved me a lot more than the contemporary worship songs that we sang in church. As I sang I really could feel the song writers intentions behind the lyrics of the song. The familiar rhythm moved me more than the upbeat contemporary song. But it wasn't just me everyone around me seemed to be really into the song as well.