Indelible Grace

I feel the great need to spread the word about the most amazing music movement. Indelible Grace is a group of people who are on a mission to put old hymn lyrics to new music. Contributors to the project include Matthew Smith, Sandra McCracken, and Derek Webb. The movement is somewhat tied with the Reformed University Fellowship so therefore also tied to the Reformed Church movement (think Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Church, etc). I'm not really in the state of mind to debate the Reformed Movement vs. the Evangelical Movement vs. the XYZyadayadayada Movement (But I'd love to discuss it over coffee with you...just let me know). All I know is that these individuals are incredibly talented at making God's word relevant. I find connection with their music because it has a sort of indie/singer-songerwriter/alternative country feel to it--something I enjoy in any type of music. I've always loved the lyrics in hymns. Here's an excerpt from Indelible Grace's "About Us" section:

But actually, this is not really a "new" movement at all! Up until the beginning of the 20th century, it was common for people to compose new music for each generation for many of the hymns that they loved. There is no rule that says each hymn can only have one musical setting, and in fact, hymnals are designed for you to be able to mix and match words and music -- that's why they have a metrical index. But unfortunately, we lost this tradition and got stuck in a more modern traditionalism of associating one particular tune with one particular hymn.

We believe that the words of a hymn actually have more emotional nuance
than one piece of music can adequately capture. Thus singing even familiar hymns
with different music can bring out shades of meaning that had remained
unnoticed. For instance, while the traditional music for Toplady's "Rock of
Ages" conveys the power and strength of the words, James Ward's more recent tune
brings out the sweetness and tenderness that is also part of the emotion in the
lyric...

We want to be a voice calling our generation back to something rich and solid and beyond the fluff and the trendy. We want to remind God's people that thinking and worship are not mutually exclusive, and that not everything worth knowing happened in the last three years. We want to invite the Church to appreciate her heritage without idolizing it. We want to open up a world of passion and truth and make it more that just an archaic curiosity for the religiously sentimental. We believe worship is formative, and that it does matter what we think. So, we hope this site will prove helpful in encouraging and nurturing a growing movement.

They couldn't say it better (go read the rest of their "About Us" section. If nothing more, it's educational). I truly believe it's important for the church (as in every church) to incorporate hymns somewhere in their worship. It reminds us that we are not the first to struggle, we are not the first to cry out, we are not the first to be broken, we are not the first to rejoice, we are not the first to love. Simply put: we are not the first. Our forefathers and mothers went through so many of these experiences and wrote beautiful and eloquent words that fully capture these emotions. Now it's our turn to interpret them and put them to music we connect with.

In any case, check out Indelible Grace. Check out Derek Webb. Check out Sandra McCracken. Check out Matthew Smith. The work these inviduals are doing for the church is truly stunning.

http://www.igracemusic.com/