When and Why We Stopped Singing about Heaven, and How to Start Again

American evangelical churches aren’t singing about heaven as often or as well as they used to. And this isn’t just my personal opinion. As part of a larger research project, I compared two large selections of worship songs. The first selection was the most commonly sung congregational songs in the United States from 2000–2015; the second group was the most commonly published congregational songs in the United States from 1737–1960. Among many similarities, one difference was striking: the topic of heaven, which once was frequently and richly sung about, has now all but disappeared.

This article begins by tracing examples of the differences between these two groups of songs and offers some explanations for the changes. Troubled by what these changes indicate, I conclude by exhorting local churches to continue to sing about heaven.

WHAT’S CHANGED

To begin, consider the different ways believers sing about the presence of God. In broad strokes, traditional American hymns describe our journey toward God’s presence in a future, heavenly home as a pilgrimage from a fallen city toward a celestial one, much like John Bunyan’s story, A Pilgrim’s Progress. In contrast, much of Contemporary Worship Music (CWM) refers to God’s presence as a current and near experience.

A brief comparison of songs from each period demonstrates this difference. William Williams’ 1745 hymn, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” refers to being a “pilgrim” (verse 1). It asks God to lead “me all my journey through” (verse 2) until he would “land me safe on Canaan’s side” (verse 3). The chorus to John Cennick’s 1743 hymn, “Jesus My All to Heaven Has Gone” repeats, “I’m on my journey home to the new Jerusalem. I’m on my journey home to the new Jerusalem.” And the old well-known Irish hymn “Be Thou My Vision” prays, “May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun.”

Perhaps the clearest example of a pilgrimage hymn is Samuel Stennett’s “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.” In the opening line, the believer describes his present location as “stormy” and looks toward the “fair and happy land” of heaven. The second verse develops the theme: “O’er all those wide extended plains shines one eternal day; there God the Son forever reigns, and scatters night away.” Stennett then contrasts this fallen world with the blissfulness of the world to come: “No chilling winds or poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore; sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more.” The final verse strains to see God’s presence as a distant reality: “When I shall reach that happy place, I’ll be forever blest, for I shall see my Father’s face and in his bosom rest.” You can almost feel the ache, the yearning for what’s promised and hoped-for, but not yet seen.