Hear and BIMS

While a number gathered for the Martin Top Bible Study last night, others from Barnoldswick were enjoying the benefits of a ‘Beer and Hymns’ event in the town square:

Come and join us for a very informal evening of community singing featuring some Assembly bangers, favourite hymns and beer (other beverages available)

No preaching. No pressure. Just a good sing-along

No preaching. A little different to our Bible study where we hope to find out exactly what God’s word teaches. Yet I am all in favour of community singing, and hymns have the best words and often the best tunes of all our music. The organisers claim that:

Hymn singing in pubs began in the 18th and 19th centuries when some lively hymns and carols, unsuitable for formal church services, became popular at local gatherings. Each pub or village often sang them in their own way. Today, communal hymn singing and assembly bangers are making a comeback at festivals and social events.

As an amateur church historian, I cannot say I have ever come across this before; there was usually antipathy between chapels and pubs, and between publicans and formal religion. Dissenters thought alehouses to be places of ill-repute and godless living; Anglicans thought them useful but vulgar. Rudimentary research suggests that the concept is not quite so ancient, but has its origins in the Greenbelt festivals of the mid-2000s.

Although I would far sooner be in a Bible Study that a beer-swilling hymn-fest, I hope those attending were kept dry, enjoyed themselves and actually thought about the wonderful lyrics they sang. I also pray they start believing those powerful words; one can often squeeze more truth out of a good hymn than a dull sermon.

Many weary years I vainly sought a spring,
One that never would run dry;
Unavailing all that earth to me could bring,
Nothing seemed to satisfy.

Drinking at the Fountain that never runs dry,
Drinking at the Fountain of life am I;
Finding joy and pleasure
In abounding measure,
I am drinking at the Fountain of life.

-Haldor Lillenas (1885-1959)

Let beer be for those who are perishing,

    wine for those who are in anguish! Proverbs 31:6, NIV

Image by Alexa from Pixabay