Writer yearns for those rural hymns of old

When's the last time you heard an old-fashioned hymn sung? "These days, many churches have turned to 'praise choruses' -- songs that employ simple, repeated words of praise rather than the more poetic, penitent language of vintage hymns," Randy Speck of Albany, Ky., writes on his Notorious Meddler blog.

"I have watched hymn-singing decline over the past several years. It is a big loss," writes our friend, left. But he puts it a lot better than we could: "The difference between the hymns and the praise songs is the difference between a sonnet and a greeting card. They don't have the depth and the poetic language that a song would have from the old hymnal."

Randy goes on to pay tribute to the great writers of hymns, one great singer of them (whom we both knew) and that old-time religion. Randy's writing is more than "good enough for me." To read his post, click here.