Anabaptist Hymnody: 500 Years of Singing
On Jan. 19, 2025, faculty from the music and Bible departments at Hesston (Kan.) College led a public celebration of Anabaptism at 500 with a hymn festival that featured student choirs and community singers along with audience participation. The hymn festival also coincided with the release of the Anabaptist Community Bible, with a MennoMedia staff person on hand to introduce the project and the product.
On May 24, during the Hesston College Bel Canto Singers spring tour, there was a reprise of the hymn festival at Zion Mennonite Church in Hubbard, Ore.
Introduction
Michele Hershberger (Bible) opened the Jan. 19 event:
Welcome to the Anabaptism at 500 Hymn Festival, as presented by the Hesston College music department.
This is one of several events commemorating the Anabaptist movement, born 500 years ago, almost to the very day. Starting in a farmhouse in Switzerland, a small group of ordinary people like you and me defied their government and baptized each other, beginning a church free from state control. The tremendous effects of that moment, January 21, 1525 – the gravity of that moment, as thousands were martyred – cannot be adequately expressed.
[Those first Anabaptists] gave us the gift of believers’ baptism, a commitment to read the Scriptures through the life of Jesus. They gave us a church free from state control, and a commitment to peace and justice, a commitment to nonviolence.
So we commemorate this gift. We don’t exactly “celebrate” this event, because this birth came at a cost. We broke fellowship with other Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, in order to start this movement. May those relationships continue the healing process.
The gifts continue with the creation of the Anabaptist Community Bible. And ordinary people just like you and me helped create this book. We gathered in small groups as the early Anabaptists did and pondered the meaning of the text in community.
The Anabaptists believed in the word “community,” and now we will sing our faith – a way to practice community. Please pray with me:
God of the Bible, God of our ancestors, God who is with us even now and here – we thank you for your faithfulness to the church.
We thank you, Spirit, for what you did 500 years ago, bringing revival.
We thank you for how you moved among us to build Mennonite colleges here in Kansas, to plant churches, to serve others in times of need. You have been on the move.
And you still are. Help us, Spirit, to catch your movement, to join you as you do a new thing.
Strengthen us, embolden us, that we may, like our ancestors years ago, do your will – even if it costs us our lives.
Thank you for Ken Rodgers, who has done so much for this day. Thank you for MennoMedia and their work to bring us a new way to interact with the Bible. Thank you for our students who bring us gifts of passion for you.
Lord, keep moving among us. Open our eyes so we may see how to join you, how to become part of your new gift.
In the name of Jesus we pray,
Amen.
500 years of hymns
Ken Rodgers (music) gave the historical narrative that traced the evolution of hymns and texts central to Anabaptist worship over the past 500 years and, along with music faculty member Russell Adrian, led the following journey through Anabaptist hymnody:
An Anabaptist hymn sing could take many different paths. We might look at the various hymnals Anabaptist groups have used over the centuries [or] at how specific groups have either adapted to the broader society or remained within certain traditions. Another road might follow the theology of the songs used by congregations over the years. While all wonderful and interesting roads, one afternoon cannot cover them. Rather, this [hymn festival] will look at the roots of early Anabaptist hymnody, consider how these were used or at times lost, and note how the tradition is being renewed.
Music, and more specifically singing, is an important part of most religions. Singing involves the first and most intimate instrument – the human voice. Even before recorded history, we can imagine singing being an important part of how humans connected with the divine. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, we see this most directly in the Old Testament book of Psalms, with its variety of songs to help people express to God their praise, petitions, confession and, at times, anger to God.
[In 2025,] we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the first re-baptisms that sparked the Anabaptist movement, sometimes called the Radical Reformation. Mennonites, Amish, Mennonite Brethren, some Baptists and dozens of other groups within the free-church tradition trace their beginnings to this theological stream.
MARTIN LUTHER
While Jan. 21, 1525, marks an event in which several fervent believers gathered for Bible study and were convicted to baptize each other as a symbol of their faith, it certainly didn’t start with one day and time. We can rightly state that there were Reformations happening on the European continent, from Jan Hus a century earlier to Martin Luther, whose reforms took hold in Germany and northern Europe. The conditions in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century were ripe for change, and there were people at the right time and place for them to take hold.
ZWINGLI STATUE
In Zurich, the city council hired Ulrich Zwingli to bring the new ideas of church reform to the city. While Luther might be more known as a hymn writer and proponent of congregational singing, it is actually Zwingli who was probably the most musically educated and the most adept musician of all the church Reformers. I find it fascinating that Zwingli, who loved and wrote music, nevertheless relegated music to the home. The Swiss Reformers threw organs and music out of the churches, focusing almost entirely on preaching [in church worship].
However, some of Zwingli’s followers were frustrated by the perceived slowness of reforms and disagreements over the involvement of the state in church decisions. Their act of rebaptism marked a break with Zwingli and set them on a collision course with the state church. The Anabaptists’ focus on Jesus’ teachings, especially the Sermon on the Mount, called for radical love and discipleship.
FELIX MANZ
Among those young believers was Felix Manz. Imprisoned for being an Anabaptist, he was drowned in the Limmat River, which runs through the middle of Zurich, a mere two years after the first baptisms.
DROWNING ADDITION
From Manz, we have one of the earliest Anabaptist hymns – “I Sing with Exultation,” #444 [in Voices Together (VT), the 2020 Mennonite hymnal]. This text exudes the kind of joy only true followers of Christ can find. In this hymn, the last line refers to being sealed in “baptism true.” For Manz, that certainly meant the baptism he claimed, but perhaps foretold the baptism of martyrdom, as he was drowned for his beliefs at the age of 29.
MENNO SIMONS
As persecution quickly met the young movement, believers fled Switzerland and Germany for other parts of Europe. In the Netherlands, a Dutch priest by the name of Menno Simons converted to the movement and became an important, steadying pastor to the scattered flock.
There are two extant hymns from Menno. One is about the children of Israel being delivered out of slavery in Egypt, and the second is a call for the true body of believers to be people of peace – “We are People of God’s Peace,” VT #797
MENNO with COMPLETE WRITINGS BOOK
Mennonite hymn writer Adam Tice has translated the ideas of one of Menno Simons’ best-known quotes into the next hymn. Menno wrote, “True evangelical faith does not lie sleeping, for it clothes the naked, it comforts the sorrowful, it gives the hungry food, and it shelters the destitute.” Tice combines this with the tune of an African-American spiritual in “The Church of Christ Cannot be Bound,” VT #392.
MARTYRS MIRROR BOOK
In the 16th century, refusing to be part of the state church, whichever church that might be, was often punishable by death. The stories of those willing to die for their faith in following Jesus as they believed necessary were written down, often in the form of songs. The two main sources for these songs were a large Dutch publication, the Martyrs Mirror of 1660, and the German Ausbund of 1564. The Ausbund was initially a collection of songs written in the Bavarian city of Passau. These were mainly ballads that told the stories of persecuted people and how they were encouraged in their times of trial and even death.
“Who Now Would Follow Christ,” VT #576, captures the essence of these songs from the Ausbund. Originally 27 stanzas long, this hymn captures the belief that truly following Christ means to bear the cross and eventually enter into eternal life.
It is noteworthy that not until the 13th edition of the Ausbund was a known publisher listed, pointing to the fact that it was a book that was banned by authorities for 243 years. That the Amish still sing from it today attests to its continued relevance for certain Anabaptists, and makes it the oldest continuously used hymnal in the world.
ANABAPTIST PRINT
Annelein, a woman from Freiburg, Germany, wrote a 13-stanza hymn included in the Ausbund. Part of this hymn can be found in Voices Together, #630. Annelein was imprisoned for her faith and sentenced to death. It is said that this text was spoken at the time of her death, after which she voluntarily submitted and was drowned and afterward burned. The setting of her hymn in Voices Together, “Everlasting God, on You I Call,” is by two Mennonite women, writer Susan Naus Dengler and composer Anneli Loepp Thiessen.
SINGELKERK, AMSTERDAM SANCTUARY
As persecution waned and Anabaptists became accepted as part of the religious fabric of society, the martyr hymns fell into disuse by many parts of the church. In the Netherlands, religious freedom allowed church buildings to be established, albeit hidden from the street in the early years. Mennonites, or Doopsgezind as they are known in Dutch, were among the first to have organs in their church buildings. (The photo is of the sanctuary of the Singelkerk in Amsterdam.)
It is perhaps only natural that music of other Christians began to find its way into Mennonite worship. The Dutch Calvinist tradition of Psalm singing remains an important part of Dutch Mennonite worship. German Mennonites, including those who later migrated into modern-day Ukraine, brought the strong tradition of chorale singing that originated with Luther. “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” VT #126, a hymn beloved to many Mennonites, was originally a German Catholic setting of the 4th-century hymn “Te Deum laudamus,” one of the oldest hymns in our hymnal.
HARMONIA SACRA
For Anabaptist groups immigrating to the American colonies, instruments were not as readily available. They developed a strong tradition a cappella singing, often printed in shaped notes to make it easier to sight-read the music. The Mennonite music publisher Joseph Funk published his Genuine Church Music, later called the Harmonia Sacra, in 1832. It included hymns such as the familiar text “How Firm a Foundation,” VT #592.
The 20th century opened the eyes and ears of the church to new types of music. During the American Civil War, new music came in the form of war ballads, often with catchy refrains such as this one: “Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching/Cheer up comrades, they will come./And beneath the starry flag/We shall breathe the air again/Of the free land in our own beloved home” – which after the war became “Jesus loves the little children.” These set the foundation for gospel songs that reflected deep personal piety, with a simple tune and often a refrain. In fact, the 1927 Mennonite Church Hymnal was sent back to the committee because there weren’t enough songs with choruses – in other words, the people in the pews wanted more gospel songs.
Missionary societies led to Anabaptist congregations being established around the world. The next hymn comes from Brazil and, like the Psalms, reminds us to sing new songs to God: “Cantai au Senhor” (O Sing to the Lord), VT #113.
PILGRAM MARPECK
The 1969 Mennonite Hymnal renewed interest in finding ways to include early Anabaptist hymns in modern worship. That continued with Hymnal: A Worship Book in 1992 and is even more prevalent in the 2020 Voices Together hymnal. Many times these are setting of newly translated text and tunes. The next song, “Jesus Christ is Love Divine,” VT #749, was inspired by the writings of Pilgram Marpeck, an important South German Anabaptist leader. The text and tune are by Nathan Greiser, a Mennonite pastor in Pennsylvania.
MENNONITE WORLD CONFERENCE HYMNAL 1978 ????
Western Mennonites’ exposure to the global church has meant encountering non-Western music. The 1978 Mennonite World Conference Songbook was an important step in learning to sing music by brothers and sisters around the world. One such song heard at that conference (held in Wichita) is “God Loves All His Many People,” VT #767.
GOD LOVES ALL HIS MANY PEOPLE
At last count, I have been in around 450 Mennonite/Anabaptist congregations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe, as well as in Uganda, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. What I can tell you is that the music sung is as varied as the people on the planet. Indonesian churches often sing contemporary Christian songs translated into Indonesian. European congregations love trying gospel music. And so on.
This is something celebrate. Our songs need not be narrow, but should be conduits of our praise, petitions, confessions and, yes, sometimes our righteous anger.
We leave you with a new benediction song from Japan, “May the Peace of Christ,” VT #843.