What kinds of hymns will future generations sing? Those people with the pop tunes believe their effusions will become classics. They are mistaken. Future choirs will find them as cringeworthy as we find this antique horror from my high school days. You can tell that video wasn't made in 1968. Girls in religious schools in 1968 were not allowed to wear skirts that short. Nuns in particular were very strict about it: I heard Stories.

So what hymns will people sing when Earth is just a memory and they're out among the stars? I'd like to propose this one from the highly controversial 1975 edition of the Baptist Hymnal.

Hymn #20: God of Earth and Outer Space

Tune: Aberystwyth

Meter: 7.7.7.D.


God of earth and outer space, God of love and God of grace

Bless the astronauts who fly, As they soar beyond the sky

God who flung the stars in space, God who set the sun ablaze,

Fling the spacecraft thro the air, Let man know your presence there.


Words: Thad Roberts

This is a cool hymn. Another stanza says, 'God of man’s exploring mind, God of wisdom, God of time. . .' What's not to love?

A lot, according to bloggers. One snarkmeister called it 'The worst hymn ever written'. Pah. They are clueless. But it's true: God of Earth and Outer Space was apparently one of the many reasons the 1975 hymnal was replaced in the early 1990s. (Most people just stuck to the 1956 edition, anyway.)

Alas, I cannot find a performance of God of Earth and Outer Space to share with you. Obviously, these people are too self-referential, humourless and totally pompous to appreciate a hymn about astronauts. (But they'll sing stuff like this? Go figure.) Just wait: someday, somebody will appreciate this hymn. And they'll fix the gender issues in those lyrics somehow.

God of depth and God of height, God of darkness, God of light,

As man walks in outer space, Teach him how to walk in grace.

Another Space Hymn

There's another space hymn in the 1975 hymnal. It's Declare, O Heavens, the Lord of Space, to the tune of All Creatures of Our God and King The second verse starts like this:

Launch forth, o man, and boldly rise

Beyond our planet pierce the skies,

Boundless venture! Alleluia!

I don't know why they aren't complaining about that one, but I think it's a goody. Just think: they almost sang 'to boldly go where no one has gone before.' Fabulous.

No soaring flight can e'er outrun

Truth God has shown us in his Son,

Alleluia!

I suspect Buzz Aldrin might like that hymn. Here's Snopes.com's fact-check on the Lunar Communion story. Since those Houston Presbyterians still celebrate 'Lunar Communion Sunday', I think they'd like this hymn, too.

Hilarious Addendum

While researching today's entry, I ran across this very opinionated blog. The blogger didn't nominate God of Earth and Outer Space as 'the stupidest hymn ever written': that honour went to some anti-Muslim verses by Charles Wesley. (He wrote 6,000 hymns, there are bound to be clunkers in that oeuvre.) But some commenter did. I included the link because the commenters came up with dreadful hymns from their various church traditions that I thought you might enjoy.

And now, I'm going off to see if it's actually possible to sing 'A Mighty Fortress/Ein' feste Burg' to the tune of 'Light My Fire'. What a great idea. . .