The Hymn I Love to Hate: What Wondrous Love Is This?
A sacred musician’s comedic rant on the hymn ‘What Wondrous Love Is This’ - its history, shape-note roots, and why it drives me up the organ loft.
Marcus, the VR Worm and My Musical Pet Peeves
My latest internet favorite meme has been Marcus; the strange worm-like VR creature. My first introduction to him was a video where he was confused about how a campfire works, and he then spends the time fixating on a rock he doesn’t like, repeatedly saying:
“I don’t like this rock.” - Marcus
I also have things I do not like - rocks don’t generally register for me, but this one particular hymn is the “rock” I do not like. Each time it comes up on the rotation, I, in my own Marcus voice, saying to myself:
“I don’t like this
rockhymn.”
It’s not rational, much like Marcus hating random rocks. I just don’t like it. The rock, being… the hymn: What Wondrous Love is This.
The Rock I Don’t Like: Enter ‘What Wondrous Love Is This’
I warn you, this post is going to be controversial. This should be the ultimate rage-bait for sacred musicians and clergy. Read this hate piece on ‘What Wondrous Love Is This’ if you want to rage. I am going to be open with my opinion.
Last week for the morning service, I had the unwelcome experience of playing the hymn I hate. Thankfully, due to scheduling, attendance and the preceding evening having a special visit from the bishop, I only needed to play one verse of this hymn.
Take a listen for yourself, and listen to me eking out the melody out for the few and faithful so they can have some melodic support. Watch me power through my least favorite hymn, What Wondrous Love Is This, with every ounce of reluctant sacred musician energy:
As I previously stated, I don’t exactly know why I don’t like this hymn, so maybe I decided to write this piece to at least be rational in my hatred. My first exposure to it when I was beginning my career as a sacred musician was the beginning, back in 2009. I had a hard time playing it - and that was on piano.
I thought, perhaps, over time maybe once my musicianship skills improved, I would enjoy it more - but nope. The overt simplicity of the line, the dirge feel to the beat, the minor key and repetition of the lyrics do not lend to my appreciation of the hymn.
A Hymn from the Campfire Era (Literally)
I’ll try to keep an open mind and/or, at the very least, be an educated hater. Let’s dig into the history of this hymn to determine if there is anything rational to me hating this hymn.
This hymn crawled out of the early 1800s American revival movement - the camp-meeting (campfires again! Marcus!), shape-note-singing, everyone-wailing-in-Dorian-mode era. I tried doing the shape note singing for a hymn sing with the Rev. Dr. Josh Inman, and I just felt like an idiot - because I am woefully unskilled at shape note singing.
Shape-Note Singing and Early American Chaos
Folks in rural congregations who still wanted to sing parts despite not knowing sheet music often knew what to sing based on shapes. This was called shape note singing. I’m not good at it, so maybe that’s another reason I hate this hymn. I guess I can appreciate the ingenuity of shape note singing to allow congregations to sing in parts. This is typically how it turned out:
The text first popped up anonymously in an 1811 Virginia hymnbook and later hit it big when The Southern Harmony (1840) paired it with its now-haunting folk tune.1 Nobody really knows who wrote it, but some tried to pin it on a Methodist guy named Alexander Means, which hymn nerds mostly roll their eyes at.23
From Bar Tunes to Pews: How the Melody Evolved
The melody itself probably evolved from an old English ballad (“Captain Kidd”) - meaning people were repurposing bar-tunes for Jesus long before anyone complained about electric guitars in church. It’s got that modal, mournful drone that makes you feel like you’re trudging through a swamp of guilt and grace.
Thematically, it’s peak frontier Christianity:
“I was sinking down”
“Christ saved me”
“now I’m gonna sing forever.”
That’s… most contemporary American worship teams today. Raw emotion, little subtlety. Over time, it spread across denominations and became a Lent favorite - though personally, you could argue it’s less “wondrous love” and more “existential dirge with bonus repetition.”
Why It Feels Like a Dirge (and Why That Bugs Me)
But, with that, perhaps that’s why I don’t like the hymn very much. There’s a lack of complexity that comes with spiritual growth, what Christianity means to those who are part of the faith. Maybe every single hymn doesn’t need to be complex, but if it’s not, maybe it can at least have a couple more intervals that are beyond perfect fourths (at least not paired with so many minor thirds).
An Educated Hater’s Closing Thoughts
If this is your favorite hymn and you have a particular beef with me, great. You know how to annoy me now. Just place yourself in earshot of me and sing this hymn loudly at me. If you are reading, I pray that we have no beefs, and/or, if you do, that you are tone-deaf. Thanks for reading and I hope you at least got a chuckle… And if this is your favorite hymn, you may know a little more about it now. Until next time!
Hymnary.org entry — https://hymnary.org/text/what_wondrous_love_is_this_o_my_soul_o_m
“History of Hymns: ‘What Wondrous Love Is…’” (Discipleship Ministries) — https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-what-wondrous-love-is-this
“What Wondrous Love Is This Hymn Story” (Healthy Spirituality) — https://healthyspirituality.org/what-wondrous-love-is-this-hymn-story/
There porch singing made me think of the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. Ps I actually do love this song. But only skillfully sung!