Are we too dumb to sing hymns?

So, interwebs, I'd like to ask you a question. Are we to dumb to sing hymns? Let me rephrase that... Can the average church goer process the deep theological "meat" often found in hymns, worship God for these truths, and be changed by these truths in the time that it takes for a congregation to sing 5 verses of 'Amazing Grace'? My answer in short is: I'm not sure. BUT I'd like to suggest that people might prefer not to sing hymns not only because the style of the music is not as popular nowadays, but because it takes less brain straining to sing something more contemporary. Contemporary songs are easier to understand because the subject matter in the song usually isn't as deep as that of a hymn.

Speaking of Amazing Grace, lets take a look at the verses.

Verse 1 
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found. I was blind, but now I see.

Verse 2 
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believe.

Verse 3 
The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures.
He will me shield and portion be, as long as life endures.

Verse 4 
Through many dangers toils and snares I have already come.
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

Verse 5 
When we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise then when we'd first begun.

Now since you probably didn't read through those verses (bc you saw they were in italics and you thought to yourself, "I've sung this song a thousand times... I don't think I'm too dumb to sing all of them") I'd like to encourage you to re-read them as if you were reading them for the first time. Think about what they actually mean, not just how nice and poetic they sound.

I'm going to be honest, I was tripped up by verse 2. I think my thought process was something like "uh... grace taught my heart to fear?.. Fear what? oh yeah, God obviously... Grace my fears relieved... obviously I dont have to fear evils of the world b/c God is on my side... but maybe I don't have to fear God's punishment bc of grace? Could go either way.. I like the second interpretation better... Fits with the first line better...
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed... ok now we are going back to a conversion moment... I guess that works with the first two lines... I was taught to fear God because of grace, I was taught that I don't have to fear God's wrath because of grace, and when I realized these truths, grace is even more precious."

Please excuse the disjointed rambling above...

My point is that even with a hymn as familiar as Amazing Grace, there are a lot of truths being discussed in a short period of time and even after having sung the song for my whole life, I had never internalized the truths that verse 2 was talking about until I took the time to read it line by line. I don't think I'm the only one to experience this either...

Here's another example from the same song -

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine.
But God who calls me here below, will be forever mine.

Ever wonder why the Gray Psalter doesn't include that verse and adds its own verse 5... which Newton didn't even write? Well, it's because the Christian Reformed Church (the publisher of the Gray Psalter) doesn't believe that the earth is going to dissolve like snow, or that the sun will forbear to shine. The reformers believe that all of creation is going to be reformed, redeemed, and renewed.

So in the short amount of time that it takes to sing 5 verses of Amazing Grace we have discussed a conversion experience, the fear of the Lord, the faithfulness of God in regard to the promises in His Word, experiencing trials in life and overcoming through God's grace, and Eschatology. There is a lot of deep theological truths going on in there... but is it to much for the average church goer? I don't think so. But I do think that it is more difficult for someone to internalize a song like this over a song like Chris Tomlin's Your Grace is Enough. Is this bad? Maybe...

Have we de-intellectualized church? Have we over-emotionalized it so much that when we sing about theological truth we don't even realize what we're singing rather we just get lost in the music?

I think that exploring the effect that postmodern art has on what we sing in church would provide insight for my original question: "Are we to dumb to sing hymns?".

Stayed tuned for my next post "Postmodern Hymnity (is that even a real word?)"