Music travels through time. It carries whispers from souls long gone, allowing us to feel what they felt. When those whispers come from the earliest Christians, the connection becomes something sacred.
The collaboration between historian John Dickson and worship leaders Chris Tomlin and Hillsong’s Ben Fielding represents something unprecedented in Christian worship. Together, they’ve breathed new life into what scholars call the Oxyrhynchus hymn, the oldest surviving piece of Christian music complete with notation.
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Dating to the late third century, this ancient Greek hymn predates the next known notated Christian music by six hundred years. Let that sink in. While most ancient music remains forever silent, this rare papyrus fragment allows us to hear what our spiritual ancestors heard.
Their new worship song, aptly titled “The First Hymn,” serves as a bridge across seventeen centuries. It connects Sunday worshippers with believers who gathered in homes when Christianity still existed in the shadows of the Roman Empire.
What makes this project particularly significant is how it marries rigorous historical scholarship with contemporary worship sensibilities. Dickson brings academic credibility while Tomlin and Fielding contribute their gifts for creating music that resonates with modern congregations.
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When we consider the dangerous world in which the original hymn was composed, its survival seems almost miraculous. Christians faced persecution, yet they still created beauty. They still sang. The Oxyrhynchus hymn wasn’t preserved in some grand cathedral but in the dry sands of Egypt, waiting to be rediscovered.
For today’s believers, this musical resurrection offers something profound. Faith traditions often struggle with balancing innovation and preservation. This collaboration demonstrates how both can coexist. The ancient melody and text provide the foundation, while contemporary arrangements make it accessible to modern ears.
The project raises fascinating questions about authenticity in worship. What does it mean to sing words that Christians sang nearly two millennia ago? How might it reshape our understanding of worship to realize that certain melodic patterns and lyrical themes have endured since Christianity’s earliest days?
Beyond its theological implications, “The First Hymn” represents a remarkable cultural preservation effort. So much of ancient music has been lost forever. Each recovered fragment helps us understand how music developed through the centuries.
For congregations that adopt this hymn, there’s something powerful about joining a musical tradition that spans nearly the entire history of Christianity. The song becomes not just an expression of personal faith but participation in something that transcends time.
Perhaps what makes this collaboration most valuable is how it challenges our modern assumption that newer always means better. The Oxyrhynchus hymn reminds us that beauty and truth have always been present in the Christian tradition, waiting to be rediscovered by each generation.
In an age of disposable culture, this ancient hymn invites us to slow down and consider what endures. When we sing melodies that have survived for seventeen centuries, we’re reminded that some expressions of faith transcend cultural moments.
The faithful who first sang these notes could never have imagined their music would one day be heard in vast auditoriums or through digital devices across the globe. Yet through this unlikely collaboration between a historian and worship leaders, their voices sing again.
