Sydney Carter used to call those of his songs that might be appropriate in a service "carols" rather than "hymns".

"This is a book of carols. I call them that for want of a better word...I base my claim not on what a carol is, but what a carol was, and what it may become again. Historically speaking, you could say that a carol was a dance before it became a song, and a song before it got in a hymn book.

That applies, almost exactly, to the words and music which are printed in this book. Some of them are sung as hymns, but before they got to church, they were sung in other places. They were written down as songs, but they are the product of a kind of inner dance, earlier than songs or music. That, perhaps, is true of any kind of song." (From introduction to Green Print for Song.)

Sydney Carter always has something good to say on most things. The only trouble is knowing when to end the quote, because the rest of the introduction is just as apposite.