I’m on holiday this
week, and before you start thinking that I’ve so committed to the cause that I’m
writing this whilst drinking a glass of vino in the pool, I haven’t… I’m
writing it in advance, sorry about that! #sorrynotsorry
On Sunday morning we
sung the song ‘My Lighthouse’ – it’s a favourite particularly with the kids,
and has a great tune and some great lyrics. Have you considered it’s lyrics properly however? “My
lighthouse, shining in the darkness, I will follow you” – When was the last
time you followed a lighthouse? Surely you avoid them? Isn’t that the point?!
I need to thank some
comedian who came to Trinity a few years ago for pointing this one out, but as
I was preparing for Sunday’s worship, it got me thinking about other worship
songs and how we can often end up blindly singing them.
Paul Baloche is one of
my favourite worship song writers but really, is Jesus ‘like a rose, trampled
on the ground’? What does that even mean?
The hymns don’t get
away with it either – when was the last time you used the word ‘Potentate’? But
we often sing it in our churches (Crown him with many Crowns) without a second
thought. At least this makes sense (Potentate means ruler) but do we really
expect people to know what it means? We may as well be singing in Latin again.
When in Nailsea the
other worship leaders and I would often send new song ideas around for comment.
One of them suggested a song with the opening line “Oh Grace what have you
done, murdered for me on that cross” – I didn’t like it because I wasn’t
convinced it would inspire the right feeling for worship, but I was tempted by
it because it would, with language like that, make us to sit up and take
note of what we were singing.
How often do the things we sing pass us by without us really thinking about it?
How often do the things we sing pass us by without us really thinking about it?
I found this clip a
few years ago and used it one of my talks, I expect it will appear at St Paul’s
in the future….
If you can’t watch it,
then essentially it’s a naughty take on the way we might sometimes worship… it’s
changed some of the words of some songs to things like “I will sing of your
love on Sundays”, “I surrender some” and “I stand amazed at my hairdo”
It’s a little naughty, but
perhaps illustrates my point…. Do we need to think more when we worship, not
simply trot off the lines, but really use them as a prayer?
Some of my favourite
songs have lines like “spirit break out” or “break my heart for what breaks
yours” but what are we thinking when we sing this? Are we truly expecting God’s
spirit to break out? Are we trusting that it will? What would it mean if our
hearts were broken for the things which break His?
The Choristers prayer,
written in the 1930s got this right when it says “Lord, grant that what we sing
with our lips we might believe in our hearts” If we don’t do this, are we just
going through the motions. If that’s the case, really, what is the point?
I want to put the heart
back into worship (that’s a lyric I can agree with!) to sing what I mean and to
mean what I sing…. Will you join me?
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