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Some of you know my song Before You God. It’s not an easy song to hear or sing. It’s a worship song. I wrote it to sing to the Lord. It is often critiqued as not being a “worship” song (especially on Facebook). Recently someone publicly posted that...
“this song has nothing to do with worship.” Well for me this song is EVERYTHING to do with worship. What they attempted to argue was that the Psalms preceded the Cross and everything was settled at the Cross. No more need to lament.
Personally I don’t want to write or sing anymore sad songs. I’d rather just keep up with the Kardashians. But I keep running into this little problem called life. It comes in all sorts of difficult forms and no amount of faith has successfully kept it at bay.
So I in turn have picked up my pen and guitar and have worked out the severe difficulties of my life in my songs, in my worship, in my friendship with God. At times I have even used language that specifies my pain. This seems to cause great offense among people who wish..
that nothing bad were true. I’m amazed at how many Christians view being honest about life as the same as being faithless.They are completely content to sing songs that,because of their vague faith language, say virtually nothing. But the anemic songs we sing in church affect us!
When we sing songs that are saying nothing, WE ARE SAYING NOTHING. If we don’t work some things out in our hymns we will be bereft of anything to hold on to when our belief system comes into contact with suffering and trauma.
Theology exists because not everything is settled. Poetry exists because not everything has been said. Songs that go beyond the current modern format of evangelical worship are necessary because you can only say “god is good” so many times before
someone is going to ask for qualifications. Songs that do philosophical work in the area of theology are ESSENTIAL if our faith is going to stand any kind of test.
If I might add a pointed critique, to say that everything “changed at the Cross” is to live in denial of all that hasn’t changed: people still suffer. Can you sing your worship song at the bed of the stillborn birth? Not every song should be so severe, but some should.
