I can remember growing up in a very traditional southern country church and noticing one Sunday that every song we sung never made it back to praising God. We sung about heaven and evergreen trees. We sung about ships and mansions. But I distinctly remember one Sunday never singing one song that addressed God at all. Now this is an extreme example, and I'm not bitter at all about it . . . :) But you see my point!
Truth is, there are waves of inspiration in worship music, we write what we are experiencing and frame it within the biblical story. During the depression, we wrote songs of hope and longing for the future when we wouldn't struggle like we do. Recently, we have written songs expressing the joy we feel was missing from the corporate worship.
In light of this, I agree that the element most missing in our worship is lament. Everyone goes through painful situations, divorces in the family, loss of loved ones, etc, etc, and there is very little to express that in our services. We tend to clean things up a bit in our offerings to God. But that shouldn't be the point, should it? God wants us to be genuine and come to him in the midst of our pain, our dark times. He wants our heart, broken or not.
As I read through the Psalms (our guide to "worship music" from ages past) and it seems that about 2/3 of the songs has massive elements of lament vs. 1/3 which are upbeat and positive. It seems to me that we have some writing to do! We need more songs that express our questions, confession of sins, and just simply "God, where are you?" Off the top of my head, I can think of only a handful that do this well: Deep Calls to Deep (being the only true lament I know), Healing Grace; Lord Have Mercy; Have Mercy O God (another Randy Gill original); Create in Me a Clean Heart (maybe?); and Blessed Be your Name.
I love the honesty in these songs. It doesn't clean up our spirituality, it leaves it messy. God is big enough to handle our problems AND our questions. Don't you think?
-chris
3 comments:
Oh my friend I think you've touched on something here. I agree about the songs direction from the past. However..I will have to be the first to say..(and others will agree) I don't know many of the old songs! However, the ones I do know tend to be more directed at the destination of 'where' we are going and not necessarily 'who' we are trying to be with at the end. I'm sure that I will be corrected on this statement here shortly...;o)
So here is the BUT....I believe that no matter what song we are singing, I think it is what is in our hearts that is important. Everyone has a different opinion of worship. Myself included. Does that mean if I sing 'Paradise Valley' that I'm more directed to a destination rather than my savior? Not really. Okay...really it depends on the day. Someday's...and more than others...I need the 'lament'.
The song I think of is 'Lord have Mercy'. This song touches my heart like no other. And another is 'Still'...or even "Lord You have my Heart". Oh goodness..there are so many I could name.
I agree with you somewhat and I think truly we need those days of lament. I have more and more lately. What if every morning started this way? Would the lives we lead be any different?
Found you on Brenda's blog... Great Post.
I think the God Bless America trend in worship is prevalent in the songs we sing, the books we write, and so forth. The truth is, God has blessed America, and it's time for America to bless God... no strings attached. And that last phrase is perhaps the hardest way to worship.
You guys did a great job at Gulfcoast Getaway. I really appreciate how you lead worship that is God centered and not Watershed centered.
About your post, a great book to read that addresses that is The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann. He has a shorter book called The Spirituality of the Psalms that addresses all you are talking about in your post. I would probably recommend reading the second book first. He breaks the psalms down into three categories:
1) Orientation
2) Disorientation
3) New orientation
Here is an excerpt - "It shows how the psalms of negativity, the complaints of various kinds, the cries for vengeance and profound penitence are foundational to a life of faith in this particular God...As children of the Enlightenment, we have censored and selected around the voice of darkness and disorientation, seeking to go from strength to strength, from victory to victory. But such a way not only ignores the Psalms; it is a lie in terms of our experience..."
He makes the point that our worship is often not genuine to the human experience. We have felt that psalms of lament are weak and show a lack of faith on our part. But really pouring our your honest, raw emotions to God and being real with Him is actually an act of faith because we go to the One who has the answers to the tough questions.
Keep searching Chris. Keep being honest with yourself and with God and who knows what God can do through your ministry. The song book of the Bible is full of lament so there must be something to it. I appreciate what you do. God bless
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