Tag Archive for congregational singing

One in Christ

2014-06-12 Congregational Song, Devotional with Hymn, Hymns No comments

This is the 20th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called–one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-5, NIV)

Communion was being served at our local church. Servers stood at the head of each aisle with a plate of bread and a cup. All the church rose and filed down together, waiting to receive the elements and hear the words, “This is my body. This is my blood.”

Being on the far side of the sanctuary, I looked across and saw all those people standing together, filling the aisles–people of every shape, size, and personality imaginable–the elderly and the children, the brilliant and the mentally handicapped, every background, every life situation, every problem and struggle. Each had been personally invited by Jesus Christ, and there they were all together, coming to Him.

What a stunning picture of redemption! For each of us, Jesus has become the bread and wine of life. We have come together in Him. We are one body and one Spirit in Him. We have been lifted to one hope. We cling to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is over and through and in us all.

Unity is largely unexplored territory for us. It is an undiscovered blessing. Let us pray that the Lord will burn into our hearts its possibility and its glowing promise. More and more let us see other people in Him. Let us react to them in Him and love them in Him.

Remember, this picture of redemption is just a glimpse of a day soon to come:

I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
          “Salvation belongs to our God,
          who sits on the throne,
          and to the Lamb.”. . .
They are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst…
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
          And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Revelation 7:9-10, 15-17, NIV)

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See Them Come
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Simplicity

2014-06-05 Congregational Song, Creative Process, Hymns No comments

This is the 19th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

When I sit at my desk, a large sign stares me in the face, shouting this reminder: Simplicity. It’s a reminder I constantly need. Simplicity is a discipline, and a challenging one. Yet it is vital to effective congregational song.

Congregational singing involves people from a broad range of ages, cultures, stylistic preferences, and personalities, all singing together. Most have little or no musical training and usually no rehearsal. Further, the music must be easy enough to be sung comfortably and naturally, leaving the singers free to focus on the words. The music must serve as a vehicle for the text.

What happens if the tunes fail the simplicity test? At best, the tune soaks up so much attention that the words are ignored. At worst, the singers grow frustrated and fold their arms in stony silence.

Often the problem is trying to use performance songs as hymns. Lacking the discipline of simplicity, such songs are more suited to be performed by a well-rehearsed artist than to be sight-read by a highly diverse, untrained congregation.

With performance songs, the leaders are counting on people’s ability to sing back almost anything they hear, no matter how complex. Go to an artist concert, and you’ll hear it happen. Fans will sing along with the band or soloist, no matter how intricate the song. But that doesn’t make the songs congregational. Devotees can join in songs they have heard many times. But what about the people not immersed in such styles? They cannot follow. They are left out. And eventually, the ever-changing music scene will leave the songs unsupported by constant recorded exposure. Complex songs, when not heard regularly, ultimately prove too forgettable.  Left unexposed, and by then out of style, most of the songs will die.

Hymns must cross barriers of time and culture to serve the diverse and enduring Body of Christ. Musical simplicity is a must.

Does that mean that the styles themselves are unsuitable for our hymnody? Do we have to abandon popular styles and limit our hymns to traditional styles? Absolutely not! Down through history the Church has regularly enriched its hymnody by adapting popular music. But our congregational songs must submit to the discipline of simplicity. Our hymns must appeal across cultural and stylistic lines, and they must endure beyond the recorded support provided by popular music.

If you are choosing and leading congregational songs, consider your entire congregation. The Church has a wealth of quality hymns in a wide range of styles. It may take some looking and careful thought to integrate them into your service. But approach the task prayerfully, and the Spirit will faithfully enable you to do what He wants you to do.

For you writers, accept simplicity as a creative challenge. Composers have usually had to write within the limits of their own situation. Such limits have often become a creative stimulus rather than a hindrance. Many great masterpieces have flowed from narrow circumstances.

No, it isn’t easy to compose hymn tunes that are expressive and musically interesting yet comfortably singable by a diverse group of untrained singers. Yet for two millennia now, the Holy Spirit has been helping Christian composers do that very thing. If you want to compose hymn tunes, do what successful composers have usually done:

  1. Prepare yourself musically. Learn the basics.
  1. Learn from the best. Go through a good, diverse hymnal and study the tunes that are the most expressive, memorable, and broadly-used. Note their use of form and repetition. Look at how they balance predictability and surprise. (Hint: many current congregational songs lack predictability and thus are too complex.) Immerse yourself in the finest tunes. Absorb their qualities.
  1. For now, forget being published and just write for your local situation. (Many of my early hymns were written for my Sunday School class.) Listen to how people respond to your hymns. Be your own toughest critic. Learn from your successes and your failures.
  1. Practice, practice, practice. Writing is like basketball or playing piano. It requires skills that come only through repetition.

Be bold! Write hymn tunes in a variety of styles. But submit to the discipline of simplicity. Keep the tunes easy and enjoyable enough for the Body of Christ to sing together.

The Singer’s Prayer

2014-05-29 Congregational Song, Hymns 2 comments

This is the 18th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.
This prayer is especially appropriate for soloists,
but it has truth for all of us who sing in church. 

Jesus, my Savior, thank You for the joy of singing for You. When I sing, I share Your glory. I stand in the beauty of Your presence, in the light of Your truth, and in the glow of Your joy and goodness.

But Lord, sharing Your glory so easily puffs up my pride. The temptation is subtle, yet so strong, to borrow Your glory and take it for my own.

When I fall to that temptation, my God, I deceive Your people. I give them myself, not You. I rob them of all that You could be to them.

So Jesus, I look to You. I pray for Your mercy and Your help. By Your Holy Spirit, by Your strength alone, Lord God, I make the following vow:

I will choose music that exalts You, not me.

I will sing to draw people to You, not to myself;
to You, not to the song.

I will approach each song
with prayer,
with gladness, and
with gratitude.
Whenever I sing, I will think of You.

In my song, Lord, You will be
the Alpha and the Omega,
the Light of the World,
the Glory of God,
the Way, the Truth, and
the Life.

You will be
the Prince of Peace,
the Bread of Life,
the Resurrection,
the Cornerstone,
our Shepherd,
our Savior,
the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords.

You must increase;
I must decrease (John 3:30).

By Your mercy, Lord,
keep me completely transparent.

For You alone are worthy to receive
power and wealth and
wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and praise! (Revelation 5:12)

By Your help alone, Lord.
Amen.

Prepare Yourself for Praise

2014-05-22 Congregational Song, Devotional with Hymn, Hymns No comments

This is the 17th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

We had a new minister of music, and changes inevitable. What kind of leader would he be? Would I enjoy his songs? What styles would he choose? Would the service be exciting?

But then I realized:

What we get out of corporate worship depends less on the worship leader, less on the level of excitement, and more on what we bring into the service.

We need to prepare our minds and hearts for worship. Without that, focus is missing. Our thoughts wander. Our hearts are far away. We get distracted. We become critical.

Lord, You have invited us to come before You together, as a people. Help us to come prepared, focused, longing, and expecting. Help us to come seeking You. You, Holy Lord.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: We Come Seeking You
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Sing of the Living Christ

2014-05-15 Congregational Song, Hymns One comment

This is the 16th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

I thank God for praise and worship songs. For millions of worshipers, these songs focus our minds on God and His greatness. They give us a new vision of Him. They encourage us to respond to Him in faith.

The praise and worship movement has been the work of the Spirit of God. Praise to Him for His faithfulness in drawing people to Himself!

I also love the old hymns. Charles Wesley has taught me more and stirred me more profoundly than any other hymn writer.

And I love the new hymns. For decades I have studied, sung, and enjoyed the work of Fred Kaan, Brian Wren, Fred Pratt Green, Timothy Dudley-Smith, and others.

But still, sitting amid the wealth of all this great hymnody, so much remains unsaid and unsung about the Living Christ. We have not yet expressed His full reality, and the human spirit cannot be satisfied with any less. Our songs about Him will always be incomplete. They will forever be a work in progress.

Believers are too varied in personality and culture. God is too great and too far beyond all boundaries and descriptions. His purposes are as broad as human need and as rich as His own life. He is determined to permeate every aspect of human existence, now and forever. Thus He cannot be captured by any song or any one body of songs. Every new movement within the Church makes its contributions but inevitably falls short of fully expressing God’s glory, His magnificent love, and the wonderful possibilities of simple faith.

The more we know Him, the more we long to sing of Him and lift Him up before others. We long to draw them to this magnificent, merciful, intriguing, tender, eternally lovely Jesus Christ.

This is the joy of singing, leading, and writing hymns. Our generation, our children, our grandchildren, and uncounted generations to come can know Him better if we fill our congregational song with the Living Christ.

Build to Last

2014-05-08 Congregational Song, Hymns One comment

This is the 15th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NIV)

Music is inherently appealing. Musicians, desiring to please their audience, tend to try to maximize that appeal. The more favorable people’s response to the music, the more the musician’s ego and/or pocketbook are fed.

So what has happened? Music is increasingly guided by the present tastes of the audience or congregation. Freshness and innovation are set aside. What is worse, the musician’s motivation, which at the beginning was perhaps to serve people for their good, is now to appeal to people for the musician’s own good. Sounds like a description of the popular music industry, doesn’t it?

We Christian musicians face the same temptation. We too want to please people. We too can become self-serving in our ministry. Instead of offering them what is valuable and lasting, we feed them temporary pleasure. Instead of communicating what is timeless and true, we simply stimulate their emotions. Instead of giving, we take.

How do we resist the pull of such temptations? Should we ignore the musical preferences of the people to whom we minister? Is that the answer?

No, it isn’t. As in all temptation, the key is to stay focused on the Father. That was how Jesus resisted temptation in the wilderness. Satan tried to turn His eyes away from the Father to look to His own needs. Jesus kept His attention on the Father. His connection with the Father was His strength. It is ours as well. Spend daily time with God. Keep your heart fixed on Him so that He is your guide, your inspiration, your enabler, and your only motivation. Stay tuned to His Spirit, and use all your energies to glorify only Him.

When we seek to appeal to people, we are easily sucked into fads. Our focus turns to the current taste, whatever it is. Such fads are a quick fix in the perpetual human search for true life with all its stimulations. Fads cannot touch the deeper, more lasting, more pressing needs. Their goal is pleasure. Their desire is to feel better, not to be better. Their focus is other people, not God.

This is not a condemnation of any particular style, be it contemporary or traditional. We all face this same temptation, whatever our style. We are all tempted to appeal to people, to entertain them rather than to minister to them. What begins as a means to a good end so easily becomes an end in itself, and a selfish one.

Stay tuned to Jesus Christ. Spend enough time with the Shepherd that You recognize His voice (John 10). As you listen to Him and live in Him, the Creator will create through you.

Innovators, and those who build to last, are not so much ahead of their time as out of their time. They are more free from the tyranny and narrow blindness of now. Instead, they are often driven by the most powerful creative force in our world: love.  God’s love working through us. Love leaves no room for fear, pride, or selfishness. Love longs to serve. Love gives itself completely to meet other people’s needs.

Live in Christ, and His love will grow in You—love for Him and love for people. His love will energize you and focus all your God-given abilities on life’s greatest goal and highest privilege: to glorify our Lord and draw people to Him.

Love never ends.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:8, 13, NRSV)

Treasure the Past

2014-05-01 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the 14th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

Here in my office are two old harmonicas. My great grandfather, William Asbury Graves, used to play them in his little church in Chariton, Iowa. As a hymn writer, I treasure these reminders of my musical heritage.

The harmonicas were passed on to me through my Uncle Melvin. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. On January 5, 1945, his ship was struck by a kamikaze plane and sank within an hour. He was picked up by another ship, which was then also sunk by a kamikaze plane. Within 24 hours, Uncle Melvin had had two ships blown from beneath him.

In the predawn darkness he floated and swam, sustained by a life jacket. I can only imagine the fears that swirled around him in those hours. But old hymns came to mind, and he began to sing. Imagine the deep meaning of these prayers as they welled up in his heart:

My Faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray;
Take all my guilt away.
O let me from this day
Be wholly Thine! 

May thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart,
My zeal inspire.
As Thou hast died for me,
O may my love to Thee
Pure, warm, and changeless be,
A living fire! 

While life’s dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread,
Be Thou my Guide.
Bid darkness turn to day;
Wipe sorrow’s tears away;
Nor let me ever stray
From Thee aside!
(Ray Palmer)

And:

Fairest Lord Jesus!
Ruler of all nature!
O Thou of God and man the Son!
Thee will I cherish;
Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown! 

Fair are the meadows;
Fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring.
Jesus is fairer;
Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing!
(Anon. German hymn; tr. by Joseph A. Seiss and anon.)

After several hours he was rescued by a destroyer escort. The skipper said that in the darkness, he had found Melvin because he heard him singing.

Such stories remind me that we didn’t get here alone. We didn’t earn the right to live in this country, worship in our beautiful, well-equipped churches, and enjoy such rich hymns. All these were gifts, a priceless inheritance received from so many who have gone before us. We cannot…we must not…ignore such a heritage. We cannot squander our inheritance and fail to pass it on to the next generation.

When you hold a hymnal, do you know what you have in your hands? It is the world’s greatest treasury of worship and devotion, outside the sacred scriptures themselves. In it you’ll hear the heart of the Psalmist, the faith of the early church fathers, the powerful witness of Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, the blind Fanny Crosby, and hundreds of others. Countless believers have sung these hymns and lovingly memorized them, finding them true to scripture and experience. They lived with these hymns and died with them, carefully passing them on to their children.

As each generation discarded some hymns and embraced others, the hymns in your hands were chosen and treasured, century after century. What an incredible gift! What a precious legacy has been lovingly placed in our hands by the generations of believers gone before us!

The witness of our generation is important. But it is so much more meaningful if it is added to the witness of all the generations before us. Don’t limit yourself to current songs. If you only use expressions of faith from our narrow slice of time and culture, you miss most of the rich truth available to you. You miss the discipline of other ages confronting us with differing viewpoints. You miss a broader perspective that stretches our narrowness and challenges our assumptions. Older hymns remind us of realities that we dare not forget.

In our diverse culture, with so many varied people hungry to find their place in this world, the experience of our forebears is relevant. Reach back. Enrich yourself and those to whom you minister. Don’t serve the same food meal after meal. A banquet of tasty, nourishing foods is available to you. Just open the pantry!

Sing as Members of the Body of Christ

2014-04-24 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the 13th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6, NIV)

When we sing hymns, we sing as members of the Body of Christ. As we receive God’s Word, as we respond in faith, as we praise our Eternal Father in song, we join with all members of Christ’s Body, stretching out through all places and all times. If we miss that unity, we miss one of the greatest blessings of living in Christ.

In hymn singing, let’s treasure the past. Cherish the witness of those who have gone before and now encourage us from that great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).

Let’s build to last. When future generations sift through what we’ve left behind, may they find hymns they want to keep—hymns that still express their faith and praise, hymns that transcend changes of style.

While we’re reaching out to those behind us and before us in the Body, let’s reach out to those around us now. In our hymn singing, let’s make the effort to include our varied brothers and sisters in Christ. With the mixture of ages and preferences in most of our congregations, that won’t be automatic. But Christian love demands it and will richly reward our efforts.

In the Friday blogs that follow, we’ll be looking more closely at each of these important ideas.

Jesus’ Relationship with His Father

2014-04-17 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the 12th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

We often think of the earthly Jesus as a superman, with power flowing from His fingertips. But that’s not how the Apostle Paul describes Him:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB)

Listen to how Jesus describes Himself:

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does…By myself I can do nothing. (John 5:19, 30, NIV)

“The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work…These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:10, 24, NIV)

It wasn’t Jesus’ own power that made Him what He was. He had emptied Himself of all that. He made Himself dependent on His Father, constantly and completely, for every word and action. Jesus was what He was by faith. His strength lay not in unique abilities but in His relationship with the Father.

Jesus longs to share that relationship with us. He wants us to have the same fellowship with the Father that He enjoys. He longs for us to participate in the deep love that flows unhindered among the Father, Son, and Spirit:

“I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:20-21, 23, NIV)

Study the life of Jesus. As you see how He lived, all through faith, the hunger will grow in you to share His beautiful, simple relationship with the Father. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all deeply desire to share that relationship with you.

To enjoy Jesus’ relationship with the Father, worship as He worshiped. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. Trust. Obey. Such a relationship is the reward and the fruit of worship—true worship that is not one hour a week but every hour; worship that is not just spoken or sung but lived.

The highest purpose of our hymns is to nurture such a relationship with the Living God. It is the key to our happiness and fruitfulness, now and forever.

The Greatest Commandment

2014-04-03 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the tenth in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

In our worship and in our living, what is most important to God? What does our loving Father want from us and for us? Jesus said it clearly:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40, NIV)

Loving Him completely, with all that we have and are — that is what our Father wants for us.

If loving Him is the sum and center of His desire for us, our hymns should have the same goal. Their purpose should help be to help us love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.

But let’s be specific and practical. What did Jesus have in mind when He said that life’s highest goal is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? Is He talking about wholehearted worship when we gather together? Is He urging us toward emotional freedom in our worship? Or does He mean something more?

Look at Jesus’ own life. He is our living example (John 13:15). We are to walk as He walked (1 John 2:6). How did He love His Father with all His heart, soul, and mind? By His words and His example, how did he teach His disciples to follow this greatest commandment?

Read the gospels. Read them hungrily, asking God to enlighten you. You’ll see that for Christ, loving God was far more than telling God how great He was. Worship was not an experience. It was a life. He loved and worshiped His Father through daily prayer, faith, obedience, self-sacrifice, holiness, and patient endurance. He prized His Father’s approval, not seeking His own will nor the praise of other people. Hearing and obeying the Father was His constant goal and source of strength.

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34, NIV)

For Jesus, the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) was a lifestyle. He sought only His Father’s glory, Kingdom and will. He depended on the Father constantly and completely. He forgave all who wronged Him, even His murderers, and He turned away from evil, keeping His eyes on the Father.

The life of Jesus teaches us the meaning of the word worship. Our church services are only the smallest part of it. Worship is 168 hours per week, not one hour on Sunday. Worship is far more than telling God how great He is. Worship is a full life response to Him. It is daily walking with Him in faith, love, and obedience.

That should be the goal of our hymn singing. Our hymns should help us worship as Christ worshiped and walk as He walked, denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily, and following Him.

Our hymns should also help us live out the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus said this commandment was very close to the first, and indeed it is. We cannot love God without loving and serving those He loves so much. Our hymns should encourage us and guide us to Christian relationships in our homes, our workplaces, our churches, and in our world at large.

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