Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. – Isaiah 42:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 14, 2013): Isaiah 42

The church seems to be stuck in its ways. I am not speaking of certain doctrines that we have seemed to allow to creep into the church that are more traditional than biblical – but we do have some sacred cows inside the Christian Church that are crying out to be made into Holy Hamburgers. But even in our non-biblical traditions we are in a rut. I recently attended an Advent Chapel at an educational institution and left with the firm idea that they thought that the traditional Christmas Carols, most of which were written within the last 500 years, were way too contemporary, and so they searched and found carols that were older – or were newer and written in a style that made them appear like they were straight out of the 12^th Century. It is an old argument that I have spoken to a few times in this blog.

With this in mind, and a sermon to be preached on “Joy to the World” tomorrow (Isaac Watts who wrote “Joy to the World” and many other hymns in our current hymnbooks was criticized all throughout his life for his hymns which were categorized as being too secular and spent way too much time and effort on presenting a “pretty tune” rather than “theological lyrical content”), it seemed appropriate to drag out the issue one more time. We need both the old and the new in our lives.

Maybe we need to be reminded that in 1952 a mainline Christian denomination took steps to ban a song that they considered to be both “artistically and morally bankrupt.” The song was starting to be sung in the denominational churches and leadership decided that they needed to nip this practice in the bud and publically ban the song from being sung; thereby protecting the people sitting in the pews from being influenced by this ungodly song. The song in question was “How Great Thou Art” which had been released to English congregations in 1949. Today, most of us are glad that the protectors of the music lost the battle and that “How Great Thou Art” won.

But part of the problem is that the new and the old seem to approach God differently. I often hear about the good theology of the hymns versus the non-existent theology in today’s Contemporary Christian music. But the argument is wrong. First, not all old hymns are examples of great theology. Often what attracts us to them is that they are familiar, not great theological content. But secondly, it is also not that the contemporary music lacks in good theology (although I readily admit that there are contemporary songs being sung in our churches with really bad theology), it is just that contemporary music attacks theology in a different way. What made sense and was part of the experience three hundred years ago (or even forty years ago for my Gaither fans) is not how the writers view their experience today. The songs are written out of the writers personal experience with God – and that is what makes the song a praise worthy of God. They are simply an expression of what God has done in me

And that is the point that Isaiah (as well as a number of Psalms) are trying to make. How is it that you can have an experience with the living God and not have the experience shape what you are singing? For some, that means writing the new song that comes from the heart and is an expression of the way that you are experiencing God in your life. For others, it is finding the song that most clearly expresses your experience with God – and when you find it, it shouldn’t matter whether the song is old or new.    

But Isaiah would issue this imperative – find the song. If God is impacting your life, sing the song with every fibre that God has placed inside of you. It has never been about the tune – the song you sing is simply your expression of the life God has placed inside of you. And that will always be what truly makes the song special.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43