You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely. – Psalm 59:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 7, 2019): Psalm 59

The world is changing, and the pace of that change is not slowing down. It is hard to look at the way we used to live yesterday and have any idea what tomorrow might hold. We want it to slow down, let us get used to living the way we live today before it changes and once again moves beyond us. Often that is the political challenge of those who lead us. How can they lead us into the future that looks so impossible and different from the way that we live today? In the area where I live, up until the past decade, there were a few working coal power plants providing power to the region. But, now, they are gone. Coal is a technology that belongs to the past. We struggle, but usable coal is not likely to come back except in some kind of post-apocalyptic nightmare that none of us want to experience. Next to go might be our dependence on fossil fuels. We can’t imagine that in our current reality. We make fun of those who believe that we are moving toward total dependence on green and renewable energy; we complain about the projected cost of such a move, but it is the next logical leap – even if the costs and technology seem beyond possibility in the now. The world is changing, and the pace of that change is not slowing down.

Even inside the church, the pace of change is evident. It is not just that the songs that we sing are changing, but they are changing faster than ever before. In the church that I attend, we talk about the “shelf life” of a song. Not all songs come equipped with the same durability in our worship services. Some songs grow old and need to be changed out faster than others. We no longer sing just the old gospel songs of the past. We still sing the old hymns of the church and songs written by innovators like Bill and Gloria Gaither, but not with the frequency that we would have played them a decade or two ago. Even the songs of Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin have given way to other names and styles as new writers are being used by the Holy Spirit to help the worshipping church in its commitment to praise God.

The way we teach is different. I no longer stand behind a pulpit, but often share from a table and a chair that I use, at times, as I speak. When I started to teach, I was warned not to use too much-projected information. Maybe reserve it for just the scripture and the major points of the message. But now that has grown to more frequent changes and the use of images and even movie clips as we try to keep the attention of an audience with ever-shortening attention spans.

Everything seems to be changing. Even the way that we see and use the Scripture is changing. New translations try to bring the language of the Bible closer to what it is that we would speak in our daily lives. And we are correcting some of the biblical biases that might not have been well thought through in the past.

But, beyond all of that, we can agree with the Psalmist.  Amidst all of the stress that we experience in this changing world, God himself has not changed. He is still our strength and the fortress on which we can rely; the one in whom we can trust. And no matter how much this world changes, God remains our anchor, and we can sing his praises – even if we are using a new song to sing that praise. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 21