Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts
to God. [Col. 3:16 ESV] Paul's
warning is clear: teach the truths of God's Word through what you sing.
I am not trying to minimize
the importance of sermons, but state the obvious: the songs we use in worship
have the advantage of repetition over a more extended period than sermons,
which are heard only once. Songs often connect truth with our thoughts and
feelings, especially during times of crisis. Just a couple of weeks ago, I
found myself listening to the Getty's song, "He Will Hold Me Fast"
over and over because of things going on around me. Like David's playing the
harp for Saul, the words and music spoke to me and helped me refocus on the
fact that God is in control, that He loves me, that He has a plan, and that I
can trust Him. Research has shown that thoughts and ideas linked to an emotion
are stored in a different part of the brain, which is why even senior adults
who have dementia can still sing songs they knew in church as a youth.
Earworms are melodies that
get "stuck in our heads," sometimes all day. We can find ourselves
repeating the earworm repeatedly, which can be very annoying, or not so much if
it is a song we like. If the lyrics to the earworm are not trustworthy in their
biblical message, then we reinforce wrong understandings of who God is and how
He works. For example, I know songs that invite God to come to those gathered
so that they might worship Him, ignoring the fact that it is God who initiates
worship and that His Holy Spirit permanently dwells in the believer. Such texts
instill false notions that somehow God is outside our place of worship and
won't join us unless invited, or worse yet, that God is not present until we
"feel" His presence.
Social media and the internet
have provided avenues of input for multitudes of new songs for worship, which
has the potential for great good. However, many of those composing the songs
have very little theological training and lack the filters to realize the
implications of what they have written. No one is questioning their sincerity
or honest desire to share their musical offerings for worship; the issue is
truth, not sincerity. A child could make some cookies for his or her parents,
but not notice that some dirt accidentally got into the mix. Regardless of the
love and sincerity of the child, the cookies still would not be healthy. More
than ever, the disciples of Christ must deepen their understanding of Scripture
so that they can recognize questionable biblical teaching in what is being
offered as worship.
We need to consider one more
aspect of using songs to teach biblical truth: repetition. No, not the songs of
7 words repeated 11 times, but the repetition over time in which the words and
music become part of a “canon” known by heart. Songs like "Amazing
Grace" can be sung from memory because it has become part of the canon of
our praise. One of the dangers of just singing new songs every week in worship
is that we will fail to develop a canon that we can remember in times of need.
In addition to becoming the theological filter, we need to be diligent in
developing our "sung canon" for worship. We need to ask the question,
what could we sing if all we have is what we know, no tech, etc. What songs of
God's nature, Christ's work, the work of the Holy Spirit, the church's mission,
or even God's Word would we know? We need to work to fulfill the mandate to Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
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