Christian worship declared Karl Barth, “is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in life”. Worship is the occasion when we become truly alive, when we humans, made in the image of God, begin to fulfil the very purpose of our existence by relating to God who made us. It is the moment when we are caught up into heaven itself and join with the multitude around the throne, singing the praises of God and the Lamb. Worship is the business of heaven. In worship we anticipate the day when, in the words of St Augustine, “We shall do nothing other than ceaselessly repeat Amen and Alleluia with insatiable satisfaction”.
Sadly, my experience is that worship in many churches is dissatisfying, it is frustrating, it is downright disappointing. God does not break in, but boredom breaks out. That is why many people no longer go to church. It’s not just traditional worship which people find boring for much contemporary worship can be equally boring. What has gone wrong? First of all, worship has become centred on ourselves: the emphasis is upon our feelings. Secondly, much worship has become effectively entertainment and consumer-oriented, where the focus is on the singers and the band, and not on God. The focus has switched from giving glory to God to making the ‘punters’ feeling good. Thirdly, much worship has lost its direction. The sense of movement implicit in some traditional orders of service has been abandoned and little of substance has been put in their place. Many ministers have abdicated their role of leading worship and handed it over to the band, without realising that there is a great difference between playing songs and leading worship. If worship is to be truly satisfying, if worship is to lead us into the presence of God, if worship is to provide inspiration for living, then there must be structure and direction.
In this context let me reflect on what the Apostle Paul wrote about worship. For instance, he wrote to the church at Ephesus: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5.19). He wrote to the church at Colossae: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude to God in your hearts” (Colossians 3.16).
When the Apostle Paul used the word ‘psalms’ he had in mind the psalms we find in the Book of Psalms, which down through the ages have been used in Christian and Jewish worship. In the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches as also in Jewish synagogues, the singing of psalms has meant chanting psalms. As I know from the time when two of my sons were choristers at King’s College, Cambridge, this can be very beautiful and can help to lead us into the presence of God. However, only a small minority of people today appreciate classical music, and therefore we must find other ways of singing the psalms. One way of doing this has been to sing psalms in the form of a hymn: for instance the 17th century version of Psalm 23, which begins:
The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; he leadeth me
The quiet waters by.My soul he doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for his own name’s sake.
But for people who live in towns and cities, this imagery can have little meaning. Hence Christopher Idle, an Anglican vicar, updated the imagery in the following way:
The Lord my shepherd rules my life
And gives me all I need
He leads me by refreshing streams
In pastures green I feed.The Lord revives my failing strength,
He makes my joy complete;
And in right paths, for his name’s sake
He guides my faltering feet.
When the Apostle Paul used the term ‘hymns’ he meant ‘festive songs of praise’. However, within Christian churches today hymns refer to formal songs of praise which are to be found in hymn books. Over against the Psalms in the Old Testament, which were written before Jesus Christ came into our world, many of the great hymns focus on what God has done for us in Jesus. So we celebrate the birth of Jesus by singing hymns such as “Silent night” or “The first Nowell”; we celebrate the death of Jesus by singing hymns such as “O sacred head, sore wounded” and “There is a green hill far away”; we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus by singing hymns such as “Jesus Christ is risen today” or “Yours be the glory! Risen, conquering Son”; we celebrate the Ascension by singing hymns such as “Alleluia sing to Jesus, his the sceptre, his the throne” or “Come and see the shining hope that Christ’s apostles saw”.
When the Apostle Paul wrote the word “songs” it was just another word for songs of praise. However, today in many churches songs refer to contemporary expressions of praise. Some of these songs have become classics such as “There’s no greater name of Jesus” and “Sing alleluia to the Lord”. Others are somewhat ephemeral, which churches sing for a while and then move on to other new songs.
Inevitably the psalms, hymns, and songs, have changed over the centuries. Yet the principle behind the Apostle Paul’s words remains true: viz. there needs to be variety in worship, and that worship should be focussed on God.
Thanks Paul, like you I regret the abdication of pastors from choosing the hymns/songs, but also think one of the problems is that often the only context for worship is Sunday mornings.
I’m thankful to have grown up in a church where there were different opportunities for worship:
Sunday services, where the BCH was used, then superseded by the BHB.
Once a month after the evening service, we had a fellowship hour when we sang from Sankey’s and were free from ministerial control, which we generally enjoyed, as well as carols at Christmas.
In Sunday School we sang from the Sunday School Hymnary, with a new hymn sheet every year for the anniversary, as well as the Sankey S S & S occasionally as a special treat. ( I was given my first SSS&S book by my maternal grandparents for Christmas before my 6th birthday), and then youth praise for us as a young people’s group after the evening service.
It is an impossible task to try to achieve satisfactory worship for everyone on a Sunday morning, and the common practice in Baptist churches seems to be a top of the pops style worship, always on the look out for the new and novel.
I believe a ‘classical’ approach which seeks quality scripture based songs from Christian tradition, old and new is more helpful.
I think however, the most vital issue is that if as we sing, God’s spirit takes us out of ourselves and moves us to genuine release and worship. When I was converted at age 17, all the hymns and songs came alive to me in a new way, and they continue to bless and sustain me.