Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The New Song

for the Essentials In Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

Singing is an important part of corporate worship. It’s easy to do together and when a song is familiar, everyone can join in.

There is another aspect to song termed in Scripture as the “new” song. We have been given a gift: “the capacity to respond to the present work of God with a heart song that is fresh, immediate, current, renewing and rebuilding – a song that is pleasing to the One we worship, and by extension is a strength to our souls.” [1] Most often we are a part of the corporate song, but the new song gives wings to what God is doing in this moment and allows a fresh response to His goodness and love in our lives. Most important of all, God must be the source of the new, fresh songs, not the culture.

For too long, now, culture has been given the reigns of creativity that once belonged to the Church. Instead of the Church leading in creativity in just about any arena, the culture has become the one to set the standard and to define what is popular and what is not.

As a worship leader, I have the opportunity to change the tide in small ways within the sphere of influence that the Lord gives me. Jesus “has moored His worship…in human civilization” [2], and we are asked to be vessels of His redemptive power at work within each of us to bring healing and wholeness to the culture, to the world around us. We don’t do this by mimicking culture; rather, we do it through catching God’s heart, delighting in who He is, and releasing the sound of the Lord to the earth through whatever gifts and talents He has placed within us.

1 Dan Wilt, "Exploring Our Roots: The Contemporary Worship Movement", Inside Worship.
2 ibid.

No comments:

Post a Comment