Odd things we sing 5 - What the Lord Has Done In Me (Hosanna)

I thought there was something slightly odd about this one when we sung it a few weeks ago and, having sung it again last week, I think I’ve worked out what it is.

Let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Let the blind say, "I can see"
It's what the Lord has done in me

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again

Yep, fine, brilliant. (“Hosanna” - a Hebrew expression meaning "Save!" which became an exclamation of praise back in ye olde bible times. The people shouted it as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey.)

Into the river I will wade
There my sins are washed away
From the heavens* mercy streams
Of the Saviour's love for me

After a little bit of searching through biblegateway, I’m guessing (feel free to enlighten me) that we’re talking about the River of Life mentioned in Rev 22, and/or the River from the Temple in Ezekiel 47, and/or the image of baptism. Again, no problem with that, as long as we all know what we’re talking about.

(*momentary side rant: please get your punctuation right! In this particular context neither heaven’s nor heavens’ makes any sense. Okay, I’m a pedant. Why do we tend to write song words with inadequate punctuation? It can make all the difference between perfect sense and abject confusion.)

I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God
I will sing salvation songs
Jesus Christ has set me free

Okay, fine with that image too (although, if we’re being pedantic, as is my wont, perhaps we might prefer an image involving God reaching down into said waters deep with his saving arms and lifting me out, rather than me somehow learning to levitate. I digress.) - at least in isolation.

I think what I’m getting at is the mixing of the water images:
v2: river of life - providing purity, life, health, etc - definitely a good thing.
v3: waters deep - symbolic of something negative/dangerous/threatening that we need saving from - or at least that’s how I read it - am I just reading it wrong?

Mixed metaphors can be confusing, but this one’s interesting because it’s almost the opposite problem: applying one metaphor (water) to two opposing concepts in one song.

All this really to highlight the following: songwriting technique is so important, and never more so than when songwriting for other people to sing in corporate worship. I think everyone needs to understand the words which are coming out of their mouth before they can truly use them to worship God. That means not just packing in all the Bible images you can because they sound good. It means not drowning people in archaic imagery and christianese. (We’re so used to singing about lambs and shepherds that we forget that the average punters (including ourselves) aren’t that au fait with ancient Hebrew shepherding practices. And don’t get me started on refining processes - is there some kind of underground smelting culture in our church which I’m unaware of?!**) It means using your creative talents to construct clear and helpful images which inspire awe of God in people and worship to him. It takes hard work and practice to craft a decent set of words (I know, and I’ve only ever written songs for one person (me) to sing, which is infinitely easier than writing for a bunch of people!).

I’m not writing this series just to bash songs I don’t like. In fact, I love a lot of these, and I‘ll say again that I have the greatest respect for those gifted songwriters who can produce the wonderful songs that we sing. But because songs and songwriting are things that I care about, I tend to get bugged by things which could be done better. Keep striving for excellence people, and don’t give up!

J

**Okay, I nicked this particular observation from Nick Page’s excellent “And Now Let's Move into a Time of Nonsense”.

The Shack vs Mark Driscoll

Over the last couple of days I’ve been following some interesting discussion stemming from a couple of facebook posts by Matthew Henderson (pastor at my old church in Aberdeen) which link to articles talking about the theology and ideas put across in William Paul Young’s The Shack.

It’s been very interesting, the responses ranging in subject from bits of heresy and poor theology to how parts of the book have helped and encouraged individual readers, to the difficult balance between exact theological accuracy and artistic creativity, to some commentators utter disbelief that anyone could take any word in The Shack seriously.

I enjoyed the book as a whole, and found it helpful in thinking through some interesting ideas about the nature of God, some of which I agreed with, others which I didn’t. Perhaps the biggest issues in my mind are that it doesn’t really portray the holiness (or “otherness”) of God that well, and the general impression that sin isn’t that much of a problem (see Tim Keller's post here for more on this).

In one of the comments posted, this little talk from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church was highlighted. Now, I’ve heard a few of his sermons from time to time, and on the whole I like a lot of what he says. And on this one I generally agree with what he’s saying: that Christians not being sure of what they believe is a big problem. But I found myself disliking the way he went about it - he tends to present very bald statements in a “take it from me” kind of way while his audience (how many of whom have bothered to read the book?) chuckle appreciatively in the background. I don’t like the way in which he condenses long discussions and ideas down to pithy accusations. Here’s a few examples, along with my slightly peevish responses :o) :

“The book is about the trinity” - well yes, but primarily it’s about grief and loss.

“It’s graven imagery” - (minor tangent: nice to see you’re quoting from a nice modern translation of the Bible, completed in 1611) - I don’t know, but I don’t think the author is suggesting we go out and start worshipping big black women. So what about all other works of fiction that seek to suggest something about God? What about music and songs? Artworks? I heard a quote somewhere recently that said something like “It’s a shame that the evangelical church is so suspicious of interpretation and creativity, except in the sermon every week.”

“It’s goddess worship” - eh? I think you’d be hard-pressed to come to this conclusion from the book - it makes very clear that in this story (a work of fiction no less), God happens to choose to reveal himself to Mack in this way (if you don’t know the book, the God-the-Father character reveals himself to Mack, the main character as a large african mother-figure with the name Papa) because it’s the form to which Mack will best respond at that time - in another part of the book he appears as a father figure. Interestingly, the Bible refers to both masculine and feminine qualities of God (as you might expect, given that both human male and female are created in the image of God), but generally refers to him as, well, Him.

“It’s modalism” (that is, the belief that the trinity is one, but acting in 3 different capacities (modes, I guess) when the fancy takes him) - “Papa says: “I am truly human in Jesus”.” - Actually, my overall impression from the book was of three very distinct characters, yet somehow all one - which seems a reasonably fair reflection of how we generally (try to) understand the trinity. In any case, you could equally read the above quoted sentence in the form “I (the three-in-one Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit) am truly human in Jesus”.

But the one that really annoyed me most of all was his opening statement:

“How many of you have read the book The Shack? ...(hands up)... if you haven’t, DON’T”

WHAT?! What kind of useless advice is this? How can we possibly hope to engage with any of these issues from a position of ignorance? We should be reading it AND ALSO weighing it up against scripture to find its holes and inaccuracies. Since the book is out there in society already, perhaps we should be making use of it to challenge and engage with people (both affirming the helpful ideas and countering the bits we’re concerned about) rather than indignantly picking holes in it.

So pastors, please keep teaching the sound theology, but how about teaching the rest of us how to weigh up things like this against the Bible and to counter them ourselves. As Mark implies, the major problem itself is perhaps not so much the book itself, but its widespread undiscerning acceptance as truth.

But I think it’s equally dangerous to create a bunch of followers who can now counter an argument in favour of The Shack with one-liners such as “It’s goddess worship” without having bothered to read the book and weigh it up against scripture themselves.

Spleen vented. Thank you. What's everyone else's take on The Shack?
J

p.s. please stop shouting at me - the amount of my agreement with your sermon is not related (in a good way, at least) to your decibel level.

Odd things we sing 4 - Amazing Grace (v6)

“The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine”

- one of the original verses of Newton’s great hymn - not one of the ‘traditional’ four that we normally sing, but resurrected for inclusion in the new Chris Tomlin version.

Anyone care to comment on exactly what this means, and where I might find it in my Bible? Alternatively, do you think it’s just a metaphor describing the most solid and stable things we know as tenuous and shaky compared to the constancy and steadfastness of God’s love for us?

I’ll gladly join in singing it again once I understand what it means. Till then, it makes me uncomfortable...

J

Odd things we sing 3 - From the Inside Out

I was reminded of this one when we sang it the other day. I really quite like this song. We very nearly picked it for our wedding service, but eventually decided against it. I think it might be something to do with these lyrics from the 2nd verse (full lyrics here):

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise

Now, I’m pretty certain I know what they mean: it’s about humbling ourselves, putting God in first place ahead of ourselves, forgetting about our own wants for a while as we give God glory.

Yet for me it still has something about it that makes me stop before singing this verse. Maybe it’s only me who sees it this way, but the first time I sang this song, I took these lines as implying that we should be aiming to lose ourselves in some kind of zen-like trance while worshipping God. Which doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

People experience meeting with God in all kinds of different ways, but I believe we are to do so fully engaging our minds just as much as we might engage our senses. God made us intelligent thinking beings, and cutting that part out of our worship experience just seems wrong to me. True worship comes as a response to understanding what God has done for us, and that involves using our brains.

So there you go, a serious point out of a misunderstanding of some slightly ambiguous lyrics :o)

Odd things we sing 2 - Days of Elijah

Right, well, the purpose of this series is not just to slag off other people’s songs, but to try and explain (or guess) what the writer might have been getting at, and if I’m going to criticise, to do so in some semblance of a constructive manner.

Post no.2 is Days of Elijah by Robin Mark. This is one that went through a phase of being sung all the time, then through an equally protracted phase of being rejected and denounced by everyone (wrongly, in my opinion). Here’s the words:

These are the days of Elijah,
Declaring the word of the Lord.
And these are the days of Your servant Moses,

Righteousness being restored.

And though these are days of great trial,
Of famine and darkness and sword,

Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
'Prepare ye the way of the Lord!'



Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call;

Lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee,

And out of Zion's hill salvation comes.



These are the days of Ezekiel,

The dry bones becoming as flesh;
And these are the days of Your servant David,

Rebuilding a temple of praise.

These are the days of the harvest,
The fields are as white in Your world,

And we are the labourers in Your vineyard,
Declaring the word of the Lord!

There's no God like Jehovah.
There's no God like Jehovah!

In Nick Page’s wonderful book “And Now Let's Move into a Time of Nonsense” (you should all read it, especially if you’re at all involved in worship leading or songwriting - humorous, relevant and useful), he talks a bit about being careful of putting too many obscure biblical references into a song - and this song is the worst offender - The Source music book has something like 17 different scripture references at the top of Days of Elijah’s page.

And I quite agree - songwriters should be making sure that our songs are readily accessible and understandable by the majority of those who might sing it, and worship leaders need to be choosing songs in the same way (as well as being true, relevant, edifying, etc).

But this is one song that, I think, has been unnecessarily vilified, because the theme of the song is actually dead simple. Here it is:

In the past (“those days”), God did lots of amazing things (through unextraordinary people like you and me).
Now (“these days”), God is still doing lots of amazing things (through unextraordinary people like you and me).
“Those days” are “these days” - there is no discontinuity in the work God is doing.

Or, even more simply: God worked. God is still working. He used ordinary people like Elijah, Moses, Ezekiel, David then. He uses us now.

So worship leaders, use discernment when picking your songs, absolutely. But if you’re quibbling over a song like this because you think people might not understand, then take the time to learn what the writer meant, and take 20 seconds before you sing it to explain what it’s about. Everyone wins.

Odd things we sing 1 - Hark the Herald

Okay, so maybe you keep track of the meaning of what you say already, but I find it easy to get sucked into a song (particularly if I know the tune and words well) without really thinking, or indeed understanding, what it really means. Occasionally, I happily sing along with something and I’m like “What the heck did I just sing?! Would I have ever said that phrase in real life if it didn’t have a tune to go with it?” So here’s an attempt to pull apart some of the things we sing without thinking about it, and put some of those words into plain English.

First up, that Christmas classic, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. I like this song. I love belting it out with hundreds of people at Christmas time. But lyrically, it’s incredibly dense, and because it’s so old (Charles Wesley, 1739) has some turns of phrase which might not be readily deciphered at the speed at which we sing it...

(normal words here for comparison)

Listen! Messengers from Heaven are bringing amazing news:
A king has been born - one who deserves praise and honour!
He will reign on Earth with peace and mercy,
And provides the way by which God (set apart, perfect, will not tolerate the presence of sin, holy) and humans like me (broken and sinful, however hard we try) can be reunited.
All nations and people can share this joy, not just the Jews - we are now included in his chosen people!
Come and join in this triumphant celebration;
Sing along with the angels: “The Saviour of all mankind has been born as a human baby, and in a run-down slum in some dead-end town.”

This saviour is not some lowly messenger from the lowest ranks of the angels,
But is the ever-lasting God himself, loved by the whole of Heaven, and is himself above all things.
He comes into the world when it had just about given up all hope (there had been silence from God for 400 years before this),
And he comes in the unlikeliest of guises: a baby born to an unexceptional teenager - though in this case extraordinary - a pregnant virgin.
Come and see the full enormity of God: Father, Song and Holy Spirit, invading our world in a small bundle of weak and needy human flesh - Deity crammed into the earthly.
He comes to live with humans as a human himself. And he does so not grudgingly, but with pleasure - it was his choice all along.
Jesus is the light of the world.

Give honour to the Prince of Peace, who has come to us from Heaven.
Give praise to the one who is holy and perfect, who is the source of all light and life,
And who alone has the power and authority to heal our sinfulness and suffering.
Although he is all-powerful, he willingly lays down his power for a while, and gives up all his rights.
He is born so that people like you and me are no longer trapped by sin and death, but we have life again, and even after we die, will one day be raised to new life with him in Heaven.
Listen to the angels singing: “may the King of Earth and Heaven be given all the glory which is due to him!”

Christmas is pretty big, isn’t it?