Captain Thin

A friend of mine linked this on Facebook earlier today. Basically, it’s one man’s rant about worship music. Among the things he criticizes are simplistic, repetitive, I-focused lyrics. But visit the site. The songs he’s “criticizing” might not be what you’d expect.

Link:  “Rant about Worship Songs”

One subject that is particularly dear to my heart is worship theology. As a bit of an amateur song/hymnwriter myself, I tend to pay particular attention to the “worship wars” which have divided large parts of Christendom, especially in my own Lutheran heritage.

One of the most frequent – and, frankly, often justified – criticisms of contemporary worship music (even when used in a liturgical framework) is that so many of the songs are theological weak or even plain wrong. In a discussion of the interpretation of Colossians 3:16, the author of Lutheran Hymn Revival (who, by the by, is a rather excellent poet) expressed his frustration that so many of the new songs the church now sings “do not have God’s Word dwelling richly in it so that we might teach and admonish each other.” I agreed with his sentiments, but continued, “I see this not so much a failing of a particular literary or musical style; it is rather the failure of the church to raise up theologically astute songwriters.” As the discussion moved to another post (Worship Wars: Bridging the Divide), he echoed my sentiments, wondering why Lutherans were failing to take up the challenge of composing new theologically strong music:

I know that every now and then we get a Presbyterian or Baptist who writes “Lord, ‘Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee,” or “My Hope is Built on Nothing Else,” or “In Christ Alone,” but what does it say of us today that we cannot put together music and hymnody that is better than all that? What has happened to us and what is our problem? Doesn’t this show a spiritual dearth among us?

I had no easy answers at the time. I still do not. But I have more hope that Lutherans are beginning to take up the challenge. Recently the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod held its first ever Lutheran Songwriter’s Conference. Michael A. Schmid has an excellent reflection on the event in this month’s issue of WorshipConcord Journal. In his words, “the intent was to gather Lutheran songwriters, to encourage and equip them in their craft, to engage in substantive discussion about theology as it pertains to worship songwriting, and then to challenge them to apply their art to blessing the church with Lutheran worship songs.” Let us pray that this truly represents the first steps in a serious commitment to “commissioning and creatin… worship songs with authentic confessional theology.”

Chantez à Dieu, célébrez son nom! Frayez le chemin à celui qui s’avance à travers les plaines! L’Éternel est son nom: réjouissez-vous devant lui!
Psaume 68:4 (Louis Segond [68:5])

Back when Concordia Publishing House (CPH) published LSB (Lutheran Service Book) in 2006, I attended one of the launch events here in Saskatchewan. The presenters praised the benefits of the new hymnal, and admittedly there were many. They praised many of the positive attributes of the new hymnal, such as the consistent pagination (a BIG improvement), and highlighted some of the excellent new songs. But one of the things they praised irked me immensely: the inclusion of many Spanish translations of songs.

Now let me be clear. It wasn’t the fact that the songs were offered in Spanish that bothered me. In fact, I think it’s an excellent feature. What bothered me was the total lack of French translations of hymns. The hymnal was a perfect fit for Lutheran churches in the United States, where Spanish is the most common second language. But it seemed to me (and to many others with me that day) that Canadian needs had not been considered in the creation of the book. Canada is, after all, a nation with two official languages: English and French. The implication seemed to be that what was good enough for Americans should be good enough for their Canadian counterparts. Needless to say, I left the hymnal launch that day frustrated and disappointed.

Recently, however, Rev. David Somers and Rev. David Saar of Lutheran Church – Canada / Église Luthérienne du Canada in conjunction with Concordia Publishing House have come to fill the void left by LSB. But they’ve gone further than just providing a few French translations of hymns. Their great work Liturgies et cantiques luthériens has recently been published by CPH. This new hymnal is the first French Lutheran hymnal published anywhere since 1975. And it’s being joyously received all over the world.

Visit LCC InfoDigest here for a few recent videos of Lutherans in Togo putting the new hymnals to good use.

You can purchase the hymnal from CPH’s website here.

Ancient words, chanted once in the depths of Roman catacombs,
Enchant us still and speak for us.
Where we would be speechless,
Be you the words upon our lips.
And let us cry out with fourth century Jerusalem,
Fifth century Rome, sixteenth century Wittenburg,
And twenty-first century Seoul, Abuja and Brasilia,
“Kyrie eleison!”

Ours is one voice, though many tongues;
Altered in form yet unaltered in meaning.
Here the Word speaks over us.
Here the Word speaks into us.
And we in return respond in unison.
With angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven,
With seraphim and cherubim, and all the saints quick and dead,
With the living creatures, and all the holy catholic and apostolic church,
Praise we the Name.

What is this text that survives centuries and cultures and civilizations?
What these words that they grip us still?
Are they not of human origin?
Human-crafted, yes, but drawn from divine logos,
And infused by the Spirit with his message,
A message that bids us come experience grace anew.

We do not speak these ancient words by mere rote.
We speak them by heart:
Reciting, repeating, reiterating changeless truths,
Until we at last we are drawn up from these catacombs
To join in undying worship with the faithful of all generations –
Those with whom we worship even now as we speak ancient words.

Mathew A. Block
November 8, 2009

“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” (Colossians 3:16)

I was reading an article at the Lutheran Hymn Revival website entitled “Optism: A Plea to Lutheran Pastors” by Mark Amberg Preus that discusses the importance of doctrinal strength in the music of the Church. [UPDATE: As of Oct. 18, the aforementioned post seems to have been taken down from the Lutheran Hymn Revival Site.] There’s some good things to think about there, but I had a few comments and concerns. Alas, Lutheran Hymn Revival only allows comments from Google and Blogger accounts – neither of which I currently have. What follows is the comment I intended to leave on the site.

I just stumbled across your site and I thank you for your voice in the blogosphere. I’ve had a chance to glance at your hymns and am quite excited to find strong theological content blended with similarly strong literary style – a delicate balance frequently missed in the current era.

While I sympathize with much of what you say, I must admit I’m always curious as to how people interpret Colossians 3:16. Most intriguing to me is your interpretation of “songs” as a particular type of “doctrinal hymn” – a suggestion that I have never come across in my own studies.

Kretzmann’s classic Popular Commentary (published by CPH back in 1921-1924) suggests that the three genres correspond as follows: “This can be done also by the use of psalms, the incomparable poetry of Holy Writ, hymns which are intended chiefly for use in church services, and spiritual songs, such as are more popular in form and content, but also tell of the wonderful blessings of God for our salvation.”

Now I’m not suggesting Kretzmann is necessarily right. In truth, I am doubtful that Paul actually intended to distinguish three particular “genres” of worship music at all. The fact is that the words for “psalm” “hymn,” and “song” utilized here are used in Greek to refer any number of musical/poetic genres. ‘Psalmos’ merely means something like ‘a tune played on a stringed instrument’ or ‘a strain or burst of music’ (Liddell and Scott). The word is derived from ‘psallo’ Grk. for ‘to pluck/twang’ (as on a harp). ‘Hymnos’ means a ‘festive song’ typically sung ‘in honour of gods or heroes.’ And ‘hode’ (transliterated ‘ode’ in English) is used to refer to all kinds of music: songs, lays, strains, etc. In the plural (as it appears Colossians) it can even simply mean ‘lyric poetry’ (something accompanied with music, but not necessarily sung per se).

Taken together the phrase “psalms, hymns and songs” would merely imply “all kinds of music”. The addition of the word “spiritual”, as you point out, restricts the meaning to “spiritual” or “religious” meaning. So we might read “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” to mean simply “all kinds of spiritual music”. This would make sense in the larger literary context of the verse as it then balances “all wisdom.” Thus, the verse could well be understood to mean something like the following:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing all types of spiritual music, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

In any event, I agree that whatever music we sing must be doctrinally pure. The imperative to “sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” is balanced with “teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom”… and all of this in the context of letting “the Word of Christ dwell in [us] richly.” Luther in his sermon on Colossians 3:12-17 reminds us that this means that we should be grateful (v. 15) for “preachers” who “handle the Word” and deliver it us. This Gospel Word delivered to us must forever indwell all we teach and all we sing.

This is the harvest, the crops full and ready,
Prepared by God’s hands and now given to men.
Render thanksgiving with hearts full of gladness
To God who in mercy brings harvest again.

This is the harvest, how fruitful the labour!
The fields have matured at our Saviour’s command.
Come, gather in all the sheaves and the produce,
The gifts God has brought forth from out of the land.

This is the harvest, the bounty exceeds us,
And we are blessed richly with more than we need.
Move us, O Spirit, to share this abundance,
The weakened to nourish, the hungry to feed.

This is the harvest, give thanks to the Father,
And lift up to Jesus a joyful refrain.
This is the harvest, give thanks to the Spirit,
To God who in mercy brings harvest again.

Mathew A. Block
October 11, 2009

In a follow up to the previous post, I want to draw your attention to an interview with Bryan Chapell at Christianity Today‘s website. Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary (in St. Louis, Missouri), the seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America, has recently released his newest book Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape our Practice. In “Transcending the Worship Wars” , Chapell discusses the importance of getting past musical preference in the debate over worship and digging into the real theological issues – primarily, “letting the Gospel shape” our understanding of what worship is and how it should be done. And he identifies ‘rewriters’ (see last post) as evidence of a growing “new balance and maturity in the church” in its theological approach to worship.