Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Words of Wonder

Our songwriting group is going to discuss an article by Bob Kauflin, which is actually a chapter from a book, which is, in turn, sort of "proceedings" from a conference. The title of the chaper is: "Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?" and the book is The Power of Words and the Wonder of God, eds. Justin Taylor and John Piper.

Kauflin immediately makes his claim about the importance of music to the church, and specifically, the importance of singing. His lengthy quote of Luther bears repetition, because it sets the tone for the whole essay:

When man's natural ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress, and embrace...A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard it [music] as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of dogs.


Kauflin notes: "We may not want to imitatate Luther's attitude, but we do want to imitate his passion for singing - because God himself is passionate about singing." He then goes on to provide proof texts, such as Ephesians 5:19 (part of being filled with the Spirit is singing certain songs), Zephaniah 3:17 (God sings), and Hebrews 2:12 and Psalm 22:22 (Christ "sings," although figuratively).

He then delves into the most important subject of his text, which is the importance of words to singing. He divides Christian attitudes into three categories:
1) Those who think music supercedes the Word - that it is more moving and more important.
2) Those who think music undermines the Word, and would separate them entirely.
3) Those who think music should serve the Word, and he is in this camp. And so am I.

He observes several ways music can serve the Word. First, it can help us remember words. This is very important, because memory is important. What we remember is what we really live by, regardless of what we may "know." I think of songs as ways of speeding up access to memory, like increasing RAM speed (surely in five years this will be an obsolete metaphor).

To make words memorable, Kauflin urges us to "use effective melodies." His example is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," which he describes is "a well-crafted lyric set to a memorable, singable, and pleasing tune"(125), and with this I would agree. Sometimes the melody of a hymn can be updated for a new generation, and Kauflin notes this is a good thing, preserving the lyrics for that generation.

Since we remember what we sing, Kauflin urges us to "sing words that God wants us to remember." He quotes Gordon Fee, "'Show me a church's songs and I'll show you their theology'" (126). A thought-provoking question is, what does my church's music say about my theology? A surprising point he makes is that we ought to memorize songs.

To further his argument about the benefits of songs for the church, Kauflin posits that "singing can help us engage emotionally with words." Kauflin describes two ways this works: songs allow us to take more time to reflect on the meaning of words, by adding a celebratory, mournful, or reverent melody music can augment the sentiment of the words we're singing. He makes the familiar point that music alone cannot make a propositional claim; only words are capable.

He then goes on to defend why it is important that songs do affect us emotionally. This was one of the most interesting parts of the paper to me. Kauflin wrote, "The emotions that singing is meant to evoke are responses to the truths we're singing about God - his glory, his greatness, and his goodness. Vibrant singing enables us to connect truth about God seamlessly, with passion, so that we can combine doctrine and devotion, edification and expression, mind and heart"(130). I like this kind of thinking.

The last benefit of singing he addresses is that it "can help us use words to demonstrate and express our unity." Very simply, "[s]inging enables us to spend extended periods of time communicating the same thoughts, the same passions, and the same intentions" (131). In singing corporately, we unite as a corpus - a body. Toward this end, Kauflin advises that we "sing songs that unite rather than divide the church" (131), recognize the functional limits of creativity for church music (132), remember that we are united by the gospel, not music (132) and anticipate singing in heaven (134).

The last point is thought-provoking from a writer's perspective. If I were a strict Reformed theologian, which I'm not, I would believe that the finest works of earth will find their place in God's kingdom. Like I said, I'm not Reformed - as far as I've looked into it I can't quite swallow it all - but I am intrigued by this idea. It has often made me wonder if there are any songs I know today that will make it into heaven's repertoire.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter

It has been a good day of thinking about the cross. My husband and I were listening to the Sovereign Grace Pandora channel today, and noticing how many songs we really love seem appropriate for Easter. That, I suppose, is because Easter celebrates one of the central elements of Christianity.

Among a few we really like:
"To the Cross," Paul Baloche
"Wonderful Maker," Chris Tomlin
"Hosanna," Brooke Fraser
"Before the Throne of God Above," Keith and Kristyn Getty
"Glorious Day," Casting Crowns and others

Cross-centered music for a cross-centered life.

This afternoon I was getting frustrated with my kids, as we are all stuck inside due to the rain, and we don't want to get out and impose on any businesses to be open on this day. Sometimes my homely life just plods along, and I confess there are choices I could make to make it more glorious. I could slip into despair by how quickly I fall back into old habits, my selfish, easily-angered, self comes out. I need to hear the gospel at home, not just at church, because I can look pretty good at church. It's at home that I cannot hide from myself, and such moments help me appreciate the profound love of God to save me, knowing my weakness, my failures.

Choir sang this this morning. It was new to me. I like it.



He is risen!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Love is Still a Worthy Cause

It is Good Friday. We had tuna casserole for dinner. Some denominations participate in a tradition to fast from red meat on Fridays during Lent, so I think there will be a lot of other people having fish tonight, as well. I do believe in the benefit of nutritional fasting, but I have been thinking about fasting in another way for the past week or so. I've been studying Isaiah 58, in which God describes a fast that would truly please him.

"Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." (vv. 6-8)

I have thought a lot about the oppressed, yoked, hungry, and poor. I believe the greatest and most concerning needs are spiritual. I actually think that the passage in Isaiah was speaking of a physical reality that translates into a spiritual reality this side of the cross. Nevertheless, being with God means making certain choices and honoring certain attributes of God that make a physical, tangible difference in this world. I have studied nineteenth century Christian abolitionists - particularly of the female, American, literary stripe - and admired them greatly for their conviction and commitment to putting an end to one form of human misery because they believed in the value of life.

Sara Groves' album Tell Me What You Know was an encouragement to just jump in. Sara is an artist partner with involved in International Justice Mission's efforts to put an end to human trafficking - modern-day slavery. I heard "Love is Still a Worthy Cause" as a word to those who come lately to such work.

Have you listed all the times you've tried
Do you call on all your alibis
When somebody asks the question why are you hiding

did you feel the pull, did you hear the call
did you take a chance and lose it all
do you fear there's no collateral left for trying


(I know this is rhetorical, but I have to answer. Yes.)

Friend, I know your heart is raw
But love is still a worthy cause
Picking up and pressing on
Oh, love is still a worthy cause
Like the touch that starts the thaw
Oh, love is still a worthy cause
or the word that breaks the pause


Love. It does require that I give of my time and resources that I would otherwise spend on myself. And Isaiah 58 says that when I spend, the Lord will satisfy (v. 11); when I fast from my own pleasure, He will provide the feast (v. 14).

I honestly do not have much to fast from these days. About the only thing I can think to give up is TV time, which is a few hour per week. But that is time to write this blog, and work on a few songs. That is something. I am hopeful that thinking of my life as a fast, in this sense, will direct my steps in more purposeful, intentional, resolute ways. I have noticed my pace quicken and my face brighten since I have begun to evaluate my life in these fat-free terms. In this sense, I have already begun to feast.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Song for Stefan

This past week, my little one turned one year old.


He is doing well, and lately has become a bit more snuggly, which I love, although he mostly addles up to me for a quick squeeze and then wiggles away.

Life definitely gets easier when a child turns one. I remember this same phenomenon with my daughter, Kyrstin, who is just 16 months older than Stefan. It was like magic. Today we all played out in the yard, crawling, toddling, laying down, blowing bubbles. Perhaps that is bliss.

Now that the kids are just a little older, my mind has a bit of breathing room, and I am looking beyond the moment or the hour. For instance, yesterday I actually planned not only what we would have for dinner each day, I also planned what we would have for lunch. This is easier now in part because Stefan can eat most of the same foods the rest of us eat. There was a time when I was making two or three different meals per meal - one for the baby, one for the toddler, one for me. I don't mean to complain, but just to show how there for awhile, life was a blessed mess.

Now that I see more personality in Stefan and more character in Kyrstin, I am naturally thinking more about how they'll grow up and the kind of world they will encounter. Honestly, sometimes I get so broken- and down-hearted. I love our little bubble world, but I know it will soon break. I have to pause as I write when I think of how the world can break their hearts, because I can hardly bear the thought. I cannot control it all. When I think about the future, there is only one place I can put my hope, and it is a great hope.

Sara Groves' song "Song for My Sons" puts it well:

I can't say your life will always go like it should
But I can say that God is always good.


Well, time is short, and child #1 is climbing on me as I write these few lines. The cartoon episode only bought me enough time to write this much.

Speaking of buying, I plan to write tomorrow about spending and satisfaction, and more on Sara Groves' Tell Me What You Know album.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Born to Worship

I just downloaded the Hidden in My Heart scripture lullabies album, which sounds pretty good, although I've not listened in full. A cursory Internet search revealed there are a lot of options for parents who want music they can enjoy with their kids. If music can get to the heart of an adult, help us memorize, meditate, reflect, and praise the Lord, why not make that avenue available for children, as well?

I like the Praise Baby stuff because the songs are chosen and produced well. Also, the songs are those of my generation, and I enjoy sharing those with my kids, especially remembering where I was and what God was teaching me when I first heard that song. Case in point: "Amazing Love." I was at a Passion Conference, learning what it meant to praise the Lord, to have a passion for Him that fueled my life, rather than a passion for activity. I was singing that song with thousands of other college kids, part of the 26:8 generation. I want my kids to be part of that - a generation that seeks His face, because He is worth it, and they will find all they need in Him.

At the same time, they are their own generation, and need their own songs. For now, they can borrow ours, and we can write them new ones.

It strikes me that the songs my kids will love and claim as their own will likely have some kind of viral presence before they are sung at a big conference, or published. The networks of communication will be different. And/or, maybe they will be multilingual/multiethnic. At the same time, as much as music has changed over the past several hundred years, I still claim hymns as my own as well. I love the Passion Hymns: Ancient and Modern album; it's a perfect expression of the connection. I hope my kids sing the old hymns - the good ones (not all) - and learn some of their own.

I shared a hymn with our songwriters' group that I thought was perhaps suited for a children's hymn, because it has a tone of gentle trust and surrender that is childlike and sweet. It is my first foray into children's music. Perhaps I'll return to this territory more as my kids get a little older.

Hymn

Let my life tell a fragrant story to the hearers I walk among
Of the knowledge of the holy; all my resource and wisdom.
Though I cannot convey by the senses all the truth you have revealed
Let my life testify like incense of a treasure within concealed.

Let my words be seasoned with blessings, giving grace to all who hear.
Gentleness in my tone be confessing the sweet truth that You are near.
Let my work be as unto You, Lord: faithful, cheerful, complete, and fair,
So that in whatever I do, your sweet aroma spreads everywhere.

Let the Holy Spirit earnest be the confidence of my hope
The result of redemptive purpose be diffused so that all may know
There is peace that surpasses conception. There is freedom; a soul finds space.
Let my life be a living expression of this story in every place.

Let the ones who beset me with trouble, and the ones who use me ill
See, however they strike me to stumble, God’s right hand upholds me still.
As you modeled supreme absolution, taking sin unto yourself,
Let me trust you for resolution – You are ending all things well.