Sometimes lyrics sneak up on me in worship — even when I was a part of the planning team and knew the song was coming.
Here’s what hit me Sunday:
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me!
And then we sang this:
Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
- - - -
Here’s a great “Fax of Life” from Rubel Shelly:
That there is “life outside of football” may be a necessary reminder for some sports fans and couch potatoes now that Super Bowl XLI is over. Now that the Indianapolis Colts have the Lombardi Trophy in hand, some of them may be wondering what they will do until next season begins.
But the line is actually from Tony Dungy, the Colts’ head coach. It wasn’t spoken after last Sunday’s water-logged victory over the Chicago Bears but just after his son James committed suicide 13 months ago.
In a speech he made shortly after that tragedy, Dungy talked about all three of his sons. He spoke first of his middle son, Eric, and said his competitive nature is so focused on athletics that “it’s almost a problem.” Then he turned to his youngest son, Jordan, whose rare congenital condition makes him insensitive to pain.
“That sounds like it’s good at the beginning, but I promise you it’s not,” said Coach Dungy. “We’ve learned some hurts are really necessary for kids. Pain is necessary for kids to find out the difference between what’s good and what’s harmful.”
“Cookies are good,” the coach explained, “but – in Jordan’s mind – if they’re good out on the plate, they’re even better in the oven. He will go right in the oven when my wife’s not looking, reach in, take the rack out, take the pan out, burn his hands – then eat the cookies and burn his tongue and never feel it.”
“Pain sometimes lets us know we have a condition that needs to be healed,” Dungy said. “Pain inside sometimes lets us know that spiritually we’re not quite right, and we need to be healed. And that God will send that healing agent right to the spot. Sometimes pain is the only way that will turn us as kids back to the Father.”
Only then did Coach Dungy speak of his oldest son, James, who took his life three days before Christmas 2005. He spoke of his family’s pain. He talked about lessons they were learning from it. He and his wife have since joined an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide.
I’m glad Dungy’s team won the big game. I am impressed by his humility, strength, and deep Christian faith. And I am grateful he could remind all of us there is life outside of football, work, and tragedy. There is the authentic love of God that carries us through, puts everything else in perspective, and reminds us of what really matters.
Life isn’t about football. It is about accepting and sharing God’s love.
“Be Still My Soul” is one of my all-time favorite hymns. I haven’t sung it in church since my wife and I moved from Texas–where we attend now we sing mostly “contemporary” songs–but I still enjoy singing it at times in my car or when I’m by myself in my classroom.
Love that hymn. I miss the older ones. Unfortunately I attend a congregation (that I love) where most of those leading worship choose only the newer songs. I envy those of you who attend where there it a mixture.
Mike,
Speaking of Sunday’s service, I saw this quote posted on another blog. It’s a good one for us Winter Christian types.
From Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger ’s book Pray without Ceasing: Revitalizing Pastoral Care (2006):
“Our hearts are restless - not only until they rest in God (Augustine), but also because they rest in God (Jürgen Moltmann).”
Richard - I like that.
Jason and Sandra - I love contemporary songs. But it would be a tragedy if the great songs of the past disappeared. I hope “In Christ Alone” is sung a century from now, even though it’s new.
By the same token, how do you give up something like this:
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me!
Here is one we sing (though not often) that feeds the deepest places of my heart:
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I can not close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
If I EVER preach a sermon as good as that, I think I’ll quit. Where would you go from there?
Tracing the rainbow through the rain . . . Mike
Mike, you’re right about “In Christ Alone.” In fact, I think there are plenty of poignant contemporary songs. It seems to me, though, that the tripe ones outnumber the profound ones. I think the propensity for the superficial in new songs stems partly from a watering down and/or distortion of the gospel and partly from patterning the songs after pop songs.
Sounds like Coach Dungy is the “Tom Landry” of the present. Jerry Jones, (Cowboys owner) “Please take note when hiring coaches and signing players”.
I just noticed I used “tripe” as an adjective in my last response–it’s a noun. “Vacuous” would’ve been a better choice.
Mike, I had not heard or sang “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” or “Be Still My Soul” until I got to Harding in 1974 when we were freshman. Deep south Bible belt churches where I had attended just didn’t sing those songs. The first time I heard those songs with thousands of people singing them, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. They impacted a sorry, no-count 18 year old who knew a lot about religion and doctrine, but knew very little about “thy heavenly Friend…..through thorny ways leads to a joyful end”. I became addicted very quickly to these “new” songs, and a new perspective on Spirituality that those songs and teachings from Jim Woodroof and Neale Pryor brought to me. Can you say BLESSING?
Thanks for jogging my memory so that I can be thankful for those blessings, and truly appreciate very special songs and people from earlier days in this journey I am on.
DU
Amen to high profile coaches, players and executives who give first credit to God as believing Christians. I’m still in the camp of thinking we place too much emphasis on defining our winners and losers, but Tony has been classy and devoted on both ends of the stick.
What I learned about life from the SuperBowl: A good Defense will get you pretty far, but you can’t go all the way w/o a good Offense!!!
I know there are some good “older” songs out there, but I don’t feel like I’m communicating with God when I use words like “thankest not”, “thou”, “thee”, etc. When worshipping my Lord, I need to do it in my own language - but that’s just me. I’m OK singing the other stuff, I just have a harder time with it. I wouldn’t speak Elizabethan English to my friends & family, so why would I use it with God?
Beaner, that’s why I like a mix of old and new songs. But contemporary language doesn’t have to be vacuous language. Stringing together repetitive lines and throwing in gratuitous uses of words like “awesome,” “great,” “dance,” and “beautiful” doesn’t constitute anything poignant in my opinion.
I know you’re not dismissing older songs, but unfortunately some folks do on the grounds that they have outdated language. Although some songs have antiquated diction and peculiar syntax, I think in many cases people’s definition of “outdated” is “I don’t understand some words in the song, and I don’t want to have to work to understand them.” That sort of attitude drives me nuts.
If you are a worship leader, and lead only the songs that you like, or you are a worshipER (all of us) and only “like” the songs that you like, whose will are we submitting to? Worship brings us the presence of God with a group of people that are gathered to glorify Him. Not us. Him.
Mike-
I also love the phrase: ..the waves and winds still know his voice…
Rubel’s “Loving the Person Who Isn’t One of Us” is also a magnificent read.
“Worship brings us the presence of God with a group of people that are gathered to glorify Him.”
Precisely. So if we’re entering into the presence of God in worship, why would we want to offer up songs that reek of triteness and/or self-centeredness? There are old songs and new songs that I believe miss the mark when it comes to entering into the presence of God in worship. Since I’ve come down hard on some contemporary songs, here’s an example of an old one: “Mansion Over the Hilltop.” Sure, celebrating life in heaven with God is a good thing, but God takes a back seat in the song to all of the goodies demanded and/or anticipated in the song.
Mike
All my favorite hymns as well! Add this one to the list:
Father and Friend, Thy light, Thy love,
Beaming through all Thy works we see;
Thy glory gilds the heavens above,
And all the earth is full of Thee.
Thy voice we hear — Thy presence feel,
Whilst Thou, too pure for mortal sight,
Involved in clouds invisible,
Reignest the Lord of life and light.
Thy children shall not faint nor fear,
Sustained by this delightful thought,
Since Thou, their God, art everywhere,
They cannot be where Thou art not.
——————————————
I love this hymn because it reinforces the idea that the earth reflects God’s goodness and belongs to God - it has not been abandoned to evil!
J A
What parent’s heart doesn’t weep with joy singing the last verse of that hymn; with joy that we cannot be away from God nor our children.
There is a great picture of Coach Dungy and his team after the game uniting in prayer.
My HTML didn’t work. Here’s the link to the picture.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/photo?slug=getty-73045473pb018_super_bowl_xl_12_30_41_am&prov=getty
That tracing the rainbow line always gets me too.
Thanks for this great post today.
Yes, I don’t want to sing songs just because I “like” them, but sometimes I think people hold onto the old songs or like the new songs for no other reason than they “like” them. That isn’t worship, in my opinion. We have SOOO many songs to bring before our Lord & we need to be bringing Him our “best” in Worship. (And, yes, I realize you could argue for who gets to decide what’s “best”.)
There are songs that touch the mind and there are songs that touch the heart. Some songs are going to connect with those who are intelectual and others are going to connect with artistic types.
I agree with Jason and “Mansions Over the Hilltop” but I personally know some who are moved spiritually when that song is sung…just not me!
I like the song “The River of God”, it makes sense to me and helps me express my heart to God but I know there are others who just plain do not like it.
Having a blend of music styles in any given service can be difficult and frustrating but blending music over a given period of weeks/months is doable.
As for my preferences…there is no doubt. I’m inconsistant!
“Pain lets us know we have a condition that needs to be healed…” Wow. Good.
Since this thread was posted, I learned today that a son of Andy Reid, HC at Philadelphia, was busted for possession of heroine, illegal firearms, and several other items. Sad - I believe that is the second or third NFL coach’s son this year that has been busted for drugs. Andy comes across to me as a super guy - also a devout family man. The position sure seems glamorous, but working 90 hours a week in a high stress environment makes family life difficult.
“I like the song “The River of God”, it makes sense to me and helps me express my heart to God but I know there are others who just plain do not like it.”
There are times the same hymn or song will touch me to the deepest parts of my heart and soul and other times will barely be understandable to my thick head/mind. But nearly always there definitely “is a stirring…” when I can join others in worship.
As mentioned before, as a single woman, our church family worship really is a treat and awesome time for me, whether we sing hymns or songs, whether with or without musical instruments, it matters not to me - just being with others in worship of God it seems to give me wings, transports me to Him.
This hymn to urban ministry is one we never sing anymore.
I learned it in the old “Blue Book”.
Looking it up on the net, I found verses I didn’t even know existed.
Wish we could revive it.
Where cross the crowded ways of life
Where sound the cries of race and clan
Above the noise of selfish strife
We hear thy voice, O Son of Man!
In haunts of wretchedness and need
on shadowed thresholds dark with fears,
from paths where hide the lures of greed,
we catch the vision of thy tears.
From tender childhoods helplessness,
from woman’s grief, man’s burdened toil,
from famished souls, from sorrow’s stress,
thy heart has never known recoil.
The cup of water given for thee
still holds the freshness of thy grace;
yet long these multitudes to see
the sweet compassion of thy face.
O Master, from the mountain side,
make haste to heal these hearts of pain;
among these restless throngs abide,
O tread the city’s streets again;
Till all the world shall learn thy love,
and follow where thy feet have trod;
till glorious from thy heaven above,
shall come the city of our God.
Mike,
This piece by Rubel is great! Thanks for including it today.
Most of the songs I consider “special” are associated with special events or occasions in my life. Even though the words may be old, the tune outdated, etc, I am moved because of where I was in my journey on a particular day when I sang that song. In the same way, others might really DISLIKE a song because of how it struck them in their journey. The first time I heard “Farther Along” was at my grandpa’s funeral, and I was almost mesmerized through my tears at the twangy, southern drawl of the quartet. That song, I think, will always move me, even though the words, when simply read, are simplistic and do not move me.
Yes, I have complained about a few songs in my day, as well. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what hymn they sang before Jesus went out to the garden? I bet some of them didn’t like the words, or thought it was to old, or too contemporary, or too trite, or “it just didn’t touch me” or, not my favorite. Different places in the journey. Singing at Hospice, we have been asked a number of times for “Mansions Over the Hilltop” and even “Sing and Be Happy”.
I have my least favorite ones, too, and I am guilty of whining about the trend to sing the last verse or phrase seventeen times before the song can be considered complete; BUT……I have made up my mind to stop complaining and to be involved in whatever song is set before the Father, because someone in the congregation may need that song on that day for their journey. How arrogant is it of me to grist about a song, or the way it was delivered, or a sermon, or an old, rote prayer, or anything else in a worship service, as if I were the only important member present, or as if it was for me in the first place?
On my best days, I know God is calling me to sing for the ears of others, not my own, and to praise for the ears of God, and not my own. For Iam……not my own.
“Where cross the crowded ways of life”…Oh, how our cities do need the Lord today. Thanks for reminding me of those lines. Pray that the innocent little ones in our cities will be told by someone that Jesus loves them.
Many of the “older” songs were written as devotional thoughts…and some have 10-20 verses that we never see. Many were not set to music during the lifetime of the author of the words…and for some songs the chorus after each verse was added by the person who put music to the words. Take time to read just the verses, because there is a progressive thought in most of them. When you know the history behind the writing of the words, the song often becomes richer and fuller. I learned many of the “older” songs when we moved to Searcy during my teen years. I had gone through early grade school years sitting beside Tillit S Teddlie as he wrote some of his many songs in my grandfather’s grocery store…and learned some of his songs before they were ever published. The “out of date” language does not bother me…just as dialects or phrases in certain parts of the country do not bother me…that’s just the way they spoke….and they spoke from their hearts.
Wow!
Royce Ogle
My son loves Dungy and I love that. What a great man for my boy to watch.
I love it when great men rise up and are admired by so many then people quietly find out that he’s a christian. Its a thessalonian kind of thing.