{"id":187,"date":"2009-11-13T12:07:06","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T16:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwr\/?p=187"},"modified":"2010-11-08T15:54:43","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T19:54:43","slug":"singing-about-missio-dei-the-mission-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwr\/2009\/11\/singing-about-missio-dei-the-mission-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing About Missio Dei, The Mission of God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some months ago I was struck by an article, entitled \u201cWorship Wars\u201d in the Nov\/Dec 2008 edition of <em>Prism<\/em>, a magazine published by Evangelicals for Social Action.\u00a0 In the article Harold Trulear laments the narrow focus of both sides in the battle over contemporary versus traditional worship music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne side claims that contemporary worship meets the needs of hurting people, while the other argues that traditional worship roots us in historic Christian faith. Neither side rehearses the relationship between the gospel and social transformation: rather they focus on forms that heal and strengthen the individual, while ignoring the claims of Christ on our community, social, and civil life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trulear maintains that contemporary style sermons consist of \u201cpractical instruction for daily living rooted in a problem solving framework that emphasizes what works in our lives.\u201d\u00a0 This is clearly an over-generalization, but not too much of one.\u00a0 One wakeful night in a hotel I spent a good deal of time television channel surfing. I was amazed by how many Christian programs were being broadcast.\u00a0 Most of the preachers seemed to be sort of para-psychotherapists, using the Scripture to explain how people could be happy, debt free, have a good marriage, etc\u2026 I didn\u2019t hear any mention of God\u2019s love and concern for the rest of the world including the poor and the marginalized.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hear a word about injustice, war, God\u2019s creation, the Kingdom, etc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Trulear points out that traditionalists criticize the weak theology of contemporary worship saying it leads to a shallow Christian life and witness. Traditionalists call for the rehearsing of the great doctrinal themes of the church in preaching, music, and prayer.\u00a0 However traditional worship also often misses the big picture of the Kingdom and focuses mainly on a personal relationship with Jesus, with little mention of the mission of God in the world.<\/p>\n<p>I long to sing more worship songs with this kind of focus on God and his reconciling mission in the world. I believe that we should give more emphasis to worshipping God as the one who loves the whole world, including the poor, the suffering, the voiceless, and the marginalized. May we increasingly worship God as the one who inaugurated his creation-restoring, relationship-reconciling Kingdom through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.\u00a0 May we increasingly worship God longing for his Kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.<\/p>\n<p>I am encouraged that these kinds of songs have been around for a long time and they are being sung in some corners of the Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>Mason North wrote the following hymn in 1903.<br \/>\nFrom tender childhood\u2019s helplessness<br \/>\nFrom woman\u2019s grief, man\u2019s burdened toil,<br \/>\nFrom famished souls, from sorrow\u2019s stress,<br \/>\nYour heart has never known recoil.<br \/>\nThe cup of water given for You,<br \/>\nStill holds the freshness of your grace;<br \/>\nYet long these multitudes to view,<br \/>\nThe sweet compassion of Your face.<\/p>\n<p>Another by Matt Redman \u2013<br \/>\nYou&#8217;ve put a new song in my mouth<br \/>\nIt is a hymn of praise to You<br \/>\nJustice and mercy are it&#8217;s theme<br \/>\nAnd I will live it back to You<\/p>\n<p>The kind of fast You&#8217;ve chosen, Lord It must reach out<br \/>\nTo broken lives and to the poor So change me, Lord<\/p>\n<p>I know You are the orphan&#8217;s hope<br \/>\nI know You are the widow&#8217;s song<br \/>\nO Lord, You&#8217;re showing me what&#8217;s on You&#8217;re heart<\/p>\n<p>Lord, I won\u2019t bring an empty song. It&#8217;s meaningless<br \/>\nWithout compassion in my life And holiness<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re Father where no father lives<br \/>\nAnd to the lonely You&#8217;re a friend<br \/>\nO Lord, You&#8217;re showing me what&#8217;s on You&#8217;re heart<\/p>\n<p>I know You are the orphan&#8217;s hope<br \/>\nI know You are the widow&#8217;s song<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re Father where no father lives<br \/>\nAnd to the lonely You&#8217;re a friend<br \/>\nO Lord, You&#8217;re showing me what&#8217;s on You&#8217;re heart<\/p>\n<p>My hope and prayer is that mission minded folks who are gifted at composing will give us some new worship music.\u00a0 I also hope and pray that those involved in leading worship will increasingly seek to focus on the reconciling mission of God in the world as they lead God\u2019s people in worship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwr?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=187&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some months ago I was struck by an article, entitled \u201cWorship Wars\u201d in the Nov\/Dec 2008 edition of Prism, a magazine published by Evangelicals for Social Action.\u00a0 In the article Harold Trulear laments the narrow focus of both sides in the battle over contemporary versus traditional worship music. \u201cOne side claims that contemporary worship meets [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[281],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-resources"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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