Been there, done that.

Posted by Rod Hamilton on May 07 2008

Did you ever wonder when “worship wars” began? By worship wars I’m speaking specifically about individual preferences for different music styles in worship. Though, to me, this seems like a church issue that is fairly new, I’m certain that the issue of preference and style is as old as Christianity itself.

At some point in history somebody decided that God placed a new song in his mouth and stepped out on faith, wrote a new God-given psalm and introduced it, with what was surely a great deal of enthusiasm and passion, to his local church. Now, unless humanity has changed vastly over the last 2000 years or so, (and the Bible indicates that we haven’t) not everyone in the congregation that day was giddy over the new song. I imagine the feelings against that sort of change might have been quite strong. “What’s wrong with the songs David wrote” might have been a resounding question around that campus, and a question worth asking. After all, a few thousand years have now passed since David penned the psalms given to him by God and we still sing most of them in one form or another today. When David wrote in the 40th Psalm that God had “put a new song” in his mouth, he never declared that God wouldn’t do the same for generations to come.

Sometimes our traditions dictate that we be slow to accept the changes of upcoming generations. Sometimes we accept God in a “style” rather than in the truth of His word spoken through songs of many styles. Some of the choruses dearest to me are from the time that God was reaching me for the first time in my life. “Potter’s Hands,” The Power of Your Love,” “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” and so many others still hold a dear place to me today. But here’s the thing; I don’t live in those days anymore. I still love those songs but I look forward to the “new song” God will place in my mouth and in my heart if I allow Him to. At every step of my faith journey I want to be able to identify songs that moved my heart, that challenged my growth and commitment to God’s word and that helped me through the troubled times of my life.

I want to leave this world a shoutin’ and a singin’ and I don’t want to concern myself with the style as I go!