Three Streams, One River
Sing a New Song
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God"
Psalm 46:4
The Arkansas River flows very swiftly through the Colorado Rocky Mountains, as I discovered the hard way on a whitewater rafting trip last summer. Those rapids are not for the faint of heart and I’ve found myself on the outside of the boat trying to get back in on numerous occasions! Not that spending some time floating rather than boating down the river was a bother; after all, I love whitewater rafting, including the bumps and spills. Together with the Arkansas River, the Ocoee, Yellowstone, and Colorado are all favorites.
The river I most often enjoy, however, is the Flathead flowing through Glacier Park, located in northwest Montana. The Flathead River has its origins in the Canadian Rockies and swirls southward in three forks into the gorgeous Flathead Lake, the largest body of fresh water in the US west of the Mississippi. The River’s glacial cold and pristine clarity are bracing and breathtaking.
The Flathead’s three forks that form the one river are in many ways a beautiful picture of the music we enjoy and offer in worship, three streams that merge into the one beautiful, deep, inviting river of life-giving worship music.
Three Streams, One River
The first stream flowing into our musical life consists of the songs and hymns that are part of the great story God has written in his Church across the centuries, with admittedly special attention given to the way that story is transcribed in the English-speaking world and the American songbook.
We are the heirs of great hymnody and we have a responsibility to maintain the songs that have proven value over several centuries and will still be sung long centuries from now. Whether it is Luther’s ‘A Mighty Fortress’, Wesley’s ‘O For a Thousand Tongues’, Watts’ ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ and ‘Joy to the World’, Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’, or service music like the Doxology, these magnificent pieces belong to us all and will be sung not only by us but in succeeding generations as well. These hymns are part of our inheritance, and by these, we both learn and pass along the richness of Biblical truth. No church should worship without making “What language shall I borrow to thank Thee Dearest Friend”, “It is well with my soul”, “Holy, Holy, Holy”, and “How Firm a Foundation” part of its vocabulary.
The second stream flowing into our River of Worship is made up of the creative and beautiful songs that have flowed out of the experience of God’s Grace in the specific and local story of each congregation. Where songwriters and artists call a church home, they can give songs to this church that amplify what God has done there, while also helping others in many places to offer worship to God.
I thank the Lord for the artists I’ve enjoyed serving over the years and the joy of singing their work. ‘Wonderful, Merciful Savior’, David Hampton’s arrangement of ‘Jesus I am Resting’ are lovely examples at Christ Community Church, along with new songs more recently written by Ed and Scott Cash; many there could be cited. Redeemer Presbyterian in Austin is home to a rich tradition in hymnody, and arrangements composed by Leonard Payton continue to be sung by that congregation, led in worship so graciously by George Dupere. This will no doubt be true at Spanish River Church as well. These songs form a flow of joyful truth in a church’s life, songs that tell part of the unique story God has written in a particular congregation.
The third stream of song that informs our gathered worship is the collection of songs currently popular in the wider body of Christ. Unlike that first stream, there will always be changes in this collection, as new songs are written and others fade from the scene. That’s the nature of so many new songs that are composed for worship just now: a season of popularity and usefulness is experienced and then these new songs fall into disuse, making way for new and more current music and lyrics.
It’s true that some new songs may well become permanent contributions to the worship of Jesus’ Church for a long time to come - and we’d rejoice in that - but we need to recognize that there’s nothing wrong with some songs possessing a limited utility. We can embrace their vitality and recognize that in them the Lord may be bringing to his people a particular emphasis, while not insisting on them becoming fixtures in the songbook.
Sing the Psalms
I have no doubt that artists and composers among us will write new songs and hymns in the years to come, reflecting specific events, experiences, and truth that give shape to who we are as God’s people. Singing the Psalms together with these great hymns and songs is not only one way we worship the Lord but a crucial way in which we hide his word in our hearts and renew our minds.
In A River Runs Through It Norman Maclean movingly wrote, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
The waters feeding the River that nourishes God's city descend from great heights and carry astonishing power. In its flowing beauty, we sense not a haunting from the past but the summons of the eternal to enter its halls and rejoice. Sometimes the River of Worship can be a gentle flow, and sometimes a mighty rapid, increasingly deep and carrying us into the places where God brings life to the dead… hold on tight! Join me in this River of God’s grace in song and let us offer to God the worship he alone is worthy to receive, and from treasures old and new bring to all the riches of God’s grace in Jesus and the revelation of God's truth in Scripture.