How to write a worship song

Longtime faithful reader Susan just sent me this; you'll love it.

Essay: "Memo to worship bands"

This gent makes the case that the concept of a congregation listening to a few singers and musicians (while not being able to hear themselves) is not in keeping the the Reformation.

Kinder in the Kirche / Tots in the Tabernacle

My response to a comment on the recent post of pithy pre-pastorate pastoral pointers got so long that I decided to devote a post to it. I'm fearful that the higher visibility will draw more fire to-meward, but... oh well! Now's the time to do this, when no congregation under my care will imagine I'm "sniping" at them.

Here's the comment, and my response:

At what age does your "no noise" rule apply? From birth, age 1, 2, 3?

I have two under two and I have been given the "evil eye" when my 6-month old is making happy noises, even if briefly.

Is there consideration for a toddler who is quiet yet won't sit still?

Where's the grace for us parents who are doing the best we can but feel sometimes it would be better to not come than to show up and get the looks from people which say, "Oh, no! Here's comes that family with the children. I hate when they make ANY noise at all."

J{2} — I appreciate your straight-up question, and I'll do you the respect of a straight-up response.

First, it's you asking, so I'll speak to you about you, on the basis of what you tell me. Were someone else writing to complain about (someone like) you, I'd respond to him about him. Hope that seems fair.

Second, full disclosure: I think happy-baby/toddler sounds are among the most pleasant sounds there are. Hearing them makes me smile.

In their place.

But, at the same time, I must confess that I'm distractable. I wish it weren't so, that I could just tune everything out and focus exclusively on one sound at a moment's notice, but there it is.

So I sit up closer to the front, where I can see and hear. And "up front" is where the likelihood of looking over perpetually-moving, bobbing, dipping, turning-around, chatting heads is lower. If I find that some person or family is inclined to constantly turn around to see who's coming or going or doing what, or chat a lot during sermons or otherwise, I just find another place to sit. No bloodshed, no hard feelings.

So if (as I've had happen) some parent asserts his/her "right" to sit wherever (s)he pleases, and sits right by me, with a gurgly, chatty, constantly-moving child... it's a problem to me. Not (I hope you see) because I'm a bad, loveless, graceless person; certainly not because I'm a child-hater. But because I've gone to attend to the Word and focus on the Lord, and haven't gone to someone's house for an unstructured afternoon of chit-chatty fellowship.

Leading me to....

Third, I wonder (but don't know enough to accuse) — where is your show of grace to the others? You know that your little tot is distracting them. They're not handling it well, granted — but they're not asking my opinion. You are. So I must ask you: how are you handling it? Are you sitting in the back row, as you train your child to attend quietly? Does your church not have a room for noisy kinder? Are you using a pacifier, coloring books, what-have-you? Are you applying Matthew 7:12 to yourself in relation to your bothered brethren, as you clearly expect them to do for you? (I don't read our Lord as saying, "Whatever you want others to do to you, demand that they do, or accuse them of being loveless and graceless, and you don't have to obey Me anymore").

Not being God, I don't know what ALL children's capacity is. I don't imagine they're all the same in every way. But I do know this: to a degree, it depends on parents' expectations and training. If a parent assumes a child is unable to sit quietly, he won't teach the child to do so, and we'll have a self-fulfilling prophecy. And vice-versa.

TO A DEGREE.

Is it genetically-coded? No clue. But I do know I've known families who've had little tiny tots show a perfect ability to sit quietly and color or read or look at pictures or do something, through worship services. It can be done. It is done!

I remember an early experience of ours. We went to an evening service where we thought they had care for kids. They did — but only up to something like age 4, leaving out our daughter, who was around 5. Around five, I say, and very active, lively, loving change and entertainment and stimulation and all that.

We could have assumed she was incapable of sitting still for an hour. (I don't know that I'd ever seen her do so.) We could have expected unruly behavior, and she may have complied.

But instead we gave her things to color and do, and told her she'd need to stay quiet and reasonably still (this is ~20 years ago, I don't remember our exact words).

We were both pleasantly surprised when she did exactly that, bless her heart — beyond what we'd privately dared hope. (So she got a Blizzard or something afterwards, just to say, "Thanks!") We set expectations and, bless her, she more than met them.

I immediately say, though: am I suggesting that's an infallible formula, and kids respond like machines? In no way. But I have learned its truth as a principle.

So, all that to say this. It seems to me that Christian options include:

1. Ask them if your child is bothering them and, if so, what they would like for you to do. This may force them to greater empathy than they have.
2. Go to your pastor for guidance.
3. Alter your behavior or seating if you're not being as considerate as you could be.
4. Ask other parents whose same-age tots are (as you see it) better-behaved.

But as I read Scripture, we don't have the option to insist on our rights at others' expense, judge and condemn them for judging and condemning us, and retreat from submission to God's word into bitter self-pity.

Pithy Pre-pastorate Pastoral Pointers

It occurred to me that, while I languish on the wilderness side of having a pulpit, now is the best time to share some of these thoughts.

Scope: I speak only for myself. Other pastors may demur, or say "Amen" if they dare.

Tone: you'd be badly mistaken to read these as imperious demands. Instead, pretend you'd asked, "Are there some things you think church members might not think of, that you as a pastor wish they did think of?" I'd shift around in my seat uncomfortably, decline at first... and then, when you really pressed me, I'd say:

• For one: what would you think if a pastor turned up at your door, supposedly there to visit you and speak about spiritual and eternal matters — and he had iPod buds in his ear the whole time? And if he occasionally tapped his foot while you spoke, clearly listening at least partly to music and not you? Rude, eh? So, please: turn off your TV and radio and stereo when the pastor visits. Believe me, you won't miss anything essential.
• Wouldn't it be weird if, while he was preaching and for no connected reason at all, the pastor did "air-guitar"? Distracting, no? So, please: spit out the gum before the service. Preaching to a roomful of dear, chawing souls is not unlike addressing a pasture-full of ruminating bovines. [Now, that is a request. If you get up to lead something in a service where I'm the pastor — music, announcements, reading, prayer, whatever — and you're chewing? We'll have a conversation.]
• It's great that you have your itty-bitty kiddies in the service. Truly! They should indeed learn to be quiet and attend during worship. But keep others in mind, and do pursue the goal of not training your child overly at everyone else's expense. Towards that end, please bear with three tips, at no extra charge:

1. Kids actually can be quiet, if they believe that you expect it of them.
2. Kids (particularly little ones) need to hear simple, clear directions. Speak in absolutes. "Shh" or "Quiet" just means (if anything) that they should keep up a constant slightly quieter stream of sound. What you should say — and mean — is, "Don't talk." (Alternately, commenters suggest "Don't make noise" and "Don't be distracting.")
   
3. If your cherub won't shush, it is thoughtful to remove him or her — but you must find a way to make sure (s)he doesn't think it's a pleasant and easy alternative to self-control, and thus the birth of a new and cherished regular tradition.
   

• Encourage your teens (and self) to regulate liquid intake and output so that they can .actually retain their seat during a 35-55 minute sermon — as they (and you) surely do during a 90-120 minute movie.
• If a rare emergency requires egress and ingress during the sermon, please do your best to shut the door quietly in both directions.
• And for mercy's sake, turn off your cell phones. The White House can wait until the service is over. Really, they can!
  

Sum: for the most part, don't these just involve some common-sense application of Matthew 7:12?

Showing respect for Yahweh by... not saying His name?

There are so many things wrong with this article from Christianity Astray that it's difficult to know where to start. So let's do one of my favorite things - a list!

First, the Vatican instructs underlings to remove "Yahweh" from songs and prayers. This is funny all in itself. The Vatican can't do anything about Roman Catholic senators and congressmen who are pro-aborts; but it can tell people to stop saying or singing "Yahweh."

As usual for the Vatican, the rationale is impenetrable. The Vatican intones that it "was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: Adonai, which means 'Lord.'" Uh, yeah.

"Was held to be"? By whom? Certainly not by the actual writers of God-breathed Scripture, who employed the name well over 6800 times. No, the prophets and Moses give no sign that believers should do anything other than revere, respect, trust, flee to, and take sacred oaths by that name.

By whom, then? Well, like everything else for Rome - by tradition. So there.

But wait. It gets worse.

Because second, we're then told that

Protestants should be following their lead, said Carol Bechtel, professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. "It's always left me baffled and perplexed and embarrassed that we sprinkle our hymns with that name," she said. "Whether or not there are Jewish brothers and sisters in earshot, the most obvious reason to avoid using the proper and more personal name of God in the Old Testament is simply respect for God."

Okay, so this lady is "professor" of a book that boldly uses the Name over 6800 times - but she has "always" been "baffled and perplexed and embarrassed that we sprinkle our hymns with that name"? Really? Baffled?

Well, I don't know. I'll just take a stab at it here, a shot in the dark, but - is it maybe because it's all over the Bible? Is that perhaps the explanation?

But she's concerned about "Jewish brothers and sisters"? What does she mean - Jewish Christians? Then they should be well-liberated from the traditions of the elders now, set free with the liberty of the sons of God, their consciences captive to the Word alone. Right?

But if she's concerned about offending unbelieving Jews? How far is she going to go with that concern of hers? God says His name 6800+ times, and she says "Shush!" So... what about this whole "Jesus is Lord" thing, then? That really offends unbelievers. What about "Messiah atoned for sin on the Cross"? Really, really offensive. Shall we drop that, too?

And Bible-believers should follow Rome's lead? I'll retire to Bedlam.

There are more bobbles and semi-bobbles of less significance, but the end-note is: John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, says, "Some people said using Yahweh emphasized for them the transcendence of God, which you might say is precisely the goal of not saying the term."

Can anyone make any sense of that? And that, from the Calvin institute?

Against it, this:

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of [Yahweh] (Genesis 4:26)

It is [Yahweh] your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear (Deuteronomy 6:13)

You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear (Deuteronomy 10:20)

Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name! (Psalm 79:6)

Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name (Psalm 80:18)

Oh give thanks to [Yahweh]; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! (Psalm 105:1)

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of [Yahweh] (Psalm 116:13)

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of [Yahweh] (Psalm 116:17)

And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to [Yahweh], call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted (Isaiah 12:4)

But none of that has any place in this. It's all "I feel/don't feel," "they will feel," "it has been done"....

I don't know, call me a contrarian. But I think the actual text of the Bible should have some bearing on how we worship of the God who wrote it.

Are any good hymns still being written?

I'd have to say yes. Not many, perhaps; but yes.

The song linked above was sung on Wednesday at the T4G conference. I'm glad to be able to find the lyrics; it was immensely moving at the time to me, but something (on which I may write more, later) distracted me from full enjoyment.

If this is a copyright violation, someone please tell me; but here are the first two verses:

HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.

You can get an idea of the tune here. Thank God for those who can put the precious truths of the Gospel to music. Al Mohler made the point in his talk that some who are trying to destroy the truth of penal substitutionary atonement lament that, even if it is banished from the pulpits, when Christians assemble, they'll still sing about it.

Brief Spurgeonic word on prayer

Every time Spurgeon says something about prayer — and he does it frequently — I wince. Usually from some sort of conviction, though I do think sometimes he's unwarrantedly expansive on the subject.

In the former category are his remarks in today's devotion on “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Leviticus 6:13), which he in classic form applies to private devotion and prayer. And in the course, he says this:

Have you nothing to pray for? Let us suggest the Church, the ministry, your own soul, your children, your relations, your neighbours, your country, and the cause of God and truth throughout the world.

Yeah, ouch, okay, that should do for starters!

Spurgeon also says this:

Let us examine ourselves on this important matter. Do we engage with lukewarmness in private devotion? Is the fire of devotion burning dimly in our hearts? Do the chariot wheels drag heavily? If so, let us be alarmed at this sign of decay. Let us go with weeping, and ask for the Spirit of grace and of supplications. Let us set apart special seasons for extraordinary prayer. For if this fire should be smothered beneath the ashes of a worldly conformity, it will dim the fire on the family altar, and lessen our influence both in the Church and in the world.

Here I think he hits the right (and elusive) balance between inner and outer life. To the question, "What if my 'heart' isn't in it?", Spurgeon neither replies "Doesn't matter, just do it," nor "Then wait until it is." He says, "That's not good — but don't let that stop you. Start there in your prayers."

Which isn't a bad thought for us on a Lord's Day, to say nothing of all the rest.