Why did you sing that song on Sunday?
Prior to the service, someone must have chosen the song, gave the music to the instrumentalists, and put together a service order. Though we are not proud of it, in some cases these choices were made just a few minutes before the service, but they were still choices, nevertheless.
How did that song function on Sunday—what was its purpose?
In previous generations, Baptist song leaders were taught to select “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” for their church meetings. If they were influenced by the writings of 20th century church musicians, the song leaders were probably taught that “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” could be found in a church hymnal that included (very few) psalms, (standard, well-known) hymns, and American gospel songs written before 1970.
My summary here should not be taken as a critique of standard-issue Baptist hymnody. Let me make this clear: If your church is not singing the great, historic songs of our common faith, you are missing a significant aspect of the gathered church.
But we should not let our affirmation of standard hymnody obscure a greater issue. Baptist churches should pay closer attention to a song’s liturgical function. While we have a historic antipathy to set worship forms, we should not allow this concern to scare us away from a serious idea. Yes, we agree that independent Baptist churches worship in the free church tradition, in that our services do not follow an unchanging order of events or a specific yearly calendar as prescribed by church tradition or ecclesiastical authority.
But we do have a liturgy, whether we admit it or not, and our songs have a liturgical function, whether or not we recognize it. The word “liturgy” has roots in a Greek word (leitourgia) that means “a public work” and came to mean “the order in which we do things.” In our best moments, the Baptist “liturgy” is a very careful reflection on “the order in which we do things.” At our worst, we tolerate unprepared and thoughtless service choices—but this is still a liturgy, even if “the order in which we do things” is careless.
In a recent Baptist Bulletin article, I discussed the question, “What does the church do when it gathers?” (March/April 2009). I suggested that Baptist churches are regulated by New Testament grace principles for godly living, and that the New Testament formally records what activities should occur when the church gathers (see list on page 29). I believe we can use this study to inform the way we make song choices in our church meetings. If the New Testament church is called to perform certain activities when it gathers, we can support each of these activities by choosing songs that function in the same way. Yes—a song can serve as a prayer, an exhortation, a confession, an offertory response, a word of exhortation to other believers, or a testimony about God to unbelievers.
My suggestion is that when choosing songs, we need to expand our old categories of “objective” hymns and “subjective” gospel songs. In fact, we need to move past an overly specific meaning for “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Bible scholars believe this phrase from Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 is a reference to the rich variety of Christian song, not a reference to specific musical styles or themes. My own view is that some church musicians have wrongly used this phrase as a musical rulebook to exclude worthy songs from our church meetings. Back in the old days, at our worst, many of our churches sang “hymns” during the Sunday morning worship service and deliberately excluded “gospel songs” until the evangelistic service on Sunday night. By encouraging churches to avoid these popular categorizations—by emphasizing a deeper understanding of a song’s liturgical function—I am hoping to recover an older idea that fully honors the church’s reasons for gathering together.
Church music “should voice the praises of a gracious God,” said W. B. Riley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Minneapolis and a leader in the 1920s Baptist Bible Union. “All forms, however, may be voiced by music. Prayer as well as petition; sorrow, suffering, bereavement as well as joy, gladness and rejoicing.”
Riley also believed that church music “may be employed in soul appeal.” He argued that “thousands have been won to Christ through Gospel songs” and offered examples of how the ministry of evangelism might be carried out through music in the gathered church (Pastoral Problems, 129–131).
Perhaps you are familiar with some of the recently written songs in the “Praise Songs Most Used in GARBC Churches” list included here. Rather than asking if the songs are “objective” or “subjective,” ask how they relate to the activities of the gathered church. Could individual songs be used as a prayer, as a confession, as a statement of faith, as an offertory? Could they be used to encourage other believers with sound doctrine—or even proclaim the gospel to an unbeliever who is visiting? Pick up a copy of the hymnal your church uses, and ask the same sort of questions.
Asking questions such as this may expose the shallow basis for a few of our deeply cherished beliefs: Do we sing so that latecomers can be seated in a timely manner? Do we choose songs because a Famous Christian Band has a new hit? Or because the song allows us to showcase our vocal skills? Or because it features a nifty guitar (or organ) riff?
Do we program a slow song to settle the kids down before the sermon? Do we choose sentimental songs because “that’s what they sang at Grandpa’s funeral”?
And then we accuse liturgical churches of being slaves to tradition!
May we think deeply and choose wisely as we cautiously embrace our great heritage of congregational song.
- See “Activities of the Gathered Church”
- See “Praise Songs Most Used in GARBC Churches”
- See “Book Review: “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story”
Kevin Mungons is managing editor of the Baptist Bulletin.
