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Started by benmead on 17 August 2008 - 11:57pm
| 17 August 2008 - 11:57pm | |
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I was previously the worship leader of a young adults/college group and several songs were birthed from that congregation. Now I am leading elsewhere, I have found that those songs don't seem as appropriate. As if God only intended them for those people at that time. They seemed universal at the time but now...not so much. Has anyone else had this experience? How do you know when a song is universal and when it's only intended for a single congregation at one time and one place? If a song is not universal is is sub-par? benmead |
kind of makes sense: some songs are like manna that last few days, and there are seasons for everything.
there may even be a future season when its time to dust off those old treasures!
i think that the key thing is to develop that intimacy of relationship, where you can ask: well, is this song appropriate now for these people?
but you also shouldn't underestimate his ability to take whatever you put out and use it to minister to someone.
perhaps its a mistake to aim to write a universal song - best to write one for him first, one that expresses yourself honestly and let others and time be the judge of its universalism.
songs are only sub-par when we allow cleverness or emotionalism to take the place of obedience and prayerful cooperation with the inventor of songs.
The lack of universality does not necessarily mean a sub-par song. Songs can be written from or for a specific season in a church's life and useful only for that time.
I would argue that there's no such thing as a universal song (one that will always retain meaning in any context and be musically relevant at any time). Do you mean a song that can be sung in many contexts? Or by many churches? Or over a long period of time? Or all of thesee things?
I agree with Michael that I'm sure no-one sets out to write a "universal" song. I would disagree that obedience and prayerful co-operation are the hallmarks of good song writing. I have heard (and probably written) many poor songs that undoubtendly were written with obedience and prayerful co-operation. They just weren't any good as songs. Songwriting is a skill that requires practice, an understanding of music and lyrics, and in chirstian song writing, theology. No worship song will be written without partnership with God and based on real spiritual experience, but skill in crafting a song matters too.
Songs that last over time (amazing grace, be thou my vision, when I survey etc) tend to be those containing profound theological truths, expressed simply (or Christmas carols - which usually fail on the last point and last because of tradition)
I'd be worried if a church found that it could use a limited number of songs to constantly satisfy its members' desire to worship God over time. Sure, you may experience cycles when an old situation becomes relevant again and you can dust off an old piece because it expressed the right thing at the right time. On the other hand, as we worship God we are called to change and our relationship with Him evolves over time.
If we truly seek Him more then as we come to know Him more deeply through His revelation, our worship (and its word content or style of emotion) will progress and develop to new places too. Some songs are universal because they reflect unchanging characteristics of God...perhaps the ones that are more "timely" and dated are more centred on the worshipper than the One who deserves to be worshipped?
I say we put an embargo on new songs and force people back to the standards ;) lol That'll scare 'em hehe
John 3.16 --> 1 Jn 3.16 This is love.