Pawpaw, Theology, and Worship.

{Insert obligatory comment about time from last post until now… then insert obligatory disclaimer that current trend of blogging may or may not last}

The day is etched in my mind. I was home on Christmas break during my sophomore year of college. My family was gathered around the dining room table, during an unusually warm Thanksgiving day. Like every year, there was a separate children’s table, where for my entire life I had been forced to sit. This year was different, because this year, I finally made it to sit at the adult table. For the first time in my life, my voice was valid at the family table and I was finally mature enough to enjoy the company of my elders.

After the feast was finished, but before we retired to the living room to watch the Lions lose another football game, my family remained at the table paralyzed by all the food we had devoured. It was that “too full to move” mentality that walks the fence between shear laziness and pure contentment. While sitting there, our family began to tell old stories about the past. We laughed loudly, and at some points cried softly as we remembered my grandmother, Meemaw, who had recently passed away. My grandfather, however, remained at the table. He sat quietly, requiring a lot of help and assistance throughout the entire meal. At the time, he was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s with very little, if any, ability to care for himself. He had virtually no interaction with us that day, and chances are, he didn’t even know who we were.

As our stories began to fade, and as the adults grew ready for an afternoon nap, one of my younger cousins, George, grew restless at the children’s table. As he began to wonder around the house, he ended up at the family piano, playing some of the melodies he had been learning at his piano lessons. This quickly grew into an entire family affair. Before you knew it my mom was at the piano, playing the old hymns of the church.

Then, out of nowhere, Pawpaw began singing alongside all of us! He joined in, quietly, but assuredly, singing the lyrics of those old Christians hymns. The songs that he had learned in his childhood were now sung with child-like innocence. It is a moment forever etched into my mind.

If you have spent any time recently in the church, you know of the worship wars that unfortunately divide many within the body of Christ. Today, I’m not trying to make an argument for or against a certain type of worship. All are valid and have a place in the church. Rather, today, I want to call attention to another aspect of what has divided so many of us.

For hundreds of years, people developed, retained, and grew their theology from songs being sung and taught to them by rote. John Wesley, one of my spiritual forefather’s, knew how songs impacted the lives of people. This is why he and his brother, Charles, wrote such theologically charged songs at the end of the 18th century. When Charles Wesley wrote, “And Can It Be that I Should Gain,” he was writing his theology of atonement, love, and soteriology.

Other examples of this come from Spirituals written and developed by African American’s during slavery. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” for example, was much more than a song about freedom. It tells a theology… a theology of liberation. “Amazing Grace,” is more than just a song about grace. It tells a theology. A theology of grace.

Unquestionably, this current generation, my generation, more than any other generation, is rooted in the art of music. Music is everywhere. Music is not just a part of culture, it dominates our culture. Yet, today, I’m forced to ask the question, “What theology is being taught by the songs we sing in our churches today?”

Please don’t hear me advocating for the hymns of old. For surely, there are theologically terrible hymns from antiquity. At the same time, there are theologically rich songs being written all over my home city, Nashville, today. We must learn to engage the lyrics of what we sing. We can’t become enamored with a key change or a catchy melody. Instead, we must become aware of what the words being sung are teaching us.

This week at church, read the words. Ask questions. Learn from the words. Grow from the words. Let the words work on your soul. Never neglect the practice of worship. But always be reflexive (or reflective) on the words we sing, and the subsequent theology being derived.

In Colossians 3:16 Paul says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

When you come to the day, in childlike innocence, like my PawPaw, what will be the words you recognize? What words will dominate your inmost being? What words and theology are forming you?