Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.
Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.
Henry J. van Dyke
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14 comments:
La-la-lala...we adore thee....
sky's singing.....
wow, those words Jen...amazing! Especially "wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!"
Thank YOU dear one!
Question......
Whats your view of today's church music? Do you have any preferences? Do you think God has any preferences?
I know this is a 'hot potato' but hey, hot potatas happen LOL
What think ye?
I love hot potatoes! As long as everyone plays by the rules. No personal attacks. (I only say that because there are some people who lurk here who would love to stir up trouble because they love to see people get upset. But I think most of my regular friends who stop by wouldn't let them have the satisfaction.)
I do have some personal preferences with music, but I also feel that the issue really goes deeper than that. I believe that the music should be God-centered worship. There are too many songs out there that are people-centered. I think we can sing of our feelings about God -- He did make us with emotions! -- but too often it becomes all about us. It's truly about Him and His majesty.
As far as personal preferences, I like many of the old hymns, though some of them are not theologically sound. I think the lyrics should always be accurate and true to the Word. I just love it when passages of scripture are set to music.
God's preferences? Can't speak for Him, but I do think He looks at the heart with this issue as well. So He knows our motives and intents. We must decrease.
Oh! The first time I realized I was singing "scripture" was SO amazing to me. I was a new believer and had been reading the scriptures, and THEN I recognized a song from the scriptures...I paid more attention to what I was singing after that (wish I could remember the song). I also wanted so much for my worship in song to be to God, so whenever a song referred to "Him" because we were singing about Him, I would change the word to YOU and in my heart sing to Him.
That's sooo Him !
I have to admit, I used to not care awhole lot about the music we sang. I just sang along 'cause I liked singing....other than repeating choruses five -seven times. Didn't do that. But i've since learned that many people learn their theology based on the songs they sing. Bad theology in music equates bad theology in Christians. So I dislike songs that teach bad theology. :) Other than that, most anything goes for me.
My swing in this arena has been wide. I hadn't thought too much about it, just sang whatever was served up in church and didn't have cable TV so didn't know about all the options there and didn't listen to the radio so didn't know about CCM. Then....got exposed to various music and enjoyed whatever seemed edifying which included choruses, hymns and CCM too. Then, got involved with some people who shared with us their view of music which included a whole teaching on the evils of rock n roll.....and how the church has taken on the worldly music and how "out of the jungle of voo-doo" this is and we were into this fear thing about anything other than basically Handel's Messiah and acapella scripture singing. This didn't seem right in my gut but we loved these people and they were teaching their children and I guess we just decided to not rock the boat. Part of this teaching was that if a song has a "back beat" that it's straight from hell so that pretty much wiped out most everything out there.
This was a dark period.
About a year later, I was browsing Ebay and came across a set of videos which was a 1997 reunion of the early Jesus People musicians....such as 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire, Lovesong, Andrea Crouch, Keith/Melody Green, Terry Clark etc. This was testimonies of how they found Christ, were transformed by Him and the music that came out of their hearts as a result. These were hippie musicians who honored God with what the spirit was doing in them - God (and His grace) is so manifest on these videos that it set us free from the bondage of what we had come to believe about music.
These videos are called "FIRST LOVE" and I've shared them with many, they are wonderful.
Yes, there are abuses out there, certainly. But God in us guides and discerns what is of Him and what may not be. He is faithful!
xoxoxox
I am not crazy about music that is meant to worship GOD, but sounds seductive and sensual. However, I will not judge those who listen to it, because it just might sound that way to ME. Again, Jesus SEES the heart.
Exactly. I have certain areas of weakness due to my particular history and others may have something different. I am not as free in some areas as in others. The number one directive would be the being loving towards others and taking them into account. I can forego my particular historical issues, as an example, if someone else might be hurt because of a preference of mine. I've experienced personal healing from allowing that, like a stretching. I'm not always as gracious as I'd like to become!
Bax, I'm inclined to agree with you about the sensuality that is in some 'worship' music today. I've seen a video or two of the music at some of the larger, seeker sensitive type churches, and I don't think I could ignore the practice of the pelvic thrust dancing utilized in 'worship'. That's just a given that it's wrong and worldly. I'm not sure we can not judge that.
I'm not saying that we need to start overturning tables and pews if we find ourselves in that type of atmosphere, but talking to the pastor and those organizing the music might be a start.
Notice I did say, "listen". Sometimes I will hear a song that is meant to "worship" but it sounds "sexy". It seems to appeal to the fleshly senses rather than to the spiritual. And I agree, provocative moments are wrong.
I agree, even just listening can be destructive. When something is designed --or even just has the potential-- to take our minds off Christ, it's not to be trifled with.
I guess I'm sorta lost here ...LOL
I don't get it. Why would someone indwelt by Christ even WANT to sound or act sexy? I'm clueless but that's nothing new!
Amen, Sky, amen. Obviously, the only time someone indwelt by Christ should want to sound or act sexy should be with their spouse - privately. I'm reasonably sure that's not what God is looking for in our worship.
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