We Sing These Songs?!!

Thy Mercy, My God This is an attempt to bring heart and head to words that reflect astonishment at the grace of Jesus. It’s all about lyrics and the songs we sing in worship. It has come about through off hand comments about musical style and a deepening awareness that God uses and blesses all types of music. There are different people and there are different situations. And God uses music to pull head and heart together, before Him, that we might be stunned by a glimpse of Him whom no one can see.

My church inundates me with songs that are deep, thick, intense, inviting and challenging, and multitudinous. The repertoire is huge and increasing. It’s a mixture of old hymns reworked in places, and new songs written to engage one’s soul and honor one’s Lord. Sometimes the music that goes with these lyrics slays me, sometimes it doesn’t work for me. But the thoughts that keep getting expressed—I wonder how anyone could lead worship or even play in the band.

For example, today we sang an old hymn made new. “Thy Mercy, My God, was written by John Stocker in 1776. Our version was redone by Sandra McCracken in 2001. One verse stopped me, one line almost dropped me.

“Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,

Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;

Dissolved by thy goodness, I fall to the ground,

And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.”

I’m not asking if a person can sing these words with a straight face. I’m wondering if a person can sing these words and not have a catch in the voice, a pause of wondering if any more can be sung. “Dissolved by thy goodness, I fall to the ground….

I think I heard an Anne Lamott quote about worship being dangerous, something about handing out life preservers and seat belts and safety helmets. Singing about the goodness of God is not flip. It is stunning. God’s goodness is the only thing that ever makes my hardness depart. I have no other hope. Who could sing that, who could realize that, and carry on.

We sing other songs that catch me and stop me. Some teach me how to say what is in my heart. Others teach my heart what is in Christ. I plan on sharing more. Sometimes our words of worship only give hints, sometimes they crack open our hearts with God’s mercy and grace.

...And we actually sing these songs?!!!!!