Day 39: June 12Scripture: Psalm 96 Now that I’m deep into my decrepitude, I find that I miss the old songs. I know their lyrics, I can play most of them on the guitar (as long as they stay within four or five chords), and they bring back wonderful memories. Familiar is so . . . comfortable. Recently I was asking one of the youth in our church who she was listening to on her iPod. “Chris Brown,” she answered. “And I’ve got his autograph!” “Who’s Chris Brown?” I asked. She stared at me as if I were from another planet. “You don’t know who Chris Brown is? He’s from Richmond! Everyone knows who Chris Brown is! Who in the world do you listen to?” I tried to be as hip as my mid-fifties brain could be at the moment. “Uhh . . . Springsteen?” She looked at me even more incredulously. “Who?” she asked. The full weight of old age settled on my soul. “Ask your parents,” I said, and tottered off to find my walker. I like old songs. The problem is that new people aren’t listening to old songs. Although I hate to admit it, there are wonderful new songs being written every day. Yes, many of the old songs are terrific – but so are many of the new ones. And, just as there are bad songs being written today, there were plenty of bad ones “back in the day,” too (remember “McArthur Park?”). Psalm 96 begins, Sing to the Lord a NEW song! Not an old song, not a familiar song, not the same ones we can sing without thinking that we’ve been singing for a thousand years. Sing a new song. Is it possible that God gets bored with hearing the same song over and over and over? Might not the God who permits endless variation and change (just watch the weather!) actually revels in creativity, variation, and progress? There’s absolutely nothing different about the content of the song Psalm 96 encourages us to sing. It’s the same love song about God that the faithful have sung since Adam started tilling the Garden. Chris Brown isn’t saying anything George Gershwin didn’t; Chris Tomlin has the same themes as Charles Wesley. It’s the rhythm, the arrangement, the instrumentation, and the language that are different. Singing new songs doesn’t mean we can’t sing the old ones, too. Singing new songs may lead to new arrangements of the old stuff, and vice versa. What is the new song God is calling us to sing? What old songs to we need to rearrange so a new generation can hear the same message of love, but in a key they can sing? What comfortable old chestnuts of “the way we’ve always done it” need to be retired, or at least placed on sabbatical? What familiarity are we willing to surrender so others can be drawn into the band? Prayer: God of endless variety, forgive us for living so long in the land of the familiar that we have forgotten the excitement of new territory. Give us grace to love those who have not learned to sing your song more than we love our comfort at knowing the tune. Help us sing a new song, so we can sing with a whole new generation of your children, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Brooke Willson |