SONGW
MAKING ROOM FOR QUES
It’s often said that worship music is prayer set
to song.
—From "The Geograp
Rocke & Joel Van Dyke
As anyone who has ever prayed before knows,
prayer brings with it a Divine mystery. It’s a
dialog we enter that’s messy and untamed,
and that’s part of what makes it important.
But is that “messy, untamed Divine mystery”
true of the songs we hear in church? And is it
representative of the songs we write?
Consider:
I think this raises a pro
to our role as songwrite
our songs, we sing to
but we might be missin
of dynamic we see Je
gospels. In the worsh
music I hear all over,
specifically a lack of qu
room made for question
"Jesus was asked 183 questions in the Gospels,
but he only answered three of them directly:
one concerning his authority, another about
being a king, and the third about how to pray.
Jesus reframed questions into stories, riddles,
dramatic theater, or he simply remained silent,
but did not feel compelled to offer answers. We
are convinced that Jesus wanted to subvert
our human addiction to explanations wherever
possible, opening us up to the possibility of
communion with the Father and the promise of
transformation that such communion holds for
us all.”
It’s strange. We have thi
ethic of questions in
ecclesiological history…
worship songwriting is m
David cries out in the
Lord?” But I think few of
something similar, even
feeling. And where Dav
Mary, or Paul, or Jesus
show vulnerability, listing
his uncertainties - for th
ears of the congregatio
to keep things more tid
40
June 2020