RITING
TIONS | Kevin MacDougall
hy of Grace” by Kris
found point in relation
rs 2,000 years later. In
God and one another,
g out on the very sort
sus celebrating in the
ip songs and sacred
I’ve noticed there is
estions, and a lack of
s.
s wonderful established
our theological and
it’s just that modern
ostly avoiding it.
Psalm, “How long, oh
us are inclined to write
when that’s what we’re
id (or the prophets, or
himself) continues to
his personal hurts and
e choir director and the
n, no less - we tend
y. We don’t detail our
struggles, and we don’t leave open questions
hanging in the air. There’s this unstated set of
rules which tells us such a song would be too
personal, too real, or too much.
I think more of us need to let go of the fear of
being “too much.” Shackled to that fear, we
neglect too much of value.
And to be clear, I’m not talking about lyrics which
mention how rotten we are or how often we fail.
(There are more than enough of those already.)
I’m talking about lyrics which have the courage
to say what hurts, what we don’t understand,
and what we simply aren’t certain of. Lyrics with
questions we don’t feel pressured to answer
or dismiss. I think such content would go a
long way toward deepening our experience
of sacred community - removing the façade
of everything being settled and simple. It’s a
façade which turns so many people off, making
them feel alien in their own congregations, like
they aren’t shiny enough to “get it” the way their
leaders do.
My encouragement to you, the songwriter,
is this:
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