SONGWRITING
PROPHETIC WORSHIP PART 2 : THE DEEPER WELL | Kevin MacDougall
[ Author ’ s note : This installment of the Songwriting column is not self-contained . It is a true continuation of the column from the October 2020 issue of WM Mag . All that to say … Reading Part 1 first is important .]
“ WHATEVER YOU DID FOR THE LEAST OF THESE … YOU DID IT FOR ME .” Two thousand years later , Jesus ’ words echo powerfully still — a gentle and yet thunderous reminder . They represent the closest he ever came to defining the way of worship , and how we could be a part of it .
We cannot serve God directly ( Ac . 17:24 , 25 ), so we serve God in the place God dwells : people .
And our worship songs need to reflect this . Our songs need to elevate that which God elevates , and advocate for those whom God advocates for . But our songs , more commonly , do not carry that focus .
It ’ s not that we don ’ t still do good things with our songs . We list attributes of God . We talk about what God has done or will do . We seek to uplift and comfort . We cling to promises and hope … But we don ’ t often cling to justice in sacred music . We don ’ t cry out from the margins — and for the margins — of society . And while the things we do are good , there are other things we could do that would unleash creativity and prophetic gifting in our time .
We have too often let the sort of profound art which truly challenges us be the domain of those outside the church . And where sacred poets of old once occupied “ the edge of the inside ,” as revolutionaries within the community of faith , we have typically been comfortable sticking to the inside entirely . We ’ ve cozied up to the priests and pastors , and left behind our former vantage — where sacred poetry once stood in stark contrast to the status quo , and served to author a huge chunk of the Bible in the process . And my prayerful intuition has been that we ’ re missing out on the nourishment of a deeper well as a result . A prophetic platform that poets like us have occupied for thousands of years .
To be clear , the songs are still being written , whether they ’ re being written by worship songwriters or not . The songs are still being sung , even if they aren ’ t being sung in our churches . This is ongoing because God ’ s Spirit is being poured out on all people ( Jl . 2:28- 32 ; Ac . 2 ), and where that still makes a lot of Christians uneasy , I just wonder why we would ever not want that ongoing revolution to be happening in our churches ? Most of us have experienced these transcendent , prophetic moments out in the world , in “ secular ” venues . We ’ ve been moved and formed by them … and yet we still fear them encroaching on our
church services .
The very place we say we want to see God move , we try to avoid the context in which that movement occurs .
And I guess all I ’ m saying is that it ’ s time to ask why . It ’ s time to begin the process of opening ourselves up as artists , so that we might craft art which moves and shapes us in the profound ways we ’ ve yet to imagine .
BUT WAIT . THAT WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING … One question which arises from reading this series is sure to be something like this : “ Are you saying we should abandon the tradition of our corporate ‘ singing to one another in psalms , hymns and spiritual songs ?’” And no , I am not . But I am saying that congregational singing does not define “ worship .” And , while we cannot do the work of justice for the least of these by simply singing , if we make some room within our songs and times of sacred music for how worship is actually defined and unwrapped by Jesus , we will be building a bridge home . Not just to better thinking , but better doing . We will be singing our prophetic values , and putting our treasure where our hearts need to be . We will learn together , as a community , to “ hunger and thirst for justice .”
And as Jesus promised , we will be filled , because that is an appetite he desires to satisfy .