For God Alone: Singing New Songs

Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! (Psalm 96:1)

The Bible records nearly 200 songs of all kinds - canticles, victory songs, hymns of praise, laments, and, of course, psalms - and includes many more references to singing, and to the singing of new songs. While the first reference to music in the Bible is recorded in Genesis 4:21 (Jubal, the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe), the first song in the Bible is the Song of Moses, recorded both in Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32, and is the glorious retelling of Israel’s triumphant exodus from Egypt following four hundred years of slavery.

I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. (Exodus 15:1b-3)

Not only is the singing of new songs a recurring theme throughout all of scripture, but the singing of new songs continues into eternity.

And they (the four living creatures and twenty-four elders) sang a new song. (Revelation 5:9).

The past nearly three decades have brought, not hundreds, but tens of thousands of new songs before the worshipping congregation. And, as I gaze toward the horizon (through YouTube, of course), this number is showing no signs of decreasing, but increasing at a very rapid pace.

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

Most Wednesday’s over the past nearly four decades, I have placed at least one - and, at times, several new pieces of music before my choirs. Additionally, each season, my choirs have seen a smattering of pieces - or a collection here and there - part of an upcoming concert event.

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

Over the course of my three degrees in music, each semester brought at least one - and, usually, two or three folders of new music. The choral director (James Woodward, Robert Burton, and Ken Fulton) then led his choirs on a systematic journey of learning literally scores of music. While some of this music was time-honored choral literature, it was, more often than not, new to those choirs at OBU, SWBTS, and LSU, and demanded of us weeks of intense study and rehearsal as individually and collectively we journeyed toward the anticipated performance date.

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

For years, many Baptist churches invested significant resources in teaching congregations new songs through the so-called Hymn of the Month. Each month, music ministers and teachers taught each choir - and ultimately the congregation a new hymn. Those of us who have continued this practice are now including current songs of worship that have become part of our respective congregation’s worship vocabulary.

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

Tomorrow afternoon, I will sing a new song (to me, anyway) as we worship God while celebrating the life of a dear saint and beloved brother in Christ. (And, as most in music ministry will attest, this will not be the first time this singer has learned a new hymn or gospel song for a funeral or memorial service!)

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

When I first obtained my 1975 Baptist Hymnal as a college freshman, a required music theory text at Oklahoma Baptist University eons ago, I began my personal journey of learning each hymn in that hymnal. (Every. Single. One.) In a practice room in Ford Music Hall, on the southeast corner of campus, I placed the hymnal on the piano’s music stand, and started playing and singing every hymn: from Holy, Holy, Holy (1), to The Star-Spangled Banner (512). Along with all the hymns I had learned in my missionary parent’s home while sitting next to my sister, Debbie, on the piano bench, (in case you’re wondering - it was a Baldwin Acrosonic), I learned new hymns like Because I Have Been Given Much (414 - SEMINARY), His Gentle Look (318 - WOODLAND), When the Church of Jesus (319 - KING’S WESTON), and even God of Earth and Outer Space (20 - ABERYSTWYTH), thanks to Thad Roberts, Jr.! I discovered the difference between OLD 100th (7) and OLD 100th ‘altered’ (6), and learned to sing - and to love singing the Gloria Patri (4 and 5). And, it was during that time that I discovered my first favorite hymn tune - HYFRYDOL, and much more. Indeed, I learned to love hymnology and congregational song as I sang through my now well-worn Baptist Hymnal 1975 in Ford Music Hall! (Colossians 3:16-17)

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

And, yet, even with the biblical mandate to … sing to the LORD a new song - I have discovered that Christians old AND young are resistant to the singing of new songs, whether fresh off the press (aka Hillsong United, Elevation Church, Bethel, Rend Collective, etc.), or old songs not yet known. (And, with time and age, this once eager young musician-of-the-church has grown a bit resistant as well.) A pastor friend and partner-in-ministry once reminded me that most, if not all members on the pew are plagued with a syndrome called: “we know what we like and we like what we know.” What my friend was saying was, even on our better days, we are still a provincial people, and prefer our respective comfort zones over new peoples, places, and, in this case, SONGS. And, yet, we are admonished by God … to sing to the LORD a new song.

Another pastor and former colleague once told me that I had (have) the hardest job of any pastor on staff. When I resisted, reminding him that he was the senior pastor, he continued saying that all members on the pew have an opinion about music - and they all think they are right. I do not know if this thought was original to Gene, but it certainly has rung true thousands of times over the past years in music ministry. Everyone has an opinion about music, and they all think they are right.

From time to time, I enjoy listening John Zech’s two-minute daily radio program, Composers Datebook, heard on NPR. His last line of every program is “…reminding you that all music was once new.” Perhaps, the Christian church could adopt his saying and press forward into eternity … singing to the LORD new songs with joy, exuberance, and, as Wesley admonished, lustily!

Zephaniah, the minor prophet, reminds us that God will exult over (us) with loud singing (3:17). If that same God has required of us to … sing to Him a new song, songs that we will quite likely be singing in heaven, then we had best get learning and singing new songs even as we do with the familiar songs, giving God all the glory - and always with gratitude. How lovely it would be if we all simply sang the new and the old songs with zeal, sincerity, passion, and truth, as one congregational voice each Lord’s Day. After all, we will do just that for all eternity in heaven, so, best get started now!

When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride,

It is as tho’ the whole creation cried Alleluia!

How often, making music, we have found a new dimension in the world of sound,

As worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia!

So has the church in liturgy and song, in faith and love, thro’ centuries of wrong,

Borne witness to the truth in every tongue, Alleluia!

And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night when utmost evil strove against the light?

Then let us SING, for whom He won the fight: Alleluia!

Let every instrument be tuned for praise! Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise

And may God give us faith to sing always Alleluia! 

(Fred Pratt Green)

© 2018 Paul R. Magyar, D.M.A.

Soli Deo Gloria