Forgetting the "Story"
This post may seem like more of a rant than anything else, but, please, read it with an open mind.
I love singing. As much as I enjoy leading singing, I enjoy being “just another participant” just as much (sometimes more). To me, there is nothing more beautiful than when a song is sung from the heart by true worshippers.
The song doesn’t even have to be sung “perfectly.” I don’t know as much about music as I would like, but I do know a little bit. I can read music and I know the basic “symbols” found within simple pieces of music. While I may mess up sometimes, I can basically sing any song found in our song books, even if I haven’t seen it before.
Some of the best songs I have ever heard sung included a missed note or rhythm (just try singing “I Shall Not Be Moved” exactly as it’s written!). As much as I try to get those thing correct, they are not the most important thing when we worship God. Our heart and mind are!
That being said, there is a trend in our singing that really bothers me. That trend is leaving out critical verses to a song.
Please know that I am not saying that we have to sing every original verse to every song we sing. If that were the case, we would never finish singing “In Immanuel’s Land” (also called “The Sands of Time”). The song originally included an ode, if you will, to the writer’s home, and was 19 verses long. Other songs contain language that is very archaic and confusing to today’s worshipper. I think changes in these songs is legitimate and helpful.
However, those who lead songs need to be careful. Many congregations only sing “the first and the last” of each song and, many times, this can be detrimental to the meaning of a song.
So many of our songs are actually stories, when read (or sung) through. For example, the song “None of Self and All of Thee” contains a beautiful story of spiritual growth.
O the bitter pain and sorrow
That a time could ever be,
When I proudly said to Jesus,
“All of self, and none of Thee,”
All of self and none of Thee,
All of self and none of Thee,
When I proudly said to Jesus,
“All of self and none of Thee.”Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on th’accursed tree,
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee,”
Some of self and some of Thee,
Some of self and some of Thee,
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self and some of Thee.”Day by day His tender mercy
Healing, helping, full and free,
Bro’t me lower while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee,”
Less of self and more of Thee,
Less of self and more of Thee,
Bro’t me lower while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee.”Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered,
“None of self, and all of Thee,”
None of self and all of Thee,
None of self and all of Thee,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered,
“None of self and all of Thee.”
When we just sing the first verse and last verse, though, we miss the “growth” that is actually the story of the song! We simply jump in our faith from none to ALL. Don’t we all wish we could be so faithful!
Another song that is often a “first verse and last verse” selection is “Trust and Obey.” The song contains five verses, but notice that the first word of the fifth verse is “then” (“Then in fellowship sweet…”). When? After the things that happen in verse 4. But who sings verse 4 of a 5-verse song? Not enough people, in my opinion. To be honest, I don’t think we have to sing all five verses of this song to get the “story,” but we do have to sing 1, 4 and 5.
One final example, and one that should bring the point home. Many congregations sing “The Lord’s My Shepherd.” Many congregations, though, only sing verses 1, 2 and 5 (or 1, 3 and 5). Have we forgotten that this song is just a rewording of the 23rd Psalm? How many of us would get up for the Scripture Reading on Sunday morning and read Psalm 23:1, 3 and 6? That’s how we treat it when we sing, though.
Song leaders, we can do better. Let’s prepare! Let’s make sure we get the entire meaning of the song when we sing. If the song contains a story, let’s tell it! We will be more uplifted when we sing the whole story.
