Sing to the Lord a New Song!
Christian music can be experienced in an extremely wide variety of styles. Composers and lyricists have responded to the call in Psalm 98 to “sing to the Lord a new song” for more than three millennia.
In 2013, Community of Christ published a new hymnal, “Community of Christ Sings.” I was privileged to attend the 2013 Peace Colloquy in Independence, Missouri where the hymnal was introduced and also attended a weekend workshop in Orange, California put on by Lauren Hall and Joey Williams who were both members of the seven-member hymnal steering team. I also attended a workshop put on by another member of the team, the immensely talented organist, pianist and keyboard player: Jan Kraybill. All of these experiences, as well as my own personal experience in congregational singing and spiritual time spent dwelling in the songs has deeply enriched my appreciation for the accomplishment that this hymnal represents.
While Community of Christ Sings is an English language hymnal, its multicultural and international flavor is truly remarkable. Among the 664 hymns are 229 hymns in non-English languages including 93 Spanish and 72 French language hymns. To be honest, I had not even been aware of some of the languages in the hymnal until I began to immerse myself in its music: Arabic, Chichewa, Chinese, Creek (Muscogee), Dutch, French, German, Greek, Gullah, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Icibemba, Japanese, Korean, Lakota, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Shona, Spanish, Swahili, Tahitian, Tamil, Teluga, Xhosa, Yoruba, and Zulu. (My spell check doesn’t even recognize two of these!) Joey Williams of the hymnal steering team traveled to many nations and gathered some of these hymns from Community of Christ members. The recordings of local voices singing these songs that are included among the Community of Christ accompaniment recordings are truly remarkable and carry with them powerful stories and rich testimonies of the deep faith and diversity present with the Community of Christ, a medium-sized denomination with some 250,000 members across 60 nations.
Community of Christ Sings is also remarkable in that it has captured the progressive spirit of the Community of Christ enduring principles and gives voice to sung theology that is at once respectful to our history and prophetic in where it leads us. New poetic phrases like “God’s upside-down kingdom”; “For everyone born”; “Creator of the intertwined”; “till all the jails are empty” and “leftover people” lead us prophetically with a call to justice that is refreshing and clear. Familiar phrases like the “old, old path”; “the visions and blessings of old are returning”; and “on whom for a blessing we call” remind us of a heritage that has brought us to this moment in history where the church is indeed poised to do a marvelous work and a wonder.
Psalm 98
A Psalm.
1 O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
have gained him victory.
2 The Lord has made known his victory;
he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Spiritual Practices for Today
Download or open the Community of Christ app on your smartphone or visit www.cofchrist.org to read today’s Daily Bread and Prayer for Peace.
When have you found God in the stillness?
“Peace, be still” (Mark 4:31).
“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
“He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul” (Psalm 23: 2–3).
What is your focus word this year?
As you listen to the sound of your own breathing, consider the prayer phrase “Jesus, Remember Me.”
Pray: God of Resurrection, we have seen the empty tomb. We have heard your voice in the Garden. We have heard you send us forth even when we were afraid. Fill us with your love and let us become a blessing of resurrection to others we pray in the name of our risen Lord, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
Read Mark 16:9-11 “Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it..”
What word or phrase caught your attention in this passage?
Read the passage again. How is this passage speaking to you today?
Pray the Mission Prayer: God, where will your Spirit lead today? Help me be fully awake and ready to respond. Grant me the courage to risk something new and become a blessing of your love and peace. Amen.
2021 Guiding Question: Are we moving towards Jesus, the peaceful One?