{"id":2479,"date":"2023-03-28T07:19:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T11:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2023-03-28T07:19:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T11:19:30","slug":"colossians-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/28\/colossians-316\/","title":{"rendered":"Colossians 3:16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th<\/sup> verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0
\u201cLet the message of Christ\u00a0dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom\u00a0through psalms,\u00a0hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16).
\u00a0
It\u2019s impossible to imagine Christian ministry without music.
\u00a0
In 1865, a Methodist clergyman named William Booth began to preach on street corners in the slums of London.\u00a0 Since he and his growing band of followers believed they were called to storm the gates of hell, they named themselves the Salvation Army.\u00a0
\u00a0
This ministry wasn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 And it definitely wasn\u2019t safe.
\u00a0
A local builder, Charles William Fry, quietly volunteered himself and his three burly sons to serve as bodyguards.\u00a0 Booth worried how it would look to people if they saw that the preacher needed protection.\u00a0 But Fry countered with an interesting idea.\u00a0 He and his sons all played brass instruments.\u00a0 What if they played spiritual songs while watching Booth\u2019s back?
\u00a0
Thus was born the tradition of the Salvation Army street band.\u00a0 Others showed up with accordions, drums, bells, banjos, and fifes.\u00a0 One observer sighed, \u201cIt sounds as if a brass band\u2019s gone out of its mind.\u201d
\u00a0
Stuffy traditional hymns seemed seriously out of place on the streets.\u00a0 So members of the Army began to write spiritual lyrics to popular songs, many of them right out of local pubs.\u00a0 Here\u2019s to Good Old Whiskey<\/em> was reborn as Storm the Forts of Darkness.\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0
Booth was worried about the propriety of using drinking ballads to bring people to faith.\u00a0 Then one night he heard a beautiful song:\u00a0 Bless His Name, He Sets Me Free.<\/em>\u00a0 As Tim Stafford tells the story, Booth asked about the origin of its haunting melody.\u00a0 The soloist answered, with some embarrassment, \u201cWhy, General Booth, that\u2019s Champagne Charlie is My Name<\/em>.\u201d
\u00a0
\u201cThat settles it,\u201d said Booth.\u00a0 \u201cWhy should the devil have all the best tunes?\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
That\u2019s a great question.\u00a0 Here\u2019s another one: \u00a0If it\u2019s impossible to imagine Christian ministry without music, is it possible to imagine a group of Christians whose members are completely agreed on what constitutes \u201cgood\u201d music?
\u00a0
Since the 1960s, such gatherings have been few and far between.\u00a0 The battle lines of the so-called Worship Wars have been drawn between organs and guitars, choirs and praise teams, quiet reflection and sonic blasts.\u00a0 It\u2019s a rare church leader who hasn\u2019t received at least one note that says something like, \u201cEither the drums leave the sanctuary or I\u2019m outta here!\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
So what does Paul have to say to us from the vantage point of the first century?
\u00a0
Colossians 3:16 is essentially about \u201cthe message of Christ\u201d \u2013 God\u2019s Good News as embodied in the preaching of the apostles.\u00a0 It also happens to be one of the New Testament\u2019s most important prescriptions for worship.\u00a0 Since we\u2019re just a few days away from tackling II Timothy 3:16 \u2013 the Bible\u2019s crowning statement concerning the value of Scripture \u2013 let\u2019s take this opportunity to zero in on Paul\u2019s sentiments concerning music.
\u00a0
In modern parlance, he seems to be a fan of \u201cblended worship\u201d \u2013 that is, a variety of musical motifs.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Paul challenges us to experience \u201cpsalms,\u00a0hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.\u201d\u00a0 The global church\u2019s current musical repertoire is staggering.\u00a0 Today we can come before God with Gregorian chants, revival songs like \u201cHow Great Thou Art,\u201d Bach\u2019s St Matthew Passion<\/em>, classic hymns, Christian rock anthems, Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em>, countless praise choruses, and spirituals like \u201cWade in Water,\u201d which Harriet Tubman used as a coded message to remind runaway slaves to splash through streams in order to confuse the bloodhounds pursuing them.\u00a0 The variety is endless.
\u00a0
There have always been church leaders who have been anxious about music \u2013 and instrumentation in particular. \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t it be wiser to cultivate silence instead of potentially exposing God\u2019s people to Satanic rhythms and cadences?\u00a0
\u00a0
The German Protestant reformer Martin Luther was not one of them.\u00a0
\u00a0
He wrote in his typically frank style, “I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God.\u00a0 Music drives away the Devil and makes people joyful… Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor.\u00a0 A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed… He should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
In the confidence that you are neither a crank nor a clodhopper, let\u2019s ponder the question that troubled William Booth: \u00a0Must followers of Jesus keep their distance from certain kinds of music?
\u00a0
Human beings are incurably musical.\u00a0 It\u2019s estimated that something like 1.6 million new songs are written every year somewhere on planet Earth.\u00a0 The vast majority will never be recorded or heard by more than a handful of people.\u00a0 But they represent the fact that men and women, made in the image of their creator, love to create beautiful things. \u00a0
\u00a0
Art is an expression of common grace \u2013 God\u2019s good gifts that are generously sprinkled across humanity. \u00a0
\u00a0
Which means you don\u2019t have to have correct theology to produce artistic masterpieces.\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0
Followers of Jesus can take joy in architectural marvels that were designed by people who rarely think about God.\u00a0 We can fall in love with paintings that came from the palettes of doubters and skeptics. \u00a0We can be brought to tears every single time by the songs of Les Mis<\/em>, even though it\u2019s not an explicitly religious musical.\u00a0 Why is this so?\u00a0 God is a beautiful God.\u00a0 His image bearers make beautiful things.\u00a0 And appreciating beautiful art is a way of honoring the One who is always its ultimate source.\u00a0
\u00a0
That opens the doors for Christ-followers to savor all kinds of music.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing inherently unspiritual about syncopation, polyrhythms, blues notes, or dissonant chords.\u00a0
\u00a0
But (and yes, there is a but), Paul is quite specific about the role that music should play in the context of worship.\u00a0 Through our songs we are to \u201cteach and admonish each other in all wisdom\u201d with \u201cgratitude in our hearts.\u201d\u00a0 Dissonance should never be the norm in a community of joy.\u00a0 Nor should we welcome lyrics that are silly, superficial, or subversive of the very values we most respect \u2013 such as mercy, grace, humility and compassion.\u00a0 Popular songs that diminish the humanity of other people need not apply.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s worth noting that Jesus and his disciples sang together at the end of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30).\u00a0 Paul and Silas sang while imprisoned in a Philippian jail (Acts 16:25).\u00a0 According to the book of Revelation, music abounds in heaven at this very moment (5:9).\u00a0
\u00a0
Nor can we forget that a host of angels sang on the night of Jesus\u2019 birth.\u00a0
\u00a0
Martin Luther surely had it right when he said, \u201cAs long as we live, there is never enough singing.\u201d
\u00a0
So, if God so leads, feel free to turn up the volume and join in the next song.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLet the message of Christ\u00a0dwell among… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,299,577],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-316-verses","tag-music","tag-salvation-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}