I rather like the Psalmist’s view of a good new tune. The New Revised Standard Version of my text says: ‘play skilfully on the strings with loud shouts.’ It reminds me of the Scratch Mozart Requiem in 2004, when we had the support of the two schools’ orchestras and choirs and the twenty-five tenors cheerfully bellowed their top G’s and A’s. As a performer, I like a good loud tune, evidence, if it were necessary, that the Psalms were written by performers. The Friends of the Music in general, on the other hand, may be thought to boast so refined a delicacy of taste as would reject the concept of a skilful song involving loud shouts. I do not myself suppose that God minds either way. But whatever the Psalmist thought, I do not .suggest that loudness is enough.
I have the same view when it comes to preaching the Gospel, We are faced today with some in the Anglican Communion who wish us to shout the name of Jesus at an unresponsive world, and who want to judge our faith by the size of our congregations. Such people also favour a very narrow interpretation of the Gospel, and rules to ensure that they gain the obedience they feel their due. The effect is to promote a blinkered approach to a creed which ought to be based on freedom and release from spiritual oppression. So many think the Church should be confined to saints, when it is there to serve sinners.
It seems important to me to repudiate the view, which is not confined to the religious, that the louder you shout the more likely you are to be right. I also want to deny the view that everybody has to be identical in religious opinions. The real problem is the demand of so many Christians that everybody should agree with them on subjects about which no-one can be certain. That is not what Christianity is about. It is about loving God and loving others (and loving oneself in due measure). It is about relationships, not about obeying rules, whoever may lay them down. Love does not have rules; it includes everybody. That is why there is always room for a new song, even though it may be a bit louder than we would prefer at times. Though we may find new ways of presenting the Gospel and praising God, our fundamental message does not change if it is to be true to the Spirit of Jesus. It is a message of love that spreads to every individual soul, however shy and isolated from us or, on the other hand, however comfortable with the noise of new songs. It is a message that all are welcome in this church, whether you come for the Bible, the prayers, or the sermon, or just for the music.
Amen
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