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Does anyone sense a burden to write songs of lamentations?
Are we not a kingdom of priests- a royal preisthood - all of us? Why are the Priests not lamenting at the alter? Is there a place in our churches where the pulpit would become the alter of incense and intercession? or will there be only a very very few that will go this way? or is this rather to be a secret place - hidden in the closet - between the priest alone and His/Her God?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on -
It's hard to do songs of lamentation in a congregational setting, but I feel like writing sad songs all the time. Kind of like Natalie Merchant, I'm drawn to this mood / style.
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Permalink Reply by gary farquharson on -
Hi Stevo - in my experience this sort of group expression/burden gets relegated to barns/house garages and peoples living rooms at home ... i dont think this is a bad thing at all ... i shall listen to Natalie Merchant .... Ive written lamentful worship songs most of my life ...( ive tried to get away from it) ... i'm by nature a balance of both meloncolic and joyful - however i need to gaurd against being too sorrowful which is easy - just look around.
I read once that this life is the only oppertunity we shall have to suffer.. that sort of suffering which ''...fills up that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.'' Even though there is a mournful type 'mood/style' that you mentioned and can be 'enjoyed' because it echoes part of the human experience - it is important that it doesnt just stay there thus turning into mere sentiment ... but finds physical/practical expression in ''...feeding the hungry... visiting the widows and orphans in their distress...'' etc.
Please stay in touch i would like to hear some of your songs if you have written any
Yours in Jesus
gary
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Permalink Reply by gary farquharson on
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Ps ... you cannot make a congregation do this either .... they can catch it ...but you cannot engineer 'spirit and truth' on any level if indeed the sorrow we have has come from God in the first place. And is not a deep dissatisfaction/irritability/dissillusionment that has come from our own hearts because things are not as we would want them to be...
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Permalink Reply by Alex Morris on -
Next semester at seminary I'm going to be taking a Hebrew class on the Psalms, and one of the projects I hope will eventually come out of that is a collection of Psalm settings based on careful exegesis of a number of Psalms of different genres (lament, thanksgiving, praise, royal/messianic, etc.) in their entirety (as opposed to just cherry-picking a couple of verses out of a Psalm and putting a melody to it).
What I hope to be able to do is study a number of Psalms in the original language and turn the fruit of that study into congregational worship songs that express whatever God was moving the Psalmists to express but can be used in the context of Christian worship.
One lament Psalm that I might take a crack at is Psalm 74, which is a "corporate lament" and therefore perhaps a better candidate for congregational worship.
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on
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I'm still struggling to find the right time/context to do this type of song. A liturgical tradition will find it easier by creating a whole theme that incorporates it.
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Permalink Reply by gary farquharson on
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Hmm - perhaps it may not be as simple as that my brother ... see my comment to alex below ...
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Permalink Reply by gary farquharson on
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Hi Alex - ''...and the Word became flesh and dwelt amoungs us...'' One of the most important works of the Holy Spirit is to brood over the 'seed' of God that He has planted within us until it becomes 'fleshed' in our lives ... until it becomes real; eternal;Himself ... in us. When David wrote psalm 74 he was in the crucible of God's making. When John in the Revelation was given a book to eat - it was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his inner parts .. These revealings that God gives us are firstly very sweet and we receive them with great joy. However the outworking of these things in our life can be very bitter. But if we yeild to Him He does produce this thing in us which is of Himself which the world cannot give - patience, peace and joy.
I think you ask a hard thing to want to have a crack at psalm 74.... The Spirit may well ' ...drive you into the wilderness', where these things shall be forged in. If you understand the ways of God this should not alarm you as you would already have experienced His gracious dealings. All the chaos we are beginning to see emerge all around us in the west are the beginnings of the shakings of God. And as a wise man said, When God starts to shake all things the only safe place will be IN the SHAKER. So let us learn to retreat and hide there ... in the shadow of His wings. It is only there that we shall learn to worship in Spirit and Truth. Jesus said, 'all that my Father has not planted will be rooted up.' Perhaps my own lamentation should begin with those things in my life that live and thrive but the Father has not planted.
God bless you friend
=)
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Permalink Reply by gary farquharson on
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P.S. ...the reason why the dealings of God become so bitter to us is because my self-life apposes the things of the Spirit vehemently.... ''The flesh waaaaaaars... against the Spirit and the Spirit waaaaaaars... against the flesh''. It is the old, old story of '''The Great I AM versus the great i am''. ''...we shall not have this Man to rule over us...''
=(
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Permalink Reply by Greg Moore on -
Generally speaking, most songs of lamentation seem to be made to listen to rather than to sing. But a full life in Christ includes a lot of lamentation, a lot of repentance from goofup and just plain sin, a lot of yearning and desire for God's will to be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Yet as quickly as I say this, I am reminded that a huge segment of Christianity begins every service with "kyrie eleison" - Lord, have mercy (curiously, the Latin mass begins with Greek words). Then as the service unfolds, the mercy is revealed through the Scriptures spoken and sung.
I've written Psalm 73, the whole thing, but have yet to sing it in church. I lost my voice after writing it, had an operation, and am finally getting the notes back to sing it well, and will post it soon. On my Profile I've got the prayer of Habakkuk and the lament of Elijah - you might take a listen to see one man's way of using the lament.
Thank you for bringing up this subject. I hope that it becomes a rich field of replies and discussion.
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on
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An interesting thing to note, a lot of the lament Psalms ended on a positive note. They start off on a difficult note and often end up with a the writer encouraging Himself because He knows that God will remedy the situation.
But it would be interesting to note how many of the Psalms are laments and how many are encouragement and so on. If all we do are lament songs, that would seem to be out of proportion.
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Permalink Reply by Greg Moore on
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Few songs are written in minor keys that do not "visit" the relative major key (E min/G major, both one sharp. For instance, "What Child is this..." starts minor, but its chorus "This, this is Christ the King" goes up to G major). Likewise, major-key songs gain depth from borrowing chords from the minor keys.
Sometimes in contemporary Christian music I hear a disturbing sort of lukewarming which modifies every chord into a "added 2" or a suspension, or a compound of two or three chords, releasing harmonies found in classical and lazz music, but often applied haphazardly. Too many harmonies that are neither major nor minor (or mixolydian or dorian, or some pure scale) can result in music that does not feel any emotion pungently, insufficient for either lamentation or celebration.
A heavy portion of Psalms are laments (a quick Google of the subject tells me 67, out of 150, about 45%). I know only one that ends sadly, Psalm 88 ("...darkness is my only friend."). The rest affirm God's goodness and hope of redemption, vindication, or something positive.
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