Sing to the Lord a new song. (Ps. 98:1)
As a teenager, I was a punk rocker. Baggy pants, dog chains, shaved head—the whole deal. To this day, whenever I hear MxPx (one of my favorite punk bands), it transports me back in time to Hillsdale High School. That music was the soundtrack to my life during those years. Music seals, and time locks memories and emotions. Likewise, worship music has the power to help us remember and give thanks for the work of God.
However, God didn’t just work in the past. God is doing new and wonderful works at every season of life. New music has the potential to become the soundtrack for God’s current miracles. In fact, being open to new music may correlate to being open to new moves of God. The psalmist tells us to “sing to the Lord a new song.” Sometimes new wine needs to be held in new wineskins. Fresh praise needs fresh artistic expression. It doesn’t eliminate or invalidate previous songs. It serves as another wave in the endless ocean of God’s goodness flooding into our lives.
The next time you find yourself bristling at new music in church, find some people in your church who like it and ask them what it means to them. Ask them how that song connects them to what God is doing in their lives right now.
Listen to a new worship song.
Jarod Osborne is lead pastor of Pathway [Wesleyan] Church, in Warsaw, Indiana. He is the author of “Jaded Faith” (WPH).
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
