{"id":237,"date":"2024-01-03T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/messagemediummessenger\/?p=237"},"modified":"2024-01-02T11:41:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T16:41:56","slug":"worship-experiment-studying-psalms-guide-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/messagemediummessenger\/2024\/01\/worship-experiment-studying-psalms-guide-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"A Worship Experiment: Studying the Psalms as a Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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The worship wars<\/a> of the 2000s are over. Rock-n-Roll sounds dominate our church landscape. Gone are those who can ride the bucking bronco of a pipe organ in favor of those who can get the most out of a guitar amp and pedalboard. Choirs are for big gospel numbers and not for every Sunday. The music called \u201cworship\u201d now gets played on the radio, and in some markets is played on four or more radio stations (WAY-FM<\/a>, K-LOVE<\/a>, The Fish (Salem)<\/a>, Moody<\/a>, Bott<\/a>, etc.) [If you don\u2019t know about the \u201cworship wars\u201d, Ponder Anew has some interesting reflections and thoughts here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.]<\/div>\n

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As a \u201cchild of the 1980s\u201d who loved \u201cGreat is the Lord<\/a>\u201d, \u201cHe is Exalted<\/a>\u201d, \u201c40<\/a>\u201d, and a ton of others, I was and am all for \u201csinging a new song\u201d but I wonder what we\u2019ve lost? I spent hours listening to greater minds than mine debating the transcendence of God versus the intimacy of God as it relates to music, worship, the church, evangelism, and cultural transformation. Here we are 30 years later and I have one question:<\/div>\n

Are we closer to Christ because of the decisions the church writ large has made?<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

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Since that time I\u2019ve wondered if the Psalms could help us. The Holy Spirit included 150 songs in a hymnal smack dab in the middle of the Word of God. Do the themes of these songs help us to see how to worship in \u201cspirit and truth<\/a>\u201d? What if we looked at them more poetically and as lyrics rather than breaking down every not and tittle of their Hebrew?<\/div>\n

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For the last few years I have been kicking around in the Psalms like a man walking an old piece of family property being surprised by the flora and fauna, arrowheads in the soil, and the stories of all who\u2019ve lived there.<\/div>\n

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For my personal growth and edification, I want to perform an experiment in the Psalms. You\u2019re welcome to eavesdrop and more.\u00a0 Please accept my invitation to the conversation.<\/div>\n

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As an experiment, here are my hypotheses:<\/div>\n\n\n***
** God (The Trinity) is worthy of our worship not just because of all the things He has done for us but because of His character and His status as the one true God.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
** \n
** Worship is not a spectator activity. We are to be involved, daily, personally, and yes, musically.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
** \n
** ***The Psalms as a whole hold the secret to the mix and blend of transcendence versus intimacy.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n

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We should heed their example as a whole not in one off fashion.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

Each week, I intend to examine one Psalm as a piece of music. I will lean on Spurgeon<\/a>, Lewis<\/a>, Longman<\/a>, and others, but will approach the Psalms not<\/em> as a string of theological words and phrases, but as lyrics. I will also track a number of factors as a way of understanding the entire Psaltry:<\/div>\n\nWho is the attributed writer?<\/li>\nFrom whose perspective do we sing?<\/li>\nTo whom are we singing?<\/li>\nWhat is the ultimate purpose of the Psalm?<\/li>\nWhat key words and phrases do we need to walk way with?<\/li>\nOn a subjective scale of 1-10 with 1 being intimate and 10 being transcendent, how does the writer view God?<\/li>\nHow many times are humans mentioned?<\/li>\nHow many times is God mentioned?<\/li>\nHow many times is God\u2019s word mentioned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

In addition to a view of one Psalm per article, I will look at one modern worship song that reflects the same theme, one that tries to and misses according to my own subjective viewpoint, and one classic hymn that deserves our consideration again. These, too, will be tracked in the same spreadsheet as the Psalms for the sake of comparison.<\/div>\n

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I have delayed beginning this experiment because I feel silly. I love the movie, \u201cDead Poets Society,<\/a>\u201d despite its faults and tragedies. When the boys open up J. Evans Pritchard\u2019s fictional textbook and read about plotting the greatness of the poem along the X and Y axises, I, too, want to rip the preface from the book and figure out a way to \u201csuck the marrow out of life<\/a>.\u201d I don\u2019t want to repeat this error with the greatest book of poetry ever written; I just want to study it to learn how to worship better and deeper. I don\u2019t intend to put the Word of God in a box or simmer it down to a foolish collection of marks on a page. I want to expand my understanding, and perhaps yours, of our best examples for how to worship.<\/div>\n***
** ***<\/div>\n