26 April 2013

Are we throwing out the baby with the bath water?

I was invited to preach recently at a church where they use Baptist Praise and Worship as their songbook. This caused me a little issue as I have been using Songs of Fellowship and others for my song selection over the last twenty years. However, not to be daunted by the challenge, I purchased a second-hand copy  of BPW (not one taken from a local church!) so I could select some hymns/songs for the service and have the right hymn numbers.

I strolled down the lane of nostalgia as I came across countless old hymns and songs that I had left far behind me in my leading services. Names such as Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, Joachim Neander, Timothy Dudley-Smith and many others came flooding back to me.

It seems that in our haste to "sing a new song" we can leave out the richness of those spirit-filled songwriters of yesteryear from our services. I am sure I will be finding a place for them in some of my order of services to come!

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