Isaiah 42:10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.

It’s interesting how often the Bible urges us to sing a NEW song. Yet I find that it’s something a lot of churches don’t do very often! I wonder why it is that the songs need to be new?

Perhaps it is not that the songs need to be new. There are many more references just to singing in general as there are to the particular place of singing new material… And clearly if all we did were new songs, we’d struggle to build a repertoire with familiarity that could therefore be sung with gusto. Searching for the next notes in an unfamiliar melody can sometimes be distracting from the task of reflecting on God and his gospel…

But there is something beautiful about a new song. The music charts are evidence of this. The music people buy most is new music. That is no doubt followed in popularity with older music that has the ring of becoming “classic” music. But a distant 3rd would be music that is not very new, and not very good. Have you ever bought one of those compilation albums of past hits with a few familiar tracks, but a majority of tracks you’d previously been unaware of?

I think these Bible passages are tapping into something that is true of people in every age: new music can excite us in new ways. It can be focused on all the same subjects. On the radio this might be romance, unrequited love, partying, dancing, and so on. In the Christian gathering, it is the old, old story of Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of every one of God’s promises. But because it is communicated in a new melody, it brings new enthusiasm, new perspectives, new reminders.

So then, how much is enough?

Everyone has their wardrobe full of clothes that really need to be given away. It’s the same with our song repertoires. For contemporary youth services, I reckon if there’s not a new song in the program every month, it’s probably sounding stale. The evidence will be the enthusiasm with which people sing the songs. Sure, the minister might believe this is the truth that we should sing to each other every week. But perhaps a new tune and a re-wording would bring freshness.

But the other thing to keep in mind is that a new song is an unfamiliar song for a period, until people get to know it. It can take 2-3 sings for a congregation to get into it. And then it might last for another 10 sings, or another 20, or 30, depending on how good the song is, and how small the gaps are between sings.

I reckon if you find a really great song, don’t flog it to death!! Do it a couple of weeks in a row, then rest it for a couple of weeks. Then stagger its use so that it is not ruined by overuse!

At Holy Trinity over the last 2 years, we’ve averaged 15-20 new songs per year. This is quite a lot, I know. But we’ve worked hard at making sure that songs are properly taught, consolidated, and then spaced. If you have 5 songs per service, you can have one brand new one, one that was learnt the previous week, one that was learnt 4 weeks ago, and then 2 well-known favourites. Other weeks might be focused on consolidation. But that’s ok. You’ve got 52 weeks!

There are so many great songs being written these days – make the most of them!!