A guitarist probably needs to take care of his or her hands. So should a pianist. I’ve often wondered what I’d do if I lost a hand or two. Or even a finger. I suppose I could still be a singer.

But this last 2 weeks has shown me that losing the use of my hands would drive me crazy.

I was on our Mid Year Conference with EU, the Christian group at Adelaide Uni that I work with half my time. We’re playing touch rugby. For anyone in a touch-playing part of the world, this may seem like no big deal. I come from Sydney, where playing touch footy on a camp is just the normal thing. But here in Adelaide, footy means AFL.

So I’m really happy about the announcement at lunch that we’re going to be playing touch rugby at 3pm. I’m there early, with my trackies and trainers, to pass the footy around a bit and get in the mood. Some of the folk don’t know how to play, and so here’s my chance to help with some rules, tips, and all-round enthusiasm.

Then the game starts. It’s all a bit messy until we get a volunteer ref. We’ve got about 10 people per side, the field is pretty sloped, and I’m running downhill.

I get the ball. I see a gap on the left and I run for it. I have to reach out quite a bit to get through, especially since I’m just under twice the age of many of my opponents. But I’m through, and the ball is down… glory!

But not half as much glory as I was about to get, as I steamed toward the tree inconveniently placed a couple of metres back from the try line. My brakes just aren’t that good. I should have slid.

Instead I went flying into the base of the tree. It was a bit of a blur, but there was pain and numbness in my left hand. I look down, and sure enough, a great big hole, right in the middle, and a reasonable amount of the red stuff.

Most people didn’t realise that there was any major problem, but I took myself off the field, still smiling, but with a VERY sore hand.

Because I’m not wanting sympathy, I’ll spare you the details about everyone looking after me. Needless to say, when you’re one of the leaders, everyone seems to notice when this sort of thing happens. I go off to the local medical centre and get fixed up with a couple of stitches. I had them out just yesterday.

My reflections on this have affected me considerably.
There are basically two…

First, I know that it could’ve been much worse. If the branch had a sharp edge, it could’ve cut tendons or muscles. Of course it could’ve hit me in the face, which was probably what I was trying to avoid by holding out my hand out. I believe my Lord, who controls everything, spared me from what could’ve been much worse. A musician friend joked with me that perhaps God is telling me to give up music so I can play sport. Of course he really meant the opposite.

Second, I now have a nasty wound, which will become a scar and stay with me, in the middle of my left hand. It was a conference on the Cross of Jesus Christ, and whilst sitting at the outdoor chapel at the end of the conference, looking up at this life size cross up on the top of this hill, I was very moved to think of my saviour who was pierced for me. My wound is just a scratch really. Jesus wound was his whole life, for me. His hand was pierced as he exchanged his death for my death. I have this reminder on my hand, that by the grace of God I will carry around with me all my days on the earth.

I thank Him that… “by his wounds I am healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

I’ve started using the word “praise” to describe what we do when singing in church, instead of “worship”.

It’s not really such a big deal. And there are any number of things you can call it! Perhaps most significantly, I’m not saying that worship is not what we’re doing when we are praising. Of course singing is worship! Christian worship that doesn’t involve praise and adoration in singing is probably a bit stifled. And what’s more, when you bring the people of God together, the things they do to the glory of God ARE worship. It’s just that worship is more than singing.

I guess I’m a bit wearied by the prohibition by some people of the word “worship” in relation to the Christian gathering. The argument goes like this: since worship is something that believers need to do in all of life, therefore to talk about the gathering as being the place we come “to worship” is misleading. The parallel has been made with breathing. Since breathing is something that you do in all aspects of your life, you wouldn’t say that you go to church to breathe. It just wouldn’t really describe or differentiate the act of going to church, since breathing is something that is not limited to going to church.

The problem is, worship IS something that describes church and differentiates the gathering from the normal hum-drum of life. When we gather together under the word of God, we metaphorically (and often physically!) get on our knees together, expressing our place as a body before God. Now this is exactly what worship is: bending over or bowing down before God. That’s what we go there to do! To submit ourselves not only in our day-to-day private lives, but also importantly in our lives together. We go as a group to worship.

Now, having said that, the way in which we bow before God in church almost always involves serving one another. And so you could say that you go to church to serve one another. That doesn’t mean that you don’t serve each other when you’re not at church. It’s simply saying that serving one another is one of the reasons you go to church, and this is a perfectly legitimate way to use purpose clauses!

So why have I given up using the word worship, then? Surely I’ve just argued for the importance of that word in relation to the gathering…

I guess it’s because this has in some quarters become a very distracting argument!! I’ll quite freely say let’s stand and worship God as I’m leading singing. But I know there’ll be people who want to correct my language! And that’s for good reason: they’re wanting to make sure we don’t use language carelessly. But I don’t want to have to make a theological justification every time I use the word! Instead, I tend to use the word “praise” now more often, because you can’t really argue with that.

You may be thinking, this is no way to deal with a theological debate, to sweep it under the carpet! That is certainly on my mind. However, my hope is that in time, as we are able to continue to clarify the debate, there will be less tension. As a matter of fact, this year in the EQUIP music training program at Holy Trinity, I led a whole course on the question of worship and how it relates to music. I do think that it is a major topic for musicians and pastors to have clear in their heads. But there is also a time with just getting on with praising the Lord! Sometimes our theological questions actually need to be parked temporarily, while we get on with the crucial business of responding to God himself, the great King who has made us his friend!

Psalm 92:1-3 It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, 2 to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, 3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

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!!