sing it again (and again)

We boomers like to complain about today’s worship leaders and their love affair with repetition. Now, I don’t have a problem with it the way some do, but 14 rounds of He is good, good, so good can feel a bit excessive.

Consider a humorous story to illustrate my point:

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well,” said the farmer, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses?” said his wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The farmer said, “Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you “Martha, the cows are in the corn”’ – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN.

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”

— via Mockingbird Ministries blog

I grew up in traditional Baptist churches where hymnbooks were king. We held thick, hardback hymnals in our hands as the minister of music instructed us to sing the first, second, and last verses of each of the selected hymns (IYKYK). “Turn to page 141 in your Baptist Hymnal…” There were usually two or three songs prior to the offering, and one just before the sermon.

I sound like I’m mocking, but I assure you I am not. Something comes alive in a deeper part of my soul when a worship leader spontaneously leads out with an old hymn at our church. I’m not alone, either. Most of the older parishioners in the mix of our gathered saints suddenly raise their voices…and the sound is pure heaven.

Psalm 118 is a worship song the returning Babylonian captives sang at the dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s magnificent temple — one of the great wonders of the world in its day — had been razed to rubble by the invading army of Babylon nearly a century before. While the second temple certainly paled in comparison to the first, the joy those exiles felt when their central place of worship was finished had to be groundshaking.

i could sing of his love forever

Take a look at this psalm. Note how many times the psalmist uses repetition. I count nine lines of verse that are repeated. That may not be as impressive as the twenty-six lines in Psalm 136, but it ranks high nonetheless. The next time someone throws shade on modern worship “and their twelve-minute praise songs,” simply point them to Psalm 118.

This psalm was quite important to Martin Luther’s spiritual formation. He referred to it as “my own beloved psalm.” While in hiding in the Coburg Castle during 1530, Martin Luther spent six months writing a significant commentary on its sacred text. On one of its walls, deep inside the castle, he carefully wrote, “I shall not die, but live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.” Verse seventeen became the confession of his life.

What endeared him to it so?

Why was it chosen as a worship song for the dedication of the temple?

Right away we see the first and last verse are identical:

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

I’m certain returning exiles would appreciate those words, don’t you? How many times have we come through great hardships only to burst out in song when we have been mercifully delivered!

Five times (1,2,3,4,29) the psalmist repeats the line, HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.The number “five” is a grace number. How appropriate that such beautiful words come at us, through us, and out of us as testimonies of such rich, undeserved, marvelous grace.

he is good, good, so good, etc., etc.

The music begins to swell. The key changes. We are on our feet, stirred by the words on the screen: THE LORD IS ON MY SIDE (vv6,7) when THE ENEMY SURROUNDED ME (vv10,11,12). It may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by You. I’m in his courts, no longer weeping by the rivers of Babylon. Hallelujah! Everywhere I look I see evidence of God’s saving mercy. I’m loved by the Savior who will never leave my side nor forsake me to the enemy.

The worship leader reminds the exiles they are standing on holy ground. Plant your flag. Hang your shingle. Make yourself at home. Come inside and TAKE REFUGE IN THE LORD (vv8,9). Why would we look for refuge anywhere else? We are at home with You, Lord. Your address is BETTER (vv8,9) than any other real estate on earth.

Thrice the psalmist boasts, IN THE NAME OF THE LORD I CUT THEM OFF! (vv10,11,12) But lest he or anyone expect to lead out the victory parade, he quickly shifts the focus — also thrice! — to the Almighty:

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly (vv15,16)

As of this writing, it’s Sunday morning. While we ready ourselves for church, Sandy and I are listening to a worship playlist I’ve recently curated. Chris Tomlin is singing “How Great Is Our God” and we are caught remembering a particular Sunday when a pair of pre-school twins sang it in front of the New River Church congregation. Not. A. Dry. Eye. I’m so glad our little children learned how to sing God-words over and over.

Millennia ago, another worship leader wrote these words we are reading today. We may not know who he was, but we know he could surely whip out a worship song that once inspired a Reformer and has spanned the generations since.

Before he laid his pen aside, the clever lyricist added the perfect coda to echo on through the ages.

YOU ARE MY GOD AND I WILL EXTOL YOU (v28)

What else is there to say? Besides:

GIVE THANKS! (vv28,29)

You and I may not agree on everything, but I think we can all agree on this: Some things are worth repeating!

Selah, beloved.

Oh, and keep on singing!