I just came across this great quote on the lack of laments in most Christian worship settings.<\/p>\n
Except for denominations committed to singing every psalm in chant, paraphrase, or hymn, contemporary hymnists and hymnals prefer to celebrate God as creator and thank God as liberator rather than to lament to the God who listens<\/strong>. … Perhaps this selection also says something about the theological climate in the mainstream churches in recent decades. Put in commercial terms, in the competitive denominational marketplace of the twenty-first century, somber doesn\u2019t sell. We prefer to sin and repent, lament and die in silent privacy<\/strong> [emphasis added].[1]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For more on reclaiming lament in worship see Calvin Seerveld, \u201cWhy We Need to Learn to Cry in Church:\u00a0Reclaiming the Psalms of Lament,\u201din Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship<\/a><\/p>\n
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[1] W. Sibley Towner, \u201cWithout Our Aid He Did Us Make\u201d: Singing the Meaning of the Psalms,\u201d in A God So Near: Essays on Old Testament Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller,<\/a><\/em> ed. Brent A. Strawn and Nancy R. Bowen (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 33.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just came across this great quote on the lack of laments in most Christian worship settings. Except for denominations committed to singing every psalm in chant, paraphrase, or hymn, contemporary hymnists and hymnals prefer to celebrate God as creator and thank God as liberator rather than to lament to the God who listens. … …<\/p>\n