Page 10 - Church Music Quarterly June 2018

begreattohaveasongaboutthisorthatsubject,ora hymnthatftsthisparto theservice’,andthatprovides agoodstartingplace orme.OthertimesI’llbeinspired by reading a Scripture – a psalm, say – and so I’ll work on expressing and expounding it in a song.
CMQ•ThePsal sarearichsourceofi ageryand inspiration.Asaco poserdoyoutendtoconfne yourselftotheso-called‘hy npsal s’,ordoyou
ine the texts ore widely? Is there, for exa ple, an untappedsea inthePsal sofco unalla ent? ST • Yes, defnitely. Over the years I’ve been thinking o worshipas‘theheart’sresponsetothegoodnesso God inthebreadtho humanexperience’.Thisdefnition helps me to ease the disconnect I o ten eel between
the worship I ‘do’ at church – which is invariably happy, problem- ree, and ull o aith and hope – and the worship I’m supposed to be ‘living’ in daily li e, which seems more dominated by con usion, doubt, sorrow and rustration!Weprobablyallneedtoworkatmaking praise, joy and confdence in God a bigger part o our daily lives, but we also need to incorporate our pain
and con usion into our church worship, as is evidenced bythehymnalo theOldTestament,thePsalms.
Sothereisaplacetogetangryinchurch–and notjustatthelengtho thesermon!
CMQ • Psal 103 has been a popular source of inspiration to songwriters for centuries – yourself included!Howdoyoufndso ethingnewtosay when walking upon such well-trodden ground?
ST • As writers, I eel we o ten do little more than scratchthesuraceo theScripturesinourlyrics, andespeciallythePsalms.Wemisstheopportunityto gomuchdeeper.Forexample,youcanmakealovely, warm, worship ul song out o some o the phrases
o Psalm149,butwhyinthemiddleo italldoesthe psalmiststartaskingGodtokillwickedpeople?Isthis an ancient editorial mistake? Or is there some deeper truthtobegleaned romthisapparentdisconnect?
That’sthesorto thingthatreallymotivatesmeto dig deeper. What is the connection in the psalmist’s mindbetweenthesetwoapparentlydisparateimages o God’scare orusandpeople’shatredo God?And how should it shape my thinking?
Incidentally, I’m not sure I’ve got an answer to this particular psalm yet! Except perhaps the knowledge thatevenourhighestjoysthissideo eternitywill(and should)alwaysbetingedwithasenseo dissatisaction,
andayearning orthewrongso thisworldtobe putright.Ormaybeit’sjustthatacknowledging God’scompleteknowledgeo everyparto ourlives does not insulate us rom the rustration o other people making our lives a misery!
CMQ•The odernchurchhastoappealto,
co unicatewithandtoso eextentrepresent anincreasinglydiverserangeofco unities.
Is there a way, do you think, of odern worship songsbeing orepurposefullyinclusive?
ST • I think this is an important question, and in certainareasquiteacontroversialone!However, it’ssomethingweneedtoengagewithi our aith is going to be meaning ul and accessible to all.
Three areas immediately spring to mind when
I think about inclusion: language, style and content. With language I’m not necessarily thinking about the specifc question o , say, gender-inclusive language, butmoregenerallyabouttheaccessibilityo ourlyrics to di erent groups, especially those outside the aith community. I’m as guilty as anyone else o alling into trite, ‘churchy’ language that sounds right but probably meansnothingtoChristianandnon-Christianalike!
Intermso musicalstyle,Idothinkwelackbreadth andcreativity.Technologyhasenabledustoaccessa vast range o wonder ul music, and many o us enjoy that richness o musical expression via the internet, but that range does not seem to be being refected inthemusico theChurch.Andyetintimespast
the church was the place to go to hear the fnest and most innovative artists at work, creating music tothegloryo God.
Andonthesubjecto content,onceagainI’mled bythatdefnitiono worshipIquotedearlier.I inour writing we draw on our experience o li e, not just our experienceo worshipping‘inthemoment’inchurch, thenoursongswillhavearesonance orpeople rom all backgrounds and all perspectives, and will make our aithmorerelevantasweseetheselieexperiences inthecontexto thegoodnesso God.
CMQ•Doesso ebodyproofreadyourlyricsfor liturgicalandbiblicalaccuracy?
ST • Yes. I will never introduce a new song publicly without having passed the lyrics by several people whose judgement and sensibilities I trust – including (butnotexclusively)theologiansandpastors.It’svery easytothinkyou’resayingonething,onlytofndthat
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