Dr Paul Allen

While German bombers raided southern England, the Church of England raided Psalm 58.1 In early July of 1917, the Lower House of the Canterbury Convocation passed liturgical reform to update the church’s psalter. That update excised from the psalter several individual verses calling for God’s judgment on the wicked, and the one psalm to be removed entirely was Psalm 58. This edit came just days after German Gotha planes had killed hundreds, including women and children, in London and the southeast of England. The bishops headed off using these psalms as reprisal refrains against the Germans by removing them from the psalter. Among the prayers removed were : “O God, break the teeth in their mouths” (Ps 58:6) and “Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child that never sees the sun” (Ps 58:8). In justification of this psalter edit, one writer said that these imprecatory psalms include, “wild screams of barbaric rage in which reason, morality, respect for ...

David Mathis Have you ever wondered why we Christians so often sing about Jesus’s blood? It’s a very strange thing to emphasize, is it not? Not simply the cross and his death, but his blood. Just last Sunday, our church sang twice about the blood of Jesus. First in an old hymn: “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?” Then in a newer song: “By his blood and in his name, in his freedom I am free.” Growing up, I often sang, “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-workin’ pow’r in the blood of the Lamb.” That was my dad’s favourite. Or one that many of us know: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” We Bible-believing Christians do not simply recognize the reality of Jesus’s blood and refer on occasion to Jesus’s blood, but we sing about it. We glory in it. That is, in a spirit of worship, in declaring Jesus’s worth to each other, and in praising him for his greatness, we often sing about the otherwise morbid topic of blood. Have you ever stopped ...

As a subject, Christianity is everywhere in pop music today. Whether in Kendrick Lamar’s new album, Eminem’s rapping about Jesus, Gang of Youth’s expletive-heavy faith reflections, or the growing number of LGBT+ folk singers who grew up in the church and now critique it through music (e.g., Julien Baker, Semler’s Preacher’s Kid, or Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter), the world’s largest religion is an unsurprisingly frequent inspiration in musical art. But the music that engages or references Christianity isn’t “Christian music,” just as movies that include Christian themes (though welcome!) aren’t “Christian movies.” And while it’s unhelpful to draw fixed borders around a definition of what Christian music is or can be, some categorical boundaries are helpful. Those boundaries have a lot to do with worshipful intent: Is the music coming from an earnest desire to glorify Christ and an authentic, unapologetic love for God’s Word? Even if it’s not in the “worship genre” (whatever that is)...

  Exodus 15:19–21  “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea’ ” (vv. 20–21). The Song of Moses did not belong only to Moses, but all the people of Israel sang it, as indicated in Exodus 15:1. But how did Moses teach it to the whole company of Israelites, which numbered six hundred thousand men, plus their wives and children, plus many people who had joined the nation in leaving Egypt (see 12:37–38)? Today’s passage gives us at least part of the answer. After mentioning what happened to Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea one more time, Moses says that the women, led by his sister Miriam, sang and danced (15:19–20). Specifically, Moses says that Miriam sang the song to the women of Israel (v. 21), and the sense here is that she was teaching them the song by s...

Tis the season when Christians around the world engage in singing Christmas carols - the phrase - "Tis the season” comes from the lyrics of the 1862 Christmas carol “Deck the Halls”. Here are nine things you should know about this Christmas tradition. 1. Carols weren’t always spiritual (though they mostly are now). The word carol originated around A.D. 1300 from the Old French word “carole,” which referred to a “kind of dance in a ring, [a] round dance accompanied by singers.” It originally was used to refer to any festive songs and only later became associated with the Christmas holiday and religious music. Today, carols are almost exclusively associated with Christian holidays—especially Christmas, but also Advent and Easter. 2. Carolers caroling the caroled. A person who sings carols is a caroler. Singing carols is known as caroling. And having sung a carol or (having been sung to) is to have caroled or to have been caroled. 3. The first Christmas carol was taken from the Bible...

  Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heav’nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These 25 words, known to many around the world today as “The Doxology,” comprise what is likely the single best-known verse of all Christian hymnology and poetry. On the surface, these lyrics are surprisingly modest and memorable. Few of us remember first hearing them, and few recall straining to learn them. Yet, as simple and accessible as these four lines are, Christians have been singing them now for more than three centuries. Because simple doesn’t mean shallow. Plain does not exclude profound. Which is one of the striking truths at the heart of our faith — and one of the great pieces of evidence for its truth — from the Gospel of John to the early creeds, to the most widely known and enduring lyrics we share with the global church today. “The greatest realities about God and his world can be captured in the humblest of terms.”...

One’s mind can’t help but travel to Philippi in Acts 16 . As Paul and Silas sit in a jail cell with bloody and torn backs, awaiting their certain death, they feel led by the spirit to sing hymns. We don’t know what their intent was. Were they attempting to evangelize their fellow prisoners? If they were, it worked. Were they attempting to encourage one another?  I’m sure that it was encouraging. Perhaps they didn’t know what to say and were probably concerned that they were about to die, and the Holy Spirit inspired them to sing. Regardless, in the moment of deep pain and distress, they resorted to hymns. There are four reasons why, when our hearts are troubled, when we don’t know how to help someone who is in distress, sometimes fewer words and perhaps singing is the right answer.  Here are four reasons why. It is a command We are commanded to sing. All over Scripture, the Bible tells us to sing. Psalm 96 says, “ Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the L...

At our church , everyone shows up ready to sing with full hearts each Sunday morning. Nobody arrives after a tense car ride to church, or a difficult morning with children, or a late night of studying, or a long week of work. Everyone is well-rested and eager to make melody to God . Except, not really. Each Sunday, a good portion of our churches gather for worship with genuine anticipation for singing , praying, and hearing the word. But not everyone. Life is too real, and the ancient fall of Genesis 3 is still too valid, to think nobody walks into church with scars, shame, or even cold apathy. But let’s be honest. Even the most stably enthusiastic in our gatherings have had Sundays when we wished our hearts burned more brightly. We experience an inner struggle in these moments. On the one hand, we know that we should sing because we’re at church. On the other, it’s good to be authentic and real, so it feels like a lie to sing when we don’t feel like it. Is it better to...

Author: John Piper. Anyone involved in worship or production ministry is all too aware of the critical role that volume plays in worship services. Can the congregation hear the drummer? Do the people in the back row hear the Scripture reading? Are the words being sung loud enough to be understandable? But whatever the ambient volume of the sanctuary, there is a more critical matter of volume and understanding at play. And it is one of the most glorious truths in the universe. It is implicit in our worship, but too seldom is it mentioned. When we gather to worship at our local churches, behind all our prayers and all our songs, behind all our exhortations and all our encouragements, is this stunning truth: God hears. Has that simple, astonishing truth recently escaped you? Do you realize that, though God is all-powerful and present everywhere, he is not required to hear you? Would your engagement in corporate worship differ if you were more aware of that truth than the volume of the ...