CANTATA of PRAISE to GUISE of DISOBEDIENCE

"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross/An emblem of suff'ring and shame/And I love that old Cross where the Dearest and Best for a world of lost sinners was slain./ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross/'till my trophies at last I lay down/ I will cling to the old rugged cross/ And exchange it some day for a crown."

I woke up this morning with that tune running thru' my mind. Actually, it was the Japanese lyrics of part of the song「十字架の悩みは我が罪のためなり。」

When the church today moves from hymns to contemporary music, claiming this only reflects the change of time, I beg to differ. The majority of songs today, with emotion-arousing chords and repeating sentiments, do not have the strength of hymn lyrics.  It's not mere modernization of music then but the church seems to lose spiritual depth too.

Let others sing these songs, but they felt like cardboard for me those 5 weeks in Taishokan when I needed "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" coming out of my earbuds (those aware of my situation know of my dire need). I still remember how much I liked "Shout to the Lord", but that song just did not do it for me at that time.

And these new songs - I know none of them make me feel like wings are sprouting on my back and make me fly, the way some of the old hymns do. They spell out reasons to sing, not merely state that I should. New ones don't tell me why God is Great or why we worship a Holy God, just state that He is and that we will. Also, they seem centered around how God has benefited me, speaks far less on what God has done showing Who He is.

This is the most embarrassing thing: the church changes hymns shamelessly. If anybody did this in the secular world, there'd be copyright problems instantly. But the church blatantly ignores God's mandate, "Thou shalt not steal" Sunday after Sunday, assuming a merciful God will allow this. And it's been mentioned before, but hard-necked Christians will not repent. The most common excuse is that individuals don't memorize hymns anymore so say we don't know when hymns are being changed so are guilty of nothing; we in the congregation wash our hands of the matter.

"Take away from me the noise of thy songs." (Amos 5:23) is the sentiment God expressed, not wanting melodious, solemn, or sacrificial form worship, actually disguises for disobedience.

Maybe we need to get back to memorizing why we should joy in God and then just do so.