Sad Worship Songs?
(Worship Ideas)

 Think about it 

My last column took note of the following line from the hymn "All Hail the Power"

"Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget
the wormwood and the gall"

In the context of the hymn this Scriptural language is joyous. Yet it is hardly so in its original context. Lamentations 3 is at the heart of Scripture's saddest book, a collection of laments over the fall of Jerusalem. When the writer remembers "the wormwood and the gall" he says, "my soul is downcast within me."

The book of Lamentations is hardly unique. Numerous Psalms, especially those connected to David, are filled with "laments". The prayer-songs of the first part of the Psalter are predominantly cries for mercy from those in deep distress and despair. And even though the psalms ends with a crescendo of joyous praise, on the very brink of this we find another set of David's cries! (Pss 139-144)

Do these songs have a place in our worship assemblies?

These cries may be indirectly reflected in our songs, as we see in "All Hail the Power". But do we also have songs, before celebrating God's salvation and promises, which give voice to the need and distress of those who still suffer in a fallen world, and who groan with longing for redemption to be completed? Do we acknowledge "the wormwood and the gall" that we may be tasting now?

And what of the finished work of Christ? How does this change the way we sing the "sad songs"?