Where are the worship songs about gout?

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Quite a few worship songs these days announce spiritual power to break strongholds with a particular focus on addictions, mental health and depression.  Now there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact as someone who has suffered from depression I have appreciated heart felt songs that have spoke about God’s presence at the very point when… Continue reading Where are the worship songs about gout?

Taking care about what you are singing

Christian song writers can certainly have a knack for finding the most bewildering and cringeworthy song lyrics.  Sometimes, it ends up being silly and amusing. Sometimes, context just makes a hymn inappropriate and sometimes we suffer from the way that words and phrases have changed meaning and usage over time.  For example, a few centuries… Continue reading Taking care about what you are singing

Joy, enjoyment and singing

In my article on singing the other day, I talked about the importance of enjoyment and joy when we are singing.  I wanted to expand on a little footnote I included in the article.  There I commented that: Incidentally, when I talk about joy and enjoyment here, I don’t think that means we are meant… Continue reading Joy, enjoyment and singing

On singing when I don’t enjoy it

This week, Steve Kneale answered the question “If I don’t enjoy the songs at church, is it okay not to sing?”  I broadly agree with much of what he has to say in his article.  We live in an individualistic age where we believe that our desires and preferences come first. If we see church… Continue reading On singing when I don’t enjoy it

Making Expository Worship happen

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How can we encourage an appetite for Expository Worship?  Here are a few more thoughts. 1. Get people to look at what they are singing.  For example, before you sing a hymn, ask people to look at a verse – what stands out to them? Are there lines they like? Where are we getting this… Continue reading Making Expository Worship happen

Updated data and thoughts for church COVID risk assessments

As promised here’s an update on where I think we are in terms of COVID-19 and its impact on our return to in person church gatherings. First of all, here’s an update on the data. The first important graph is the one showing case growth. As you can see, we saw a return to positive… Continue reading Updated data and thoughts for church COVID risk assessments

Singing Lessons

In recent posts I’ve suggested we might need to be cautious about the assumption that the 19th July will immediately inaugurate the return of full churches, no masks and a return to congregational singing. I suggested that an interim step might be to encourage different parts of the congregation to sing either a whole song… Continue reading Singing Lessons

Maybe we can sing a bit sooner …

This is a postscript to yesterday’s post about singing. No sooner was it up on the blog to read and the Welsh Government changed the dynamics a bit. They put out new guidance allowing for congregational singing. There were specific conditions attached including thorough risk mitigation and guidance about the prevelance of the virus in… Continue reading Maybe we can sing a bit sooner …

How might the Psalms help us in our walk and worship?

A close up of a KJV Bible open to Psalm 107 with wheat.

Yesterday I wrote about why we do not need to sing the Psalms. In response, I’ve heard from people about how helpful they personally and their churches have found singing them.  It is important not to confuse two things here. It is very different to say “you don’t have to sing them”  to saying “you… Continue reading How might the Psalms help us in our walk and worship?