Taking That Cloud of Witnesses Seriously

DearMBchurch.ca:
           There have been twenty-one centuries of Christians, and the Holy Spirit gave each century its own insights. 
            One of the ways we remember and learn from the faithful of previous centuries is through singing their songs. I’ve noticed in the MB tradition that both when words are projected, and when we look at our hymnal, there are no dates next to the author who composed the song. I think that’s unfortunate and here’s why.
            When we just write an author’s name next to a song, we are saying, “Context doesn’t matter. We are all individuals connecting to one God.” This approach assumes it is immaterial whether the words were written in the 1400s, the 1800s or last year. It flattens church theology, and simplistically assumes that we are all reading the Bible the same way.  Yet the Christian tradition bears witness to a flowering of faithfulness that is incredibly diverse.
            In the 1600s Martin Rinkart wrote a hymn called “Now Thank We All Our God”. One phrase remembers God as someone “who wondrous things has done”. He is referring to God’s hand ending the Thirty Years War, a war that had reduced the population of the German states by 25-40%. Rinkart, a Lutheran clergyman, was performing 50 funerals a day. "And keep us in your grace, and guide us when perplexed,” was a plea not just of an individual but of a church that had sinned deeply: the Thirty Years War was a religious war.
            “Amazing grace, how sweet the song” was written by slave trader John Newton, who in the 1700s participated in the murder of thousands of enslaved black people. His words of repentance were a personal expression of a giant change in church life as white churches began to accept Africans as real people worthy of respect. Newton was an evangelical preacher. But preaching the gospel wasn’t just about making sure people got to heaven, it was about changing how people lived together. It meant rejecting injustice and advocating for social and political change.
            The compilers of our MB hymnal have paid attention to these voices from different eras of the church; in our hymnal we have lyrics by St. Patrick, Martin Luther, Fanny Crosby, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, each speaking out of the struggles of their time. Singing the songs of different centuries is important.
            For a time, praise and worship music projected on the wall tended to be mostly modern, but I’ve noticed that there is a trend towards occasionally using lyrics from older hymns. I am glad to see that!
            However the absence of dates next to the authors impoverishes our worship. It focuses the attention only on us, singing here in this room, instead of pointing us to the reality that we are joining our voices with faithful Christians from all ages.
            Today our denomination has declared that church planting is our number one priority and reason for existence. That would have been a very foreign concept to Martin Rinkart and John Newton. As we define our own church’s mission, we can learn from how the church in previous centuries engaged the gospel.
            Learning from history is a powerful gift that God gives us, providing course correction if we become centred on our own narrow interpretations of the gospel. The cloud of witnesses is singing us towards faithfulness, will we listen?

Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton

Comments

[Tim Chesterton]

I really liked this one, Carol. John Newton is one of my favourite hymn writers, and I love that Rinkart hymn as well.

[Bev Suderman-Gladwell]

Hey Carol! I LOVE looking at hymn dates + other info. I'm with you--I find it really helpful + interesting to know hymn background. Had no idea that your hymnal didn't include that info. Your word--flattening--is a good description of what happens when the context is omitted. Singingly yours,
Bev (not an MB)