Sing a New Song

It seems like scripture is forever telling us to sing a new song unto the Lord. However, most of us like the old songs because they are familiar, comforting, spark memories, and don’t require us to do the work of learning something new.

It is true that certain songs contain a lot of wisdom that take a lifetime of singing to unpack. As an adolescent I was enamored of the music of songwriter Jackson Browne, and having recently listened to some of his songs again, I was surprised at how much wisdom I still found there, this time from the perspective of late middle age. However, it’s also true that if we only listen to the old songs, we miss out on the movement of the Holy Spirit who is inspiring musicians to create new songs that speak to us today.

Furthermore, although we aren’t all songwriters, we are all creators of our own lives through the choices we make. Thus we can view each day as an oppor-tunity to “sing a new song” to God through what we make of the gift of this day of life. Tomorrow will bring different opportunities and choices, so we need to fo-cus on the possibilities that exist this day, this moment, only. In this way we participate in the forever joyful and fecund work of our creator God, who in Isaiah 65:17-18 says, “Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create.”

Let’s get singing!