Sing a New Song
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself just to be. Go outside, if possible, and take a couple of deep breaths. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
If you had to sing a new song, a song that reflected this moment in your story, what would it sound like? What notes or lyrics would it share with songs that have been sung before it? What new melodies could you create?
“No matter what my mind holds, agrees to, or understands, I will always be standing on the promises of God, because the hymns I have sung throughout my life will never let me go. And for this I give thanks.”
- Nadia Bolz-Weber
Psalm 144:9
I will sing a new song to you, O God.
Psalm 96:1-2
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Food for Thought
Would you rather only hear music that you know already for the rest of your life, or only hear new music for the rest of your life?
This was the question asked of me last week. And it didn’t take me five seconds to know my answer – music that is familiar to me, of course!
I love the music of my past, and the music of my parents’ and grandparents’ generations that has been taught to and shared with me through the years. I love the way music transports me, as it has a way of doing, to significant moments of my lived experience.
The songs of our story are powerful.
Across time and cultures, music has been used to share a piece of the artists’ story – to tell about humanity in a particular moment in time. Music helps us recall things that are important, and even mundane, all of which, because they are a part of who we are and our lived experience, are holy.
Consider the songs of the Christian faith – they remind us, transport us, to moments of triumph, to moments of grace, to moments in the history of God’s redemptive love, faithfulness, and presence. When we sing them or recite the words, we are reminded of the good things of God. We are reminded of the importance of remembering — remembering that God is with us, that we are not alone, that as awful as things may get or seem, there is something of Goodness accompanying us. Even when we do not consciously remember every lyric, something of us holds onto those songs, to that music…or something of it holds onto us, and never lets us go — just like God’s love.
Despite this, when I was asked that question last week and answered so certainly that I did not want to go the rest of my life hearing only new music, something was nagging me a bit about my choice. Because, as important as it is to remember what has been, our faith also tells us that it is important to sing new songs.
There are certainly things in our lives – parts of our stories that we would rather not hear again, or see again, or have to relive again. There are songs that we wish would end. Some songs that have been sung are reminders of pain rather than deliverance – songs of poverty, sadness, violence, injustice…
God is constantly putting new songs before us and within us. Will we sing them? Will we dare to take them up and carry them forth? Would we rather stay with what we know, or would we rather be willing to sing, or hear, or share a new song with our world?
Fortunately, we can do both – we can remember the songs we have long known, and sing new promises for our world in our living and our loving every day, perhaps echoing refrains of redemption that have been sung before. We can sing melodies of compassion through continued acts of service. We can sing themes of justice through our activism and involvement in the decision-making processes of our city, our country, our world. We can sing songs of peace in small acts of kindness and forgiveness. We can sing descants of hope for each and every soul striving to live into the next day of their life something better and more life-giving than the one before it.
The themes may sound similar, but there will be something new in our song to meet the moment of now – of our context, of tomorrow’s context. Something new will need to be sung to the challenges we face today. New songs that remind us that the one we’re singing is not the last, is not the end of our story, and certainly not of God’s.
And we can keep singing new songs for a new day, each and every day of our lives, so that we have a library of music within us to keep us faithful, to keep us rooted in the love and faithfulness of God, to keep us hoping toward our next new song of life-giving goodness for our world.
Take a few minutes and listen to a few different songs – preferably songs from a variety of decades (or centuries) and genres. What similarities or differences can you find – in the theme, melody, instrumentation, etc.
Sing a new song – make up a song about something happening in the world. You can sing it only to yourself, or if you’d like, share it with a friend.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
God who sings new possibilities into being, may the songs of our hearts help us recall your goodness and faithfulness in all things, and inspire our hearts to new songs of praise and living.
A little Table Talk for your table...
What songs are particularly dear and precious to your memory? What moments, or messages, do they help you recall?
If you could offer a refrain to our world right now, what would it be – it can be as simple as “peace” – but what is one new refrain of song you feel our world needs to hear? How can you sing or live more of that into the world?
How do the songs of your heart strengthen you? Do songs affect you in another way entirely? What is powerful to you about music?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Do you have a favorite song? What do you like about that song? Is there one part you like best?
Do you have any songs or music memorized? What does it mean to commit a song to memory? Prayers and poems can also be memorized. Try memorizing a new song or poem.
Share your favorite song with a friend or family member.
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
Rev. Daryn Stylianopoulos is originally from North Carolina, but has called Boston, MA home for nearly twenty years. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Boston University School of Theology and serves as a Baptist pastor in the Boston area. Daryn is an advocate for the marginalized and works against injustices in her community. She believes in creatively cultivating a spirit of cohesion, welcome, and healing in the world. A lover of art, music, gardening, and, most of all, family, she often looks to these for inspiration in her work and ministry.
To hear more from Daryn throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
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