Sing a New Song

Table Talk

Setting the Table

You are welcome here. Light a candle if you wish, and take a moment to center yourself where you are for a time of reflection and prayer. Give thanks for something that you are carrying with you into 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 a question recently asked of me. 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’ stories—to tell about humanity in particular moments in time. Music helps us recall things that are both important and 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 of, and transport us to, moments of triumph, moments of grace, moments in the history of God’s redemptive love, faithfulness, and presence. When we sing them or recite their 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, and 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 parts of our stories—things in our lives—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—they are 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 our current context, of tomorrow’s context. Something new will need to be sung to the challenges we face today and those we face tomorrow. New songs that remind us that the one we’re singing right now is not the last, is not the end of our story, and certainly not the end 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 taken 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!
For the Summer of Welcome Kids! reflection Click Here!
For the Summer of Welcome Kids! activity sheet Click Here!

Blessing

Loving God,
You sing 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.
Amen.

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 This WEek’s Writer...

The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.

To hear more from TWT Team throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!