So, You Didn’t Like that New Praise and Worship Number?

Passage: Deuteronomy 27:9-26

At a previous church Melody and I were once invited to lunch after Sunday morning worship by a member who, it turned out, had something to say about the morning’s music selections. “Our church has such a broad hymnody, and such a tradition of theologically rich hymns,” she said. “It’s a shame we’ve resorted to these shallow, repetitive praise choruses. I don't think a lot of them are even biblical!” I’m not sure whether she was aware Melody and I had picked much of the music for the morning’s service. I’m inclined to believe she was. I wonder what she, and other detractors of “contemporary” worship would have thought of the musical selection for the worship service prescribed in Deuteronomy 27.

In this passage, Moses commands the tribes of Israel to celebrate their arrival in the Promised Land by singing blessings – and curses – in chorus. The prescribed blessings aren’t recorded; the prescribed curses are. The Israelites are to sing a hymn of judgment on a pretty specific list of sins.

I think it might be interesting if we incorporated a "biblical" song like this into our worship services. We could sing, “Cursed is the one who cheats on his income tax…” or, “Cursed is the one who gossips at the water cooler…” or any of a number of our other sins. I can't help wondering how that number would go over.