Tiny Little Things

I started to introduce songwriting material to our Liturgy-Team some time ago. I began the learning by simple analysis on Moses’ Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 to give them the idea that worship song is not only about expressing our feelings, but also to speak about God’s words and works, and to invite others also to see who God is. Writing worship songs does not only require the work of musical abilities, but also our understanding of God through personal real-life experiences.

We parted the song of Exodus 15 into three parts: Moses’ part, Israel’s part, and Miriam’s part. We saw how the lyrics shape the whole song completely. We could see how the whole piece was used to worship the Lord, to teach and edify the people of Israel. The lyrics were constructed through the calling to the people of Israel to worship the Lord, the testimony of God’s works, and the responses of the nations around them in seeing the works of the Lord. We learned how to worship the Lord not only with our hearts, but also with our minds; not only because we are invited to do, but because we experience God ourselves.

I then asked the team members to put into practice what they have had just gotten from the texts. They shared their stories about how the Lord has shown Himself through the situations that seem impossible for them to get out from. The team learned to create the proper and poetic words to make good lyrics so that the song would reach other people’s hearts.

One of our team members then came with her new understanding, “Writing a song is not easy, huh?”

“Writing just any song is easy but writing a worship song that talks about God and teaches the congregation is indeed not that easy,” I answered.

Some worship songs keep repeating the same lines about how good and great God is but not exactly telling us what are the good and great things He does. I am not saying that the song is bad, but when we overuse a phrase without true teaching and practical examples, we might take that phrase for granted and then it could lose its meaning.

I would say that Exodus 15 gives us a great example to say in words what are the good and great things the Lord had done. The lyrics in Exodus 15 has really touched the ground; it reached the heart of the people of Israel, it landed in their mind, it brought truth to all generations who listen to it – and therefore, teaches them.

While talking about Moses’ Song of the Sea, as I reminded the team, we must remember that what we have in our Bibles (plural, suggesting different translations) are already translated in so many languages that it has lost its original rhyme and meter and might be making no sense for poetic lines. Here comes the chance for us to write our version of lyrics that would make sense for us and could engage the congregation without losing the meaning of the song. And as the team was thinking through all this new teaching, they began to realise the danger the translated songs could make. Some of it reduce the deep meaning of the original song and make it shallow, some even change the meaning. And how do you think this could affect the faith of the congregation?

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you are feeling blessed just as I do. I would be happy to hear your thoughts about God and His goodness. You can subscribe to receive the newest updates from these articles. Thank you, and see you soon!