The concept of “new song” in the
Bible connotes music making that is of a higher or renovated character that
always renders praise to God--not man.
II Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away: and behold all things are become
new.” A part of the old things that pass
away is the “old song” and the old self-aggrandizement and worldly musical
performance practice.
If the essence of a musician’s
music making is the presentation of self, then God cannot receive the
preeminence. The new man, singing
"new song", in a new way, seeks to exalt Christ not self. As we know, in the new song of the Bible, God
receives all the praise all the time. If
our performance practice results in the lifting up of self and the performer’s
talents, then the musician’s performance becomes merely religious music rather
than sacred music. Remember, in the
beginning God created music for His honor and His glory.
Earlier we discussed ownership of
music and were drawn to the conclusion that we do not own it. Why?
Because music is God's creation, he holds the deed to its
ownership. So, since we are singing and
playing HIS SONG, we relinquish the sense of ownership. When we were dead in
trespasses and sins, as musicians, we thought we owned OUR music. We were autonomous when it came to OUR music
praxis. At least we acted like we were a
law to ourselves when we performed OUR music.
We sang OUR own song which was what I call "old song". There is something wonderful about singing
HIS song in HIS sanctuary for HIS glory.
