PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Psalm 78:1–6
My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
CONSIDER THIS
The season of Lent tends to have a vertical focus, meaning we spend a lot of time looking at our own relationship with the Lord. Where have we fallen short? Where can we become more disciplined and grow? But discipleship is both vertical and horizontal. It is about our relationship with the triune God and our relationship with others, so embracing a life of surrender means turning our eyes not just upward, but outward.
I love the Psalms. They are the heart-cries and the worship of God’s children. This psalm was written by the great songwriter of David and Solomon’s era, Asaph, who used his songs to teach the history of God and God’s people not just for personal improvement, but to pass knowledge of God’s story to the next generation. In today’s passage, he reminds us that it is not only our obligation but our privilege to tell our children and our children’s children about God. And why wouldn’t we? It’s the greatest story ever told, isn’t it? It’s the foundation of our identity and the source of our hope. This is exactly what Moses told the people in Israel after they were freed from slavery to the Egyptians: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:6–7). Asaph reminds us that our parents, our ancestors, told us these things of God and we should not hide them from our children, our descendants.
Let’s be honest, it doesn’t always seem like our children want to listen. Maybe when they are little it was easier to get them to listen to the stories of Jesus and teach them about God, but as children grow up, how can we keep sharing God’s story? This is where I remember that the author of the psalm, Asaph, was a singer. We know that our brains are wired in a way that allows us to recall information better when we hear it as music, which is why I can remember lyrics from a song in the ’80s but cannot remember what I read last week. It’s the reason we sing songs to people with Alzheimer’s because it is a powerful tool in cognitive therapy. Songs open the wellspring of our souls and our minds and help us remember!
A song is a powerful tool to tell the story of God. Just as Asaph wrote, the songs of God’s people can tell the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done. Think of the great hymns of Charles Wesley like “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” Did your brain start singing them? Of course, it did! We need to continue to share these hymns with our children but do not dismiss the modern Christian singers and songwriters. Do not underestimate their ability to write new songs of God’s story as a tool to share with the next generation. Even as God was laying the foundation of these devotionals on my heart, He was writing new songs about altars and surrender on the hearts of Bristol House, a worship movement that exists to carry on the heritage of the Wesleyan people and to share the story of God to all generations.1 This is no coincidence! The Holy Spirit wants us to sing as a people of God!
Let us begin this Lenten season by committing to singing the songs of God and sharing them so our children and their children will know the greatest story ever told and the Holy Spirit will awaken the wellspring of their souls.
THE PRAYER
Lord, stir our hearts with Your songs, the ones that remind us of Your power and wonder. Open up new ways to share Your story with the next generation so that Your next great awakening may come through them. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
What is your favorite hymn? What story of God does it tell? How can music be a bridge between generations and in what ways can you use it to share the story of Christ’s life and resurrection?
For the Awakening,
Susan Kent
NOTES
- By the way, if you don’t know about the Bristol House movement, connect with them at www.bristolhousemusic.org or on your favorite streaming platform.
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3 Responses
I don’t really have one particular favorite hymn, but I do have a favorite genre of hymns. These would be the hymns composed during the period immediately following the Protestant Reformation and continued through the first and second Great Awakenings. I love these hymns because they were intentionally written to instruct the Church of doctrines that had been lost due to neglect in its prior preaching ministries. Many were basically sermons put to music dealing with justification and then later, sanctification. Luther’s are an example of the first category, Wesley’s the second. Sadly, at least in my opinion, many of the more modern “praise and worship “ hymns lack the theological depth of these earlier generations of hymns.
Listen to Christ’s teaching,
To His parables in your heart,
As the risen Jesus utters
Hidden things from old,
That your conscience
Has heard and known.
Then pass them on
In word and song
As you go along
And live the way
God’s Spirit leads you
By His still small voice
Speaking within you.
Tell of His power
And the wonders
That God’s Son
Has said and done
In the Bible
And in your life!
Good morning what a beautiful way to start the day! This was my first tiime with Seedbed. Iagree that I love old hymn’s. Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art , Go Tell it on the Mountains. My husband loved His Eye is On the Sparrow. But I also get great joy and filled also with the Holy Spirit. Give Me Jesus, I Will Rise. There are so many hymn’s old and new. Our younger generation love the upbeat new hymn’s. We have awesome youth and young children that dance. This is a good thing if it is engaging them. Thank you and
God Bless You