St Augustine said that those who sing pray twice. He also had a lot to say about God. As a Christian community we build lots of our current theological understandings around what we sing, whether it be good or bad. Often the songs that get the most airplay in many evangelical churches are the ones that are getting a lot of airplay on christian radio or as we will see below the iTunes Christian charts. However does having your song high on the Christian charts mean its theology sits within the Greater Christian Tradition?
Many times, sadly, the answer is No.
The Christian Tradition is built on 2000 years of debate (See the book of Acts for example or take a look at the Early Church councils) , thought, reason, experience and scripture. Relying on just one of these e.g. experience to build ones theology, is like building a four legged chair and hoping it will stand on the one leg.
Augustine. my muse for today, was one such person who has contributed greatly to our ideas of Grace and the linked ideas of Justification and Sanctification.
Augustine saw Justification as as both the event of being righteous (note not ‘saved’) and the ongoing process of being saved which happened from before a person was ‘saved.’ Therefore Creation in its entirety played a big part in the Salvation, Justification and Grace realms. Today though Grace is cheap it is something we do once, then we are ‘in’, no hard work no ‘running the race with perseverance’ (Hebrews 12:1) and sharing in the trials and building of community and helping each other along. The Arise Church song ‘Hey Oh’, released this year on their album, features these lines:
‘All of my sin and failures, Your love has covered all, Now I’m given a new name, My past it seems so small’
‘And I don’t work for freedom , Don’t strive or have to pay
Because you sent redemption, (For now I come from faith)‘ muffled can’t quite catch the lyrics of this line!
I have a few issues with the named Arise Song, however my current thoughts relate to the Church and our responsibility to maintain the Tradition and sanctity of the Christian story.
What happens when a Church, such as ARISE New Zealand, favours cultural relevance of a catchy song over Tradition? Who calls people out on dodgy lyrics when there is no Church council? Should we say anything at all about this , or in the spirit of Christian Brotherhood smile and walk away? Should we care that a Chorus of a Churches worship song has as much depth as a cheese puff? (Hey oh, sing hey oh….. I live to give you praise, Hey oh sing hey oh…I want you to know, I live to give you praise)
I personally feel an unease with just ‘leaving it.’ The church of Aotearoa New Zealand celebrates 200 years of the Gospel this year. Let’s build upon this Tradition!
The entirety of Arise Church’s song from their album ‘God Alone’ can be heard and viewed here:
Ngå Mihi Nui
Rongopai- Church Culture in New Zealand 
LOL. You talk about having to hold to traditions, but Jesus was the biggest tradition breaker of His time! From His first miracle (The best wine last, rather than first) to hanging out with Samaritans, tax collectors, prostitutes… The people who were keen to be holding on to tradition were the Pharisees and Sadducees!
There is a time and place for traditions, but to rule out a different style or method of worship just because it doesn’t follow along with a set of preconceptions is dangerous and flat out silly.
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Hi Joe
I feel you may have missed the point here. Jesus never says that he was ending tradition he said he was fulfilling it through his life death and ressurection. In Jesus we see him fulfilling and continuing the story of Isreal and the prophets to be a blessing to all nations. He also lived out the tradition on the prophets calling people back to God and their purpose.
Jesus’ focus was calling people back to God. You are right that Jesus took issue with the Pharisees, but I feel that you miss the point over it being tradition Jesus attacks. To me it’s the stuff people put in way of coming to God. In my view the biggest stumbling block to God should only ever be Jesus.
I really don’t see tradition being a boggy man. I see it as a helpful anchor or light when we need to find our way. As described in the post there are other tools we use these being scripture, reason and experience. This model helps us through going awry in our beliefs.
Going back a point tradition is where find our identity and our story. It is our whakapapa. The scriptures themselves are a collection of traditions that were important to the early church and by the holy spirit through the councils declared sacred. Our understanding of Dogma (or essential beliefs) comes from early the early councils and in themselves are traditions.
Arise itself is part of a tradition. Both part of the larger protestant tradition and a subset, the pentecostal tradition. These traditions in themselves determine the emphasis of the community.
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