I'm pretty sure I scared some of our congregation members yesterday when I sang this week's Music Monday selection in a high falsetto voice. If I didn't scare them, I certainly make them laugh at me. If you want to hear for yourself, you can listen here (the illustration comes about the 10 minute mark). Here's the real version in case you're not familiar and would like nothing more than to get a song stuck in your head:
An explanation may be warranted if you haven't listened to my sermon. Romans 8:28 often gets used sugarcoat bad things and mask real pain. It gets pasted on many different versions of sympathy cards. And often, when we aren't sure what to say or do when tragedies strike, we quote it to cover for the questions and confusion. Paul was not advocating some sort of "Pollyanna" theology. That approach buys into the false idea that "everything is awesome." The song in The Lego Movie proves to be pure satire and a harbinger of the coming conflict. Romans 8:28 is not telling us to blindly consider only the positives in life. Sometimes everything is not awesome. The "good" Paul has in mind is something more significant. 8:29 defines it as "to be conformed to the image of his Son". All things aren't good and won't necessarily work out nicely. But for the believer, they will work out to make us more like Jesus. And that is something worth singing about.
Can you remember hearing a song on the radio and thinking, "I need to look that up later" - only to totally forget it when you get home? That happened to me with this song, only of course I remembered it thankfully. Yesterday it played on Christian radio on the way home from church. I think I've heard it before, but it really struck a chord in my heart for whatever reason. Only, when I tried in my head to come back to it today, nothing. Couldn't even remember the chorus. Eventually I figured it was Hillsong and I started scouring YouTube and whatdoyouknow, it turned up.
If you are still interested in reading more and will indulge my idiosyncrasies, this song does provoke some stereotypical criticisms in my mind. It reminds one of U2, it seems to end the same as many other Hillsong singles, and it is very individual-centric. But it's musical composition and lyrical faithfulness to God's Word keeps pulling me back in. John 8, 14, 1 Peter 2. Yes modern worship can be too much about "me". But the impact on the Gospel upon our identity is a clear emphasis of the New Testament. Let's praise God for what he's done for us!
