It’s the singing - 1 February 2010 |
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Ruth Gledhill has some thoughts (courtesy of Christian Viewpoint for Men) about why men don’t come to church, under the headline ‘Men don’t want to sing “love songs to a man” while the “vicar wears a dress”.’
She’s probably right about that (though, of course, robes ain’t dresses).
The more surprising suggestions to reverse this worrying trend include:
Why not ask the men to decorate the church?
- Give them free rein to do what they like!
- Challenge them to do something masculine.How would it go down to decorate with swords, or pictures of knights, or flaming torches?
Instead of having to queue for coffee, why not ask some of the women to go round with trays of coffee and biscuits or chocky bars? Coupled with a charming smile, many men would find that very attractive!
Faced with advice like this, I’m not sure whether I prefer the disease or the cure.
Perhaps a little historical perspective might help. Is it really credible to identify the praying, robes, modern busyness and long sermons as the reasons why men are absent from our churches? The hardman Nehemiah (Neh 13:25) sat through all of Ezra’s long sermons (Neh 8). And David’s overworked mighty men still found time to worship the living God, pray, rejoice, and even occasionally watch their boss dancing before the LORD wearing a linen ephod.
But perhaps the singing might be part of the problem. Not the fact of it, but its content. Gledhill gives some examples of modern song words (Jesus, I am so in love with you; Beautiful one I love, beautiful one I adore), and points out that ‘Many men wouldn’t sing that to their wives, let alone another man.’
Contrast that with, for example, number 7 in the Old Israelite Hymnal:
1 O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. 3 O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah 6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. 8 The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. 9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous- you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! 10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. 12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; 13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. 14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. 17 I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog