{"id":1671,"date":"2021-04-09T15:06:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T20:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1671"},"modified":"2021-04-09T15:28:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T20:28:16","slug":"singing-a-new-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1671","title":{"rendered":"Singing a New Song"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sing a new song to the\nLord!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us have been praising God with these words of Psalm\n149 every single morning this past Easter week in the Liturgy of the Hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does it mean to \u201csing a new song\u201d to the Lord?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, it means that we need to move on from our \u201cold songs\u201d\n\u2013 or to allow Jesus to transform them radically with the newness that he brings\nin his Passover victory. Our old songs, if played out to their completion, only\nbring slavery and misery. Jesus desires to teach us a new song in the new and\neternal covenant, sealed with his blood in his Passover victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in the original Passover, singing a new song means\nleaving Egypt and the ways of Egypt behind as we pursue God\u2019s promises with\nfellowship, praise, and a deep desire to enter into the Lord\u2019s rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of us know how well that worked out for most of the\nIsraelites. It didn\u2019t take them long in the desert to start pining for the\nfleshpots of Egypt, wishing they were back among familiar places and faces,\nforgetting in their fantasizing just how awful it had been to be enslaved. They\nreached an ultimate low point at the very moment when God was ready to form a\nspecial covenant with them on Mount Sinai. Moses comes down from his forty-day\nfast, bearing tablets inscribed by the very finger of God, only to find the\nIsraelites carousing and revling around the golden calf they have fashioned for\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such sins do not come out of nowhere. They are the\nculmination of singing \u201cold songs,\u201d the melodies of which sweep us along toward\nold solutions to old problems. Once we get started with a catchy song, we feel\nthe urge to finish it. Fans of The Office<\/em>\nmay remember the hilarious elevator scene in which Andy and Pam are trying to\nmake a cold call to a potential client. Andy annoyingly sings the names and\nsuite numbers of all the businesses he sees listed. Pam interrupts him with the\nright answer and urges him to stop singing. Andy complains, \u201cExcept it was\ngoing to resolve the melody, so now my head hurts. Feels like I held in a sneeze.\nMmm! I hate this feeling!\u201d Truthfully, we all do. The farther along we are in\nour old song, the harder it is to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is so helpful to reflect upon our experiences \u2013 including\nour darkest moments of sin \u2013 with kindness and curiosity. In our shame, we tend\nto avoid telling the full truth of our behaviors. Sadly, in that hiding and\navoidance, we also miss out on the chance to learn valuable lessons and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that our unholy moments of acting out are almost always preceded by unholy rituals that function much like the melodies of an old song \u2013 often a song that we learned decades ago. If we are paying attention in those moments, we will notice that we feel a certain way; that we have certain images running through our head; and that our bodies experience certain sensations. Typically, some level of fantasizing is involved. Our deep desires get hijacked by the fantasy, and some promised pleasure begins arousing us. There is sexual arousal for some, but the arousal can be ordered towards any number of fantasies: food, alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, envy, achivement, anger, rage, or revenge. In each case, as the anticipatory arousal grows, so does our urge to finish the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a classic example, consider the devout dating couple who keep telling themselves they don\u2019t want to get physical with each other when they hang out \u2013 but somehow always do, only to feel ashamed. They don\u2019t always recognize early enough that they are entering into a ritual with each other \u2013 surrounding themselves with the same environment, the same sensations, and the same behaviors. They tell themselves that the outcome will be different this time, but of course it\u2019s only natural that they begin feeling a heightened sense of anticipation for the completion of the ritual. Even if their minds are oblivious, their bodies and emotions and imagination understand what is happening. The more measures of the song that are sung, the harder it is to decide to stop. Again, this is true of sexual arousal but also of any number of other fantasies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some fantasies, the ritual song and dance may take days to play itself out to its finish; for others (e.g.<\/em>, an outburst of anger) the whole song can play itself out within milliseconds. Even then, as Victor Frankl once said, between stimulus and response there is always a space. In that space there can be power to choose, to be free, and to grow. In other words, there is the opportunity to learn a new song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singing a new song means calling on the newness of Jesus as we reclaim the things the Lord has made: desire, arousal, connection, intimacy, union, and joy. Every one of us is created by God to have these experiences \u2013 yes, even those of us who have freely renounced marriage and sexuality for the sake of the Kingdom. One need only see a smattering of celibate Saints to get a glimpse at the intensity of their desire, their longing, their anticipation, their delight, or their joy.  Consider Francis of Assisi, a man known for his poverty and chastity, and how intensely he enjoyed in the beauty of God\u2019s creation. Pseudo-desires like lust and greed actually undermine authentic desire, intimacy, union, joy, and delight. It was precisely Francis\u2019 open hands and open heart, his renunciation of lust and greed, that opened his heart up to the deep joy and peace that come as the fruit of praising of the God who delights in giving good gifts to his beloved children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 149 speaks to all of these experiences. Singing a new song means joining in communion with the rest of God\u2019s assembly \u2013 no longer isolating or hiding, no longer secretly stealing pleasures when we think no one is looking. It means rejoicing in God as our King and allowing ourselves to feel deeply the delight he takes in us. It means true rest with the Lord, learning just to be, basking in his loving gaze, and praising him amidst the delight we experience his presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also means binding up God\u2019s enemies in chains and fetters of iron (Psalm 149:8). Many of us have been bound up by chains for much of our lives. The evil one attacks early and often, seducing us into unholy agreements, enticing us to believe lies about ourselves or about God. These lies become cords that bind us, not to mention \u201cchords\u201d that keep us trapped in the same miserable old song that brings the same miserable old outcome. I know some of my own \u201cchords\u201d in that regard: I must hide my true self. I must not be weak or fail. I must never ask for help. I must never depend on others. <\/em>If I keep playing these chords, the song won\u2019t end well. I need Jesus to enter in with his newness and transform the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of our chords need to be eliminated from the song\nentirely. If we play them, they will only lead us to an evil end. Think of the\nalcoholic who needs to give up going to bars and part ways with some of his\nbuddies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps some of the old chords served us well for a time,\nbut the song needs a change of key. Each of us have our own self-created\nsolutions in our attempt try to make our pain go away, or try to fill the empty\nplaces of our heart, or attempt to resolve our inner conflict. Unaided and\nunprotected by others, sometimes it was the only viable way to survive. Indeed,\nsome of us have survived truly hellish situations, and the measures people resort\nto in survival don\u2019t always make for glamorous stories. The saddest part about\nsurvival stories is often after the rescue comes. One of the hardest thing for\nsurvivors to do is to internalize the truth that they are now free to live a\nfull life \u2013 they don\u2019t have to live in their joyless survival methods anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we find ourselves clinging to old ways of surviving (even\nwhen they have long outworn their purpose), we can allow Jesus to teach us new\nchords in a new song \u2013 even though we may, at first, find this learning process\nto be unfamiliar, frustrating, overwhelming, or intimidating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, Psalm 149 offers the basics of the new chords needed: Connect with others in God\u2019s assembly in joyful communion. Receive and give love together with them as we open our hearts in praise of the living God. Receive joyfully the truth that he delights in us (no matter what we have done), he rescues us, and he desires us to rest in him and delight in him. Bind up any and all evil spirits who would dare attempt to interrupt this amazing new song that Jesus brings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has ordained it so. This honor is for all his faithful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sing a new song to the Lord! Many of us have been praising God with these words of Psalm 149 every single morning this past Easter week in the Liturgy of the Hours. But what does it mean to \u201csing a new song\u201d to the Lord? Often, it means that we need to move on … <\/p>\n

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