What can miserable Christians Sing?

Last week we took an introductory look at Carl Trueman's The Wages of Spin. If you missed that introductory summary, click here. Over the next few days, we'll look at two of Trueman's articles from the book. The first is entitled "What can miserable Christians Sing?" The title may strike you as surprising or even shocking. Can Christians really be "miserable?"

Trueman opens the article this way, "In the last year, I have asked three very different evangelical audiences what miserable Christians can sing in church. On each occasion my question has elicited uproarious laughter, as if the idea of a broken-hearted, lonely, or despairing Christian was so absurd as to be comical - and yet I posed the question in all seriousness" (pg. 160). Is the thought of a miserable Christian comical to you? I ask the question again, can Christians be "miserable?" Have you been broken-hearted, lonely, or despairing at any point, say, in the last year or last week? I know I have.

So what can we who struggle with loneliness, fear, broken-heartedness, uncertainty, and even despair (we who are often "miserable") sing? This is a penetrating question from Trueman. He asks it because he is concerned about the church. He is concerned that, "a diet of unremittingly jolly choruses and hymns inevitably creates an unrealistic horizon of expectation which sees the normative Christian life as one long triumphalistic street party - a theologically incorrect and a pastorally disastrous scenario in a world of broken individuals" (pg. 161). In other words, he is concerned that all of our songs are happy songs. All of the songs we sing in church give an impression that the Christian life is always or should always be happy go lucky. When in reality this is not the case. Trueman makes a great point. One that we would be wise to heed. So, what do miserable Christians sing? The answer may surprise you...

Miserable Christians sing...the Psalms. If you haven't recently, take some time to read the Psalms. They express in Biblical language the whole gamut of Christian life experience. The good (Psalm 32, 47, 100), the bad (Psalm 58-60), and the ugly (Psalm 69,73). The Psalms may not speak to the exact situation you're in (i.e. my roommate won't clean up after himself, called me a jerk, and is now giving me the silent treatment), but the Psalms speak in general enough terms that they have application to a whole array of human experiences (including the relationship challenges with your roommate). AND importantly, they are intended to be used in corporate worship. It is natural to come to worship "miserable," and allow the Psalms to guide your thinking and words amidst your "miserableness." Trueman says, "In the Psalms, God has given the church a language which allows it to express even the deepest agonies of the human soul in the context of worship. Does our contemporary language of worship reflect the horizon of expectation regarding the believer's experience which the Psalter proposes as normative (pg. 159)?" In other words, we ought to be discerning about the music we listen to and especially the music we use in corporate worship. "By excluding the cries of loneliness, dispossession, and desolation from its worship, the church has effectively silenced and excluded the voices of those who are themselves lonely, dispossessed, and desolate both inside and outside the church" (pg. 160).

So what are the implications for you? First, if you are struggling right now, go to the Psalms. Time and again, for me, Psalms 62, 73, 130, 131 have been so incredibly helpful, encouraging, and re-focusing. The Psalms have a way of speaking directly into and giving language to our experience. The Psalms help me time and again to re-calibrate my thinking with God's thinking. Second, we must remember that faithfulness not happiness or worldly reputation is the criterion of Christian success. We want to remember that in our own lives and encourage that kind of thinking in our churches (whether we are an elder, a lay person, a worship leader, etc.) Miserable Christians can and should sing... the Psalms.