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 This
year I have heard and participated in the singing of 217/230
invitation songs — most of them following my preaching. As
this is a typical year for meeting work, and I have a background
of singing schools and the leading of singing, maybe I qualify
to make a few remarks in the practice.
(1)
There are no scriptures demanding such songs. They are a
tradition of fairly recent origin, closely related to
evangelistic-type services. However, they offer an orderly means
of inviting a response to the gospel, and, until something
better is invented, serve their purpose quite well. But there
purpose needs to be understood so that they are selected and
sung accordingly.
(2)
They are practically a part of the sermon; and should extend,
from the congregation, the plea for obedience that characterizes
the close of the lesson from the pulpit. I do not mean they must
be in keeping with the subject matter — although that is in
order — but they should indicate that the congregation joins
the teacher in concern and exhortation.
(3)
They should be songs easily sung — that flow with sincerity
from the hearts of the saints, with little concentration on the
book for music or words. This is no time to “try a new one”
or engage in fancy foot-work on bass or alto leads, skip and
hop. This is
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certainly no time to “sing the notes”
or hear special instructions from the song-leader. Encourage all
to sing, “Come to Jesus” with the fervor and spirit of “invitation”
— with a heart-felt prayer for the lost.
In
my opinion the song-leader should avoid taking a position on the
floor that interrupts the rapport established in the sermon
between teacher and hearer. (The speaker works hard to instruct,
and establish a frame of mind conducive to obedience. Then a
song-leader stands squarely between him and the hearers, blows a
tuning pipe, wildly waves a baton and races through a song few
in the audience can sing. I have even had them stop and upbraid
the people for their ineptness. It is enough to make a grown man
cry.)
(5)
The “invitation song” need not be a five-verse epic, but
neither should it indicate a “get-it-over-with” attitude.
Length and tempo should indicate a serious, meaningful concern
for the lost and straying.
Above
all, just stop to think what this is all about. God’s word has
been proclaimed, and now the whole church joins in saying “Amen!”
and in inviting lost souls to Jesus Christ.
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