Musical Theology

One of the interesting things about the Methodists is that their theology is in their music. Not many would know what John Wesley thought, but Charles Wesley's theology is in his hymns, which are still sung every Sunday, and which still shape the ordinary Methodist's theology today. If you want to know what Methodist theology is, then sing Charles's hymns, and you will soon have it. And that theology had a depth to it that much music today just doesn't have. And it has shaped peoples faith far more than the preachers could ever hope to because people saung those words over and over again. It was and active type of learning, not passive which listening to a preacher is. And when people needed guidance or comforting, or a wise word, it was Charles's hymns they remembered, not the great sermons of John or any other great methodist preacher.
The same is true today. Only we don't take the care that John and Charles took to craft good theology in our music. Instead we are serving up shallow much mostly. And that saddens me, because we could be offering so much more.