Hello...
Last year, the leadership of my denomination (Roman Catholic) has requested that all songs that use the Tetragrammaton (YHWH=Yahweh=Yehovah,etc) to cease using that word in its liturgies and songs.
From its statement: "As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord'..."
I see their points, and I honor them. To the best of my ability, I will choose to wait for song texts that will use alternate versions.
But what about songs in which the songwriters have no desire to change the songs? Can there be a way to incorporate "Elohim" or "Adonai" into songs that use "Yahweh", and not get into copyright trouble?
Take, for example, "Exalted (Yahweh)" off of Tomlin's latest release. 2/3rds of the song has nothing to do with the word, and can possibly stand alone as its own song. But when it cuts into the wonderfully repeated outro, there's a real sense of awe and majesty in these words:
"Yah-weh, we exalt Your Name.".
And in my heart, I wonder aloud why it wouldn't be feasible to rewrite this text to say exactly the same thing:
"Ad-o-nai, we lift high, Your Name."
It utterly breaks my heart, as I can see this being just as powerful as Tomlin's original, excepting that it is now more appropriate, and it retains the power of reverential holiness in God's very Name.
I don't like being driven to rewrite hymns, and if I had immediate access to the songwriters themselves, it would be great to have an open discussion about such things. I am not an advocate for breaking copyright. It may just be that I will never be able to sing this song during liturgies, because of Tomlin's blind spot on this issue (which many interdenominational worship leaders hold to--one of the columnists for _Worship Leader_ magazine expressed his reservations on this very matter).
And, in case there are those who may look upon this as an example of Phariseeism, don't. We live in a Christian culture where holy reverence towards God has been diminished greatly. I find it a tremendous act of worship to refrain from saying certain words because of their sacredness. I don't judge those who haven't come to this same conviction... I just wish there was an alternate text to use, instead of the one provided.
Nick
http://www.nickalexander.com/home