My latest “Worship Matters” column in Christian Week:

By Michael Krahn  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

That Christmas is a season of Christian worship probably isn’t news to you. For all its materialism, uninhibited spending and consumer debt, there is still some residual knowledge of the fact that the reason we have Christmas is Jesus Christ.

Some retailers, advertisers and other secular institutions are waging war on the word “Christmas” itself, hoping to rid the season of its Christian roots, thereby making it more palatable for our multicultural society and more profitable for retailers.

Some Christians are a little ticked off about this—but not so ticked off, it seems, that they take time out of their participation in materialism, uninhibited spending and consumer debt to do much about it. Maybe next year. This year, I need to get to Wal-Mart by 4 a.m. to get that piece of plastic little Jimmy so desperately wants.

In other words, the reason for the season was lost long before these “secularists” waged war on the season’s name.

You may also know that this soon-to-be-secularized holiday has pagan roots anyway.
The response from everyone except the most ardent neo-Puritan is, “Yeah, so what? It doesn’t mean that anymore”—so we carry on with the celebration.

But this got me to thinking about that despised and recently past day of celebration that is Halloween. What does Halloween mean anymore? If it really is a night about worshiping Satan, I have to say—Satanists are failing as badly at making it a significant day of worship as Christians are failing at Christmas.

Secularize Christmas? Christianize Halloween!
So if Christmas is on its way to being secularized, why not try to Christianize Halloween? Who’s to say it can’t become a day of Christian worship in the future? It seems like there may be a trade-off in the works.

As with many other customs and holidays, we allow the world to dictate to us what they’re about. Usually, we acquiesce to the culture around us and by all definitions of worship, we worship. We worship created things rather than their creator. This goes for Halloween as well as Christmas.

The world says Halloween is a night to glorify evil; I choose to use it as a night to build relationships with my neighbours. The world says Christmas is an opportunity—or more like an obligation—to wallow in the trough of materialism; I choose to use it as an opportunity to glorify the Saviour of the world by acknowledging His birth, His life, His ultimate sacrifice and His returning to life as the “firstborn from the dead” as Paul calls Him in Colossians 1:18.

Of course an effort to re-Christianize Christmas would also be worthwhile. To do this we’ll need to rid it of the overwhelmingly glossy cuteness it has come to embody—Rockwellian scenes of bliss, doe-eyed Precious Moments© angels singing sweetly in the sky and all that. The commercialization of Christmas is a tragedy; our continued, overzealous participation in it is too.

An Undomesticated Christmas
And to disinfect and domesticate the event is a disservice. We can’t understand the scandal of Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection unless we see it in its historical context. That context was a far cry from the cutesy, glowing, serene scenes we’re often presented with. Mary’s labour was difficult; Jesus’ cries were that of a newborn infant; Joseph had real concerns about his reputation; Herod massacred many children in search of this one. And so on.

Neither of these celebrations may have Christian origins, but as far as it’s up to my family and me, they’ll both have a Christian future. My thinking is: we Christianized one pagan event, why not another? Why can’t we mount a subversion campaign that yields the eventual result of Christianizing Halloween? Maybe in 20 years it will be known as “Firstborn of the Dead Day” and churches can celebrate it as a second Easter.

“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord” (Rom. 14:5-6).

The point is this: let’s avoid judging days based on what other people choose to do on them. Otherwise we might eventually end up rejecting a certain day of each week when the dominant form of worship involves TV, football and beer. Every day can be a day to worship and worship brings transformation—transformation of self, of our neighbourhoods and our world.

***
And so ends my run of “Worship Matters” columns in Christian Week. The column has been renamed “Church Matters” and will take a wider look at church life.

Another of my recent columns in Christian Week:

By Michael Krahn  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

About a year ago a prominent Canadian Christian professor (details) took aim at one of today’s most popular worship songwriters in a piece called “Chris Tomlin’s Worship Songs: We Have Got to Do Better.”

Setting the tone early in the article, one of the first things he says of Tomlin’s songs is that “many of them stay with you after church, even if you want them badly to go away.” He roundly criticizes Tomlin’s songs for their “bad lyrics,” “musical clichés” and “discomfiting lyrics.” He calls him an outright “bad lyricist,” who “either doesn’t care about rhyming and settles for the merest assonance, or he lacks the skill or patience to actually craft rhymes.”

Why stop there? The professor goes on to write that Tomlin also lacks a “strong grasp of Scripture, and particularly of the metaphors and allusions he uses.”

If this diagnosis is correct, then many of the rest of us are musical idiots who lack the ability to discern a good song from a bad one. He nearly says as much: “We are the most educated Christians in history, and yet our lyrics are considerably stupider than our much less educated Christian forebears…”

Chris Vacher, a worship pastor from Orangeville, Ontario and founder of a Canadian songwriting collective known as WorshipRises recently came to Tomlin’s defence.

Echoing my own experience, he says, “I do know this: more often than not, if I do a Chris Tomlin song with our church, they are singing their hearts out for the glory of God. As a worship leader, what more could I ask for? Why do I care whether the last word of each line rhymes? All I care is that I am putting words in the mouths of the people of this church which give God glory, stir the hearts of people toward Christ and proclaim the gospel to those who don’t know Him.”

If a loose rhyme scheme is all it takes to keep someone from worshiping God, the problem likely isn’t with the song.

At the other end of the spectrum is the widespread idolization of the band Hillsong United. With a cast of hip, young and good-looking band members and the Hillsong promotional machine in full force, United has become the “it” band in worship music.

In today’s industry, music and image are inextricably linked. Unfortunately, this is just as true of the Christian music subculture as its secular counterpart. The visual presentation of Hillsong United is a message to its audience: image counts for a lot.

One disturbing outworking of this message became evident to me recently as I was looking at the search terms that bring traffic to my blog. One of the top search terms is “Hillsong” and the words most commonly paired with that term are “girls” and “girl singer.”

The girl they’re likely searching for is Brooke Fraser, one of the aforementioned hip, young, and good-looking members the band. Type that name into a Google image search and you’ll see her in poses ranging from “cute” to what can reasonably be described as “seductive.”

This strong push toward image marketing says nothing about the quality of the music that emanates from Hillsong’s various incarnations, the quality of which ranges from lacklustre to profound. Fraser herself is a gifted writer and singer who penned the popular anthem “Hosanna” (the one that begins with “I see the King of Glory…”).

But it does say a lot about the methods they’re willing to use to sell worship music. When we see a “professional worship singer” posing for photos that are not-so-subtly seductive, it’s normal to experience some confusion.

There’s a difference between looking presentable and seeking to become the centre of attention. When sensuality is used as leverage—or worse, manipulation—to sell something for Jesus, we’re getting uncomfortably close to the line between acceptable and not-so.

All of this to say that we do still love to attend to our idols, whether by attempting to tear them down with undue criticism or via the adulation that makes them too high a priority in our lives. Given a choice between fickle fascination and condescending criticism, we should choose neither.

In one case, we’re tearing down something good for the sake our own over-refined sense of quality; in the other case, we’re praising something unholy because we’ve bought into the false god worship of celebrity culture.

Let’s allow the songs to be songs, regardless of who wrote them or what the writer looks like. Let’s neither use nor reject songs because they come from a certain artist.

I plan to continue to use both Hillsong and Chris Tomlin material when leading my church in worship. I’ll also use anything else that’s singable and theologically sound. And I’ll continue to be diligent about avoiding the mixed messages of the visual presentation of worship artists.

My most recent column for Christian Week:

Every time a church music director receives a suggestion from a congregant about a new music team member, there’s a bit of a twist in our stomachs.  I need to say this bluntly: non-musicians are not good judges of musical ability.

They typically underestimate the amount of skill and diligence required to play in the setting demanded by most churches. They also often assume that if someone is judged to be “not good enough” then the music director’s standards must too high, the thinking being that anyone with some ability and a lot of good intentions should be given a spot on stage.

Newer musicians themselves often overestimate the state of their own development. Their actual musical ability is often far less than what they perceive it to be.

My response is usually this: There is no other aspect of corporate worship that is abandoned to people with good intentions alone – why music?

So when the situation arises, music directors are often set up for a bit of an awkward conversation.

Musical people generally fall into one of the four following categories:

Beginner

This person has probably recently taken up an interest in singing or a musical instrument. At this stage there is a lot of excitement but very little self-awareness of competence. Beginners often bail when the going gets tough, when the process of learning becomes more difficult than they thought it would be.

Amateur

The amateur musician has persevered through the beginner stage and is becoming aware of their place in the spectrum of competence. This is still somewhat of a probationary stage, but this when they are probably ready to begin playing a small role in corporate worship. Pushed forward too soon however, it can shatter both confidence and the quality of the worship service itself.

Competent

A competent musician is a confident musician. At this stage they’re past having to look at their fingers at each chord change, for example. Having attained this level of competence, they are now ready to start playing a more prominent role in corporate worship, perhaps even to lead a team of their own.

Professional

If you live in a larger urban center you may have access to musicians who make their living playing or singing in a professional band or recording studio in the area. These people can be a great blessing to a music director if they have a good attitude. Sometimes however, professionals are prone to adopt the ways of the culture of idolization in which they spend the majority of their time.

If this is the attitude of a professional you have access to, choose not to access their talent.

There is one more category that I won’t name but will draw attention to: the competent or professional level musician who is a congregation member and a musician in addition to being music snob. (I’ve spent my share of time playing this role.) They attend services and judge what’s happening on stage to be “ok”, but they could certainly do better. So much better in fact that they won’t embarrass everyone else by making themselves known. Until that attitude is set aside, this type of person is of no use to you.

When joining as a new musician, regardless of your level competence, making a first impression as someone who is humble will go a long way with your fellow team members. It also acts as a deterrent to the idolization that people in our culture seem more than willing engage in when they’re impressed by anyone on a stage.

Don’t give them opportunity to do so by appearing to bask in their adoration. If you become the focus it means that someone more import – Jesus, the one you’re supposed to be leading them to worship – is not.

Our standards CAN indeed be too high, and they are too high when they impede competent musicians from serving God with their talents. If an occasional off note is all it takes to keep someone from worshiping God, the problem likely isn’t with the singer.

But our standards are too low when we allow incompetent musicians to deter others from worshiping God. When we do this we put the congregation in the unenviable position of attempting to engage in worship while being led by someone with a lack of training or ability. We also set the unqualified musician up for embarrassment. Better a truthful word in private than an obvious embarrassment in public.

Having said that, we should not seek to “professionalize” our corporate worship services. Anyone who has attained the level competence required to avoid being a distraction should be put to use. And those who have not attained this level, and are willing to work toward that end, should receive the training they require.

First things first: Rage Against the Machine is one of my all-time favorite bands. Lyrically there’s much to disagree with but music is about more than lyrics and when it comes to energy, passion, groove, hook, and delivery, Rage is a tough act to beat.

Secondly, the dudes in this video pull the song off nicely, even the guy playing Morello’s parts.

But playing a lyrically-Christianized version of “Bulls on Parade” as an intro to a sermon series is one of those things that makes you go hmmmmmmm… Have a look:

Here’s what offends me about it:

1. Christianizing what is already good art is lame.
It’s no different than modifying a Mountain Dew logo and making it say “Meant to Die for You” or taking a Subway logo and making it say “HisWay”.

2. Christianizing a song by a band you obviously like dishonors that band.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Zach and the boys in Rage would NOT like this version of their song. It is a perversion of their intent and it’s opposed to their extreme leftist political views.

3. Christianizing a song affirms the stereotype
Doing this instead of using an original or “already-Christian” song feeds the impression that Christians can’t make their own good art.

4. Christianizing a song is not “redeeming” it
Please don’t play the “redeeming it for God’s glory” card (a.k.a. the “some hymns used bar tunes” card). In the words of Hank Hill: “You’re not making Christianity better – you’re making rock and roll worse!”

5. Christianizing a song ignores the Law of Residual Effect
Real-life example: back in my mid-teens I was exploring the music of the 70′s. I thought the band Boston was pretty cool. Because I didn’t have a history of drug use or partying lyrics like “Smokin’, Smokin’, We’re cookin’ tonight, just keep on tokin’ / Smokin’, Smokin’, I feel alright, mamma I’m not jokin’, yeah,” rolled onto and off of my mind like water off the proverbial duck’s back.

This unfortunately was not the case for a number of people in whose presence I unwisely played this newfound favorite band’s music. When they heard the songs, memories of partying, drug use, and other worldliness flooded into their minds – thoughts like: “Man, that was fun. I wonder where I can get some weed…” Through this I learned a lesson about being a stumbling block.

***

Music is powerful. Songs plant themselves in our consciousness and attach themselves to memories both good and bad. Sometimes showing care for your bother or sister in Christ means not doing things you’re at liberty to do around them.

Yes, I listen to Rage Against the Machine. No, I won’t be playing “Bulls on Parade” as part of my next worship set.

Chris Vacher gets it so right in his post here about the “weird love/hate/love relationship between worship leaders and Chris Tomlin in the church today.”

And it’s not just worship leaders. Prof. John Stackhouse did a piece on Tomlin about a year and a half ago (read it here) listing Tomlin’s many – as he sees it -  deficiencies. It was a pretty disgraceful piece of writing.

Chris (Vacher) goes on to say:

I do know this: more often than not, if I do a Chris Tomlin song with our church they are singing their hearts out for the glory of God. As a worship leader, what more could I ask for? Why do I care whether the last word of each line rhymes? Why do I care whether the melody is simple or not?

This is my experience as well. Tomlin’s albums contain an unusually high percentage of songs that are both well-written and singable for a congregation.

I discovered Chris Tomlin about three years ago. I had been unplugged from worship music for a number of years and just didn’t care for it at all. But I would hear a song every now and then that would wake me up to the possibility that there was good stuff out there.

I kept a list and eventually asked someone more knowledgeable about the list. They immediately picked out the common thread: they were all Chris Tomlin songs.

That’s a great way to discover a God-gifted artist.

The Problem With Most Worship Songs

The problem with most worship songs written today is NOT simplicity, it’s singability. Writing a good, singable song requires both artistry and servanthood. These qualities are difficult to balance, and unfortunately many of today’s worship writers are not doing a very good job of it.

Unique melodies and song structures are fun to listen to but when a congregation is subjected to it, more often than not the song is rejected by silent majority.

Vacher again:

All I care is that I am putting words in the mouths of the people of this church which give God glory, stir the hearts of people toward Christ and proclaim the gospel to those who don’t know Him.

Absolutely. And you can’t put those words in people’s mouths if they’re unable to sing the melody the words are paired with. The same goes for structure – if it’s too complicated to figure out after a couple of times through, it might be a good song but it’s not a congregational song.

When you lead and look out and no one is singing, there’s a problem. If you’re a songleader, you know the feeling.

The question is why do you keep doing songs that people can’t sing as a congregation? Isn’t that the point of congregational singing?

Below is the full text of my second column published in print and online at Christian Week. Enjoy. Comments welcome.

Technology has convinced us we can’t sing

By Michael Krahn  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

We are commanded to sing! The word “sing” appears more than 100 times in Scripture, often as a command. Since God commands it, it is safe to say He gives the necessary abilities. The gift of song is universal.

I encounter more and more people who tell me they cannot sing. They do not lack the desire, but they have come to believe they lack the ability. This low self-image is one reason fewer people than ever are participating in congregational singing. But by what standard are they judging themselves?

To answer that question we need a short lesson in technology. Like Google, which started out as a company name but has now also become an action word, two other words have crossed the linguistic threshold to become verbs. With Photoshop, one can “improve” photos by removing skin imperfections or inches from waistlines. Using Autotune one can “improve” sound by removing imperfections in recorded audio. We google people; we photoshop images; we autotune sounds.

Why the lesson in audio and graphics technology?

I see a parallel between the lack of confidence in singing and the world of visual images in tabloid and fashion magazines. Photoshopped images create unrealistic body expectations. In the modern era of music autotuned recordings give us unrealistically perfect sounds.

The end goal of both processes is the same: the appearance of perfection. Whether we are trying to look as perfect as a picture we’ve seen or sound as perfect as a recording we’ve heard, we are destined to fail.

All of this has led to a crisis of confidence. Autotuned recordings have robbed average singers of confidence in the quality of their voices.

The problem is not that there are people with uncommonly attractive bodies or uncommonly strong voices; the problem is that we have bought into the idea that unless we possess perfection in body and voice we are in the minority and should keep ourselves both hidden and unheard. This idea is an affront to human dignity and to God, who created our bodies and our voices in all their glorious variety.

Inside the Church and out we are faced with a culture of idolatry. TV shows that encourage idolization do not help. In the age of American Idol, people expect to be judged. And judges abound.

Defy people’s expectations and refuse to accept their insistence that they can’t sing. Except in extremely rare cases, this is a lie they’ve been convinced to believe. If people struggle with singing, it’s probably because they’ve been deprived of opportunity and an encouraging place to try.

Within the gathering of a congregation there should be plenty of opportunity.

I led a hymn-sing a few weeks ago. There may have been a few people among the 100 or so who lacked perfect pitch. Did it matter? Not really. The people there understood the purpose of our coming together. It was not to impress anyone or to win a competition, and it was certainly not to sit in judgment on someone else’s abilities.

It was to remember God’s goodness and to praise Him with our voices. Stripped of pretense and unbound by the desire to judge and be judged, a beautiful sound rose in the room. We were singing in four parts, but we were singing as one.

Never pass up an opportunity to talk about the purpose of congregational singing, which is not for the few with microphones to dominate, but for the congregation to sing. This may seem obvious to you, and it will seem obvious to them once they’ve thought about it, but it will take persistent attention to break down the barrier.

R.C. Sproul recently wrote a post called Stunting Worship . In it he points out some of the elements of Old Testament worship and concludes with the statement “Perhaps we have stunted worship by excluding elements that God once included and deemed important.”:

Sight
The visual impact of the furnishings and the buildings of both the Old Testament tabernacle and temple was awesome. The eyes were dazzled with a sense of the splendor of God.

Sound
The choral compositions of the Psalms were moving to the Spirit. They were accompanied by the full harmony and rhythm supplied by the harp, the lyre, the flute, and trumpets.

Touch
The element of touch is missing in most Protestant worship. Charismatic groups emphasize the laying on of hands, which meets a strong human need for a holy touch.

Taste
Taste was central to the Old Testament feasts as well as the New Testament celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The injunction to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8) is rooted in the worship experience. The people of God “tasted the heavenly gift” (Heb. 6:4).

Smell
The fragrance of burning incense gave a peculiar sense of a special aroma associated with the sweetness of God. One of the first gifts laid at the foot of the manger of Jesus was that of frankincense. Most Protestants reject incense without giving any substantive reason for its rejection.

Oddly though he does not suggest we include incense in our worship services. Instead he suggests, “Reflect on ways you might involve your physical senses in worshiping God in your private devotions.”

Why only in private devotions? Why not in corporate worship? Is this another one of those things we refuse to do for fear of being “too Catholic”?

This week I reached a bit of a milestone. The appearance of a column entitled “Rescuing Worship” marks my first work published in a nation-wide publication – in this case, “Christian Week”. I will be doing a series of these posts throughout 2010 under the column heading “Worship Matters” (apologies to Bob Kauflin).

Here are the first few paragraphs. You can read the rest at the home page for my Worship Matters column here.

Rescuing Worship

Let’s reclaim “worship” as much more than a concert

By Michael Krahn  |  ChristianWeek Columnist

If you walk into almost any evangelical church and inquire about “worship,” you can expect to be directed to someone who leads music. “No, no,” you might say, “I’m looking for the people responsible for planning corporate worship at this church.” But it’s a lost cause.

In most churches, the battle is already over: music equals worship; worship equals music. The capacity to differentiate between the two is functionally non-existent. The “worship leader” is the person who leads the group of musicians we call the “worship team.” When these people are on the stage we’re worshipping; when they’re not we’re doing something else. Simple, right?

You may hear comments like, “After the worship, we’ll hear a sermon.” But if the sermon only begins after worship has left the building, we may as well head home before it starts.

This odd hegemony of music—not as one aspect of worship, but as worship itself—is a fairly recent construct. I believe it is a destructive trend in the modern church. What gave the music the right to demand so much?

Read the rest here.

Here is the audio from my September 27th, 2009 sermon titled “What is Worship?” The sermon was not based on a particular text – which in retrospect I find to be a bit of a weakness. You can listen to the audio below or download the MP3 and listen on whatever device you normally use. Enjoy!

Download audio file (What%20Is%20Worship%3F%20%2809-27-09%29.mp3)

(Direct download here. Right click, then “Save As”)

Here are a few of the graphics I used along with the sermon:

I am NOT a Hillsong basher but Ugh, I hate Hillsong videos… and some of their lyrics. I have no idea what they’re trying to market in videos like the one below.

Ok, actually it’s pretty obvious: the people in the band and all their fans are gorgeous and hip! They spend time in airports and travel the world looking cool, wearing shades and sporting The Clash t-shirts. Image is the name of the game.

(click here to view if the video does not appear in your browser)

As lyrics go this is one of those songs that could just as easily be sung to a girlfriend/boyfriend as to Jesus, existing in the ever-expanding “Jesus Is My Girlfriend” genre. This genre is defined as song or songs that “mean to appeal to an audience outside of typical listeners of CCM by replacing “Jesus” with “You” in hopes of making the Christian content of the song less obvious to non-Christian listeners.” (def’n found here)

Take out the line “I’ve got a Saviour and He’s living in me” and “What The World Will Never Take” is one of those songs:

Check this out. Read it without assuming its about Jesus:

With all I’m holding inside
With all my hopes and desires
And all the dreams that I’ve dreamt

With all I’m hoping to be
And all that the world will bring
And all that fails to compare

You say you want all of me
I wouldn’t have it any other way

I wanna know
I wanna know you today

And You’re the best thing that has happened to me
And the world will never take
The world will never take you away

No-one could ever take you away

The “live” version above strays from the recorded version and makes the message a bit clearer – lyrically at least. And don’t get me wrong, as a song and a rock video it succeeds admirably. It’s catchy, well-played, and professionally edited. I’m just not sure I want to play it as part of a worship service at church.

Draw Me Close (seen below) is even worse. Take a look:

(click here to view if the video does not appear in your browser)Again, read it without assuming its about Jesus:

Draw me close to you
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I’m your friend

Help me find a way to bring me back to you

Chorus:

You’re all I want, You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want,
Help me know you are near

You are my desire
No one else will do
Cause no one else
Can take your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way to bring me back to you

Chorus:
You’re all I want, You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want,
Help me know you are near

What do you think? Do I have a point or am I just getting old?

(As a side note, and in the “even more obvious” department, what do you think this shot of Brooke Fraser, Hillsong United’s female member, is selling? Discussion needed? I think not… and we used to think Amy Grant in a leopard-print blazer was racy.)

In a recent Breakpoint article, Chuck Colson asks, “Is there a right and wrong kind of music for worship?”

“One expert on church music says yes, there is. Much of today’s music is of poor quality, he writes. But so was some music written centuries ago. The difference is the old hymns have endured a centuries-long weeding-out process. If we hope to identify the best new music, Williams writes, we must know ‘those marks of excellence that made the best of the past stand out and survive so long.”

If he contends (and I believe he does so correctly) that there has always been good and bad music being produced, then it follows that those who were around at the times the great hymns were written were also, during the same time, subjected to the lower quality hymns as well.

We look back at the time of great hymns and think, “It must have been nice to be around at that time!” as if the only things written at that time were home-run hymns. That was not the case.

The 4 marks of excellence he identifies are:
1. Biblical Truth. Lyrics need not to be literal Scripture, but they do have to be faithful to it.

2. Theological Profundity. Think of how the words to the great hymns encourage us to worship God with our minds. By contrast, some contemporary choruses are often “so simplistic and repetitive that theological reflection never has a chance to get started.”

3. Poetic Richness.

4. Musical Beauty. In great music, “there are certain contours, structures, and cadences that make for a singable melody.”

A case can be made that there is more poor quality music being produced now, but like the age of the great hymns, the good ones will endure and the rest will fade.  And you can bet that there were people during the time of the great hymns who longed for the old days, when music wasn’t so “worldy” and “frivolous” and “repetitive”.

“Unfortunately, those in the present must always endure the good with the bad while those in the past have the privilege of passing on only the good.”

Colson wraps it up diplomatically in say that, “in the end—all sides of the music wars can agree that we want to praise God by singing hymns and spiritual songs that are biblically true, theologically profound, poetically rich, and, yes, musically beautiful.”

Michael Spencer, who is a Protestant but blogs under the name The Internet Monk, wrote an excellent piece on worship a few days ago. I will print some of the highlights here followed by a few personal comments. If you want to see the entire article and read the comments on his blog (of which there are 173 at the moment) go here.

Here are the highlights:

- We have, within a matter of 50 years, completely changed the entire concept of what a worship service is. We’ve adopted an approach that demands ridiculous levels of musical, technical and financial commitment and resources.

- We have tied ourselves to the Christian music industry and its endless appetite for change and profit. We have accepted that all of our worship leaders are going to be very, very young people. Traditional worship  is on the verge of becoming a museum piece.

- Diversity, generational compatibility, even simplicity are all being blown up. Worship is now a major audience event, led by skilled entertainers, aimed at a demographic and judged by the audience reaction.

- Worship has now become a musical term. Praise and worship means music. Let’s worship means the band will play.

- Even singing is getting lost in this. As the volume and the performance level goes up, who knows who is singing?

- We have a lot of happy people right now. They have no idea what Biblical worship is outside of the context of their favorite songs played by a kickin’ band. They have little idea of worship in vocation, in family, in ordinary work or in silence. They credit their favorite songs as major spiritual events.

_____________________________

There are a number of things I want to comment on here, and I make these comments as a musician and Pastor of Worship who is training people to be part of, as Spencer calls it, “a kickin’ band”. But I am also one who believes that music is only a small part of worship which, although powerful, cannot be allowed to become what is seen as the only form of worship. I explored that idea a while ago in a post call “What Is Worship?”

1. Spencer claims that singing is getting lost in all this. I agree. I have noticed this in my own church, having grown up there and now returning to it as a pastor, the singing is not as vigorous as it once was. It seems to me that people once sang much louder, that they filled room with song – not with pitch perfect delivery, but with enthusiasm and confidence. Too many people have forgotten how to express themselves in song. People no longer sing because the room is too loud for them to hear themselves or anyone else around them.

2. Some of this is certainly my generation’s fault. In some cases we’ve pushed too hard for modern songs and styles at the expense of the old. We want what the world has: a loud band to perform for us while we consume the experience of their performance. In a lot of cases the older generation, wanting to keep us around, has acquiesced. We, like over ambitious high school athletes, have taken the ball, run past the goal line, and kept right on running right out of the stadium. (Need a visual on that statement? Watch 4:10 to 5:04 of this video) We now have not only modern instrumentation but all the look and feel of a modern rock concert. Like a rock concert, the privileged few create the experience and the rest of us consume.

3. I’m not unhappy at all with having what some oldtimers call “Rock and Roll” in our church. It has a time and place when it is effective – but that time and place is not always and everywhere.

4. I am committed to addressing these issues and as I figure out how to do that I’ll try to keep you posted on this blog.

When we lead the music (or preach or teach), we are there primarily for the benefit of the other people in the room. What we are trying do at church is follow Jesus’ example, who “came to serve, not to be served.”  Matthew 20:28

To do this, we partially put aside our preferences so that others can worship in a way that suits them. As a service to our fellow believers in Christ, we look out at them as we’re playing and we see when a song is hitting them and driving them to worship and when it is not.

Some people genuinely worship to Randy Travis and some worship to much louder music.  Now, I don’t think many people would be served by us playing Randy Travis style every week, but there are also a lot of people who are not served by us playing with the volume at 10 and 5 electric guitars on stage. Somewhere in between those two is where we want to be.

Its a matter of serving the people in the room. If its all youth – give-’er, full out, they’ll love it!  If its our Sunday morning crowd, which is a mixture of youth, seniors, young families, etc, then we look out and we adjust however we need to in order to serve them.

Servanthood can seem like a leash if you see it that way, but again, let’s look at Jesus example. Jesus gave up being in the presence of God in order to come to the earth, suffer, and die for us – as a servant. He did this so that people who didn’t know God could know God and have eternal life and so that people who already knew God could know him fully and enjoy him more.

As worship leaders, we are called to the same thing: we want people to meet Jesus, and we want people who already know Jesus to know him more. If we think of music as the vehicle for this, then ultimately we SHOULD be willing to play a style of music we hate every week if people are genuinely meeting Jesus and getting to know him better.

Related Post :

What is Worship?

Let’s try to separate music from the idea of worship for a while.  We’ll talk about it a little bit at the end.

Worship as a noun
1. The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity : the worship of God
2. The acts or rites that make up a formal expression of reverence for a deity; a religious ceremony or ceremonies : the church was opened for public worship.

Worship as a verb
1. Treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity
2. Take part in a religious ceremony

Like many English words, the meaning and usage of the word “worship” has taken a few turns.  In its earliest use it was used in reference to God but then it became a less religious word and was used to describe anything virtuous – like a home or a town.  In all cases it was still indicative of the “worthiness” or “worthship” of a person or thing to be ultimately honored.

As Christians, we believe that only God is ultimately worthy of our highest affections, and so that is the context in which we will discuss worship this morning.

Worship as a Living Sacrifice

Before sin entered the world, finite man and infinite Creator were in a harmonious relationship. God created us with a desire to worship – that is, a desire to call something worthy above ourselves.  This desire still exists in every human being, child of God or not.

Because of this, there is no question about whether we will worship; we will, the question is “What will we worship?” Worship is the seeking out and admiration of that which we perceive to be greater than ourselves.

To the Christian, worship must be telling God how much he is worth and showing how much he is worth to us in the actions of our lives.

Worship and Idolatry

A proper understanding of worship must also include an understanding of idolatry. If worship is the acknowledgment that God is the only worthy recipient of our highest affections, then it’s opposite – idolatry – is every action we take or word we say that contradicts that belief.

Idolatry is not just another sin, it is the underlying root cause of all sins. Just as Jesus told the woman at the well that worship would no longer take place only in set places at set times, now too idolatry is loosed from its definition as people worshiping a graven image. Now, idolatry happens any time we indicate by action or word that something is of greater worth than God.

Martin Luther pointed out that the first two commandments (1. No other Gods 2. Do not make an idol) refer to idolatry and then the other eight commandments refer to more specific things like murder and adultery and stealing and lying.  Luther proposed that if you never broke the first two commandments, you would never break any of the others.

Whatever commandment you break, whether it’s a problem with sexuality or stealing or lying, the sin itself is not the problem.  The underlying cause is that you are an idolater.

Elements of Worship

Some common word pairings:

“Worship service”

-    What is the “service” that happens in a worship service? “Service” is the action of helping or doing something for someone. How does this happen in a typical Sunday morning gathering?

-    What is distinct about when we gather on a Sunday morning is not that we are worshiping, but that we are worshiping together in order to build each other up.
-    Does every element of the service contribute to the worship of God?
-    Worship is more than what we do in a worship service; it emerges from our entire being, it indicates what hope our hearts are set on. If on God, then worship is true and gives joy; if on anything other than God, it is robbing from God and leads to misery.

“Place of worship”

-    Is this the church building? -    Jesus tells the woman at the well in John 4:

21 “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

-    In the OT worship was associated with times and rituals and places.  In the NT it is for the people of God at all times and in all places – how we live IS our worship! No longer is worship tied up with the sacrifice of animals, now it is ourselves that we must sacrifice, we are to become “living sacrifices” as it says in Romans 12.
-    If what we call “worship” only happens inside the walls of our church buildings we have done a poor job as leaders. If the only time we can be bothered to give all the praise and honor that is rightly due to God is for one hour on Sunday morning, well, that says a lot about our priorities.

“Worship leader”

Having established what “worship service” is and what and where the “place of worship” is, and having defined worship itself as the living, continuous, sacrificial acts of a child of God that affirm a stated belief that only God is worthy of ultimate honor, what then does it mean to be a worship leader?

In many churches this is the term used for what is actually a song or bandleader.

Who is a worship leader?

Just like the question “Who will worship?”, the answer is EVERYONE. Whatever or whomever you have decided is most important to you – you give your time, your energy, your money, your love, your devotion, your hopes, your dreams, your fears to that person or thing – THAT is what you worship. Today, you might lead the worship of Nascar, or your favorite TV show, or your favorite band.

As soon as you place something in the highest place of your affections, above God you are going to sin, you are going to walk into a trap that you set for yourself.

Anyone who is an example of putting God first in their life, of showing that God is the thing of most worth in their life is a worship leader. When we sing, “I will give you all my worship…” do we understand what we’re saying? “I will give you, God, all of my notions of worth. Above my job, my spouse, my money, my car, my family… I think you are more worthy of my attention than any of those things!”

Music

So what is the place of music? Why do we equate “worship” with “music”? I think its because the culture (and we along with it) worships music.  For an obvious example: American Idol. Could we make our intentions any clearer than that?!

Music can open a place in the heart where a door is closed. It may be for just a minute or two, but when that place is open, Christ can come in, pain can go out, sin can be revealed, anger and doubt – sometimes hidden even from their possessor – are seen and are dealt with.

I believe that this is the power of music, both for good and for bad.

In addition to music, various descriptions of corporate worship in scripture include the following:
-    Corporate prayer
-    Reading of scripture
-    Preaching based on scripture
-    It is linked with gathering to eat
-    The singing if songs that praise God and encourage one another
-    Giving to the poor
-    Public confession of faith
-    The receiving of God’s blessing
-    Response to praise and prayer with the saying of “Amen”
-    Baptism and communion
-    Prayers of thanksgiving and the breaking of bread

Challenge

Worship is our proper response to God, ascribing all honor and worth to Him because He is worthy.  “In other words,” says D.A. Carson in the excellent work Worship by the Book, “worship becomes the category under which we order everything in our lives.” (p46)

Genuine worship is loving God with heart and soul and mind and strength, and showing what a statement like that means in the daily decisions of life.

How will you lead in the worship of God today?