Modern Worship Thoughts

A friend of mine in seminary recently asked for my thoughts on "modern worship music." He was wondering about the theological richness (or poverty) of the lyrics, and also whether any of the songs that are "hot" right now would endure. I thought it would be fun to post my response... here it is...

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Hey man…. Sorry it’s been so long, but you know how it is (or at least how the excuses go). I’ll try to be as thorough and concise as possible. Whether you remember it or not, with me there are seldom “simple” questions: there are usually telling implications for our paradigms, and these questions are no different. Here are some thoughts:

• Unfortunately, I think there are very few songs with “theological weight”. Even more unfortunately, I don’t think that this is the fault of modern songwriters; it’s the fault of the church. I believe that the church (with a few notable exceptions) has lost its ability to talk about its theology in any sort of understandable—much less compelling—way. Particularly on Sundays, we have downplayed (or eliminated) discussions of the Resurrection, or the Prophetic tradition that we are a part of, in favor of three-point sermons on how to be a better husband (along with an appeal to personal salvation thrown in).

By and large our songwriters, then, are just “going with the flow,” and tossing out appropriately inspirational songs for the culture they serve. There are glimpses of hope: “In Christ Alone” (Stewart Townend) and the re-working of hymns (such as “Jesus Paid It All) have endured for a few years now; they are both “creedal” statements about the life of Christ.

• Relatedly, insofar as the modern church has incarnated itself into USAmerican culture, I believe we’ll have to accept the fact that our music will be increasingly ephemeral and transient. Why? Because our culture is. To approach it from a musical perspective first, how much music is being created now that is enduring and lasting? People still listen to Led Zeppelin; ACDC just released a huge record (and it can’t be just aging rockers—like me—that are buying these records!); in contrast, who is making records today that will be listened to in five years, much less 30 or 40? John Mayer? Mute Math? Wilco? Coldplay? U2? The list is perilously short.

For better or worse, the USAmerican church has partnered up with pop-culture. “Hey,” we say, “Listen to Hillsong—those tunes ROCK!” True, but if you understand Coldplay and a few other modern musical reference points, you’ll understand that Hillsong is no different than Vineyard or delirious was, 8 – 10 years ago.

Mostly, the white evangelical church rides rock and roll all the way to redemption, but because of this, the cycle of relevancy is going to continue to get shorter. Most (if not all?) of our culture is one of “planned obsolescence.” The church must continue naviate the tension between incarnation and eternity, particularly in its musical expression. I’m not sure there is a tangible answer, except to acknowledge where the difficulties lie, or continue to find opportunities to reject pop culture where it can. (This is a much deeper topic than I can describe here, obviously, but I hope you can see where I’m going).

• As I see it, it’s easy to find songs about God in creation, about the “supremacy of God” (Piper/passion theology). It’s easy to find stories about anything that’s popular in Christendom today. What’s missing are compelling, creative songs about, say, seasons of the church’s calendar:

o In Advent, I still rely on hymns that are re-worked
o There are few, if any, songs for lent, and even less for Good Friday

• To do something succinct for you, here’s a list of white rock songs that have endured in my catalog for more than, say, a year or two:

o “Jesus Paid It All” (Passion)
o “Revolutionary Love” (Crowder; one of the few songs out there about the revolutionary nature of the communal, out-reaching love we are called to)
o “Wholly Yours” (Crowder; a great song about discipleship, and the concept of redemptive time: whatever we bring to God can be changed and redeemed, whatever we hold back oftentimes can not; also “Everything Glorious”)
o “Forever” (Tomlin; for all my beef with Tomlin, this song based on Psalm 136 is one of the best representations of God’s faithfulness)
o “You Never Let Go” (Redman; one of the few white worship songs that talks about being on your last nerve)
o “Invitacion Fountain” (Vineyard; this song has consistently hit that “I’m broken and I need healing” vibe)

• Here’s a list of songs that I feel have theological weight, but I have no idea how long they’ll be around (not sure they’re even popular now)
o “God Will Lift Up Your Head” (re-worked by Jars of Clay, from Redemption Songs)
o “Nothing But the Blood” (re-worked by Jars, from Redemption Songs)

• Obviously, there is still a severe lack of songs in the white church about justice, “hanging on” and waiting for God to save you, God’s love for the poor (see Isaiah 58)

• I wish this list could be more exhaustive (or encouraging?), but I think the white evangelical (“emergent”?) church is in an awkward time. Many congregations are happy to sing the 5 songs that they need to be encouraged and feel good about themselves and their faith—and there may not be anything wrong with that—but there are other people, and other occasions, that are highlighting and exposing the shallow nature of the pop/rock medium.

Why are there so few “inspiring” songs about the things that seem to be central to the prophets, to Jesus, to Paul: mission, justice, living in unity and humility with each other. It’s tempting to blame the song-writers, but maybe the problem is more subtle and more difficult than that. So much of scripture, as I read it, contains a call to “smallness” and death to ourselves. Can our “inspiring”, “Viva la Vida” takeoffs communicate that smallness?

As I read scripture currently, Paul and Christ seem to reject “the triumphant statement” in favor of service and foot-washing. Should the white evangelical church seek to find new worship methods that push people towards that, rather than more and more triumphant, “exciting” songs.

Maybe the worship medium is, in itself, creating a challenge for the church. Questions like this one could, if the church allows it, drive the church towards new and vital forms of worship, but only if they allow it.