Praise or Worship? Or can we have both?

I liked John Mortensen’s addition to McLaren’s article.  It is a lot harder to write worship songs than people think and I loved the tips that he was giving.  However, I would have to say that the way that he addressed his tips made it seem as if there’s only one way to go about writing worship music (and I know he didn’t mean that but that’s how it felt).  He tells us to use more imagery in our worship, which I totally agree!  Imagery is important because then you can close your eyes and actually picture things; like the sunset, the colors in the leaves during fall or even the snow as it’s freshly sprinkling down to hit the ground.  But that isn’t what I think all of our songs should be about.  I actually love singing songs like ‘from the inside out’ where I’m expressing in words what my soul is really feeling and that’s praising God whole heartedly!  And when these types of songs are played it kind of allows me to do a heart check during the song in making sure that what I am saying is truly from the heart.  And when Mortensen said that ‘Good poets, like the psalmists…do not write about Intimacy, Love, Sacrifice, or Blessings but rather of trees, mountains, horses, lips, hands, blood and wine.’ (Mortensen; page 3, lines 18-20).  It kind of frustrated me.  I mean I do LOVE singing praise songs towards God; He deserves every one of them!  But, at the same time I think that we need to still have songs where we can really check ourselves and give ourselves a chance to surrender in our worship. A variety of songs are needed, especially more of the songs that McLaren was mentioning with future, lament and God’s character, etc… (McLaren; page 16, lines 2-4).  But, I think that we need to have a balance between those songs and the songs that we seem to use in this present time.  What do you guys think?  Should we change our services to where it is all about praising God (which is not bad at all so don’t think that I am downsizing that because I am really trying not to!) or should there be some sort of a balance between the two types; praise & worship?

mortenson and podcast

In paragraph 10, mortenson links rhyming to theology with the Above All song saying that the lyricist needed a rhyme for “you took the fall” and so wrote, “thought of me above all”.  First, it was probably the other way around, and second, do we need to throw out music because of line which can be overinterpreted and theologized?  I had the same issue with the podcast – pulling out entire songs because of a line.  Will Easter forever be tainted for me because Dr. Layman and the podcast guy (sorry, didn’t catch his name) have pointed out the fallacy of “You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.”  I know its bad, I know.  But the fact is, the church is going to play it every Easter and now it pulls me out of worshipping.  Getting educated is not always fun.    What is good though, is that I can make better choices when I am putting a worship service together.

In Response to Capps

Capps said that rock music “…historically celebrated rebellion and sensual impulses” (p.42 para 4).  This implies that the music itself celebrates these values.  While I do not assert that music divorced from lyrics cannot promote an idea or attitude, it appears that the author is making a blanket statement about rock music that is simply wrong.  Typically, it has been the words of rock music that celebrate rebellion and sensuality.  While the music itself may also do this in some cases, this cannot be applied to the whole genre.  My point is that I believe some of the artistic elements in rock music show the mark and design of a creative God.  Creative and new rhythms, for example, are a wonderful relief from the “boxy” rhythms typical to hymn tunes (remember this is coming from a staunch advocate of four-part hymn singing).  Rock music, on the other hand, often lacks care and structure in how harmonies fit together, where hymns tend to be stronger.  I think composers in the church should be constantly striving to be creative and artistic, yet as structured as possible.  We should be willing to incorporate elements of created beauty into the music we use to praise God, no matter where each element comes from.  A great example of this is my roommate and resident composer, Samuel Vereen.  His symphony rivals Beethoven and Brahms in the intricacy and tapestry of the way the notes, motifs and harmonic structures fit together, but his music incorporates new and exciting rhythms and harmonies that appeal to the modern ear.  I do think there are some elements of secular music that should not be adopted, because of poor artistic quality, or because they express an idea, attitude or sentiment that is not in keeping with the character of God.  Two examples of this would be vocal lines where the voice is distorted and is lacking any tonal quality (scream-o [sp?]), and modern classical music which is atonal (the music is derived by chance processes and sounds chaotic to the ear).  What are some elements that you think are wrong to incorporate into worship music, and why?  If you think there should be no filter for what we incorporate, why do you feel this way?

letter to worsip songwriters mclaren

So I agree with most of what Mclaren said about making worship about me.  At the same time though I don’t think that every time I sing a song about how Jesus forgives me or rescued me that I am being selfish in my worship. “It really feels like worship and Christianity in general has become about me, me, me” (2). Usually when I sing songs like that it reminds me of how great God is and how small and undeserving of his grace I am. Worship songs that talk about how Jesus embraced me or cleansed me actually humble me. When I sing those songs I’m singing them in away that thank God for forgiving, rescuing and embracing me. I never intend for it to be about me. So my question is….. Is it selfish to sing songs that involve what Jesus did for me? Isn’t he still getting the glory? Isn’t his name still being lifted up?