Skip to main content

True Worshipers, where you at?

          As most of you know by now, I am a Worship Leadership major. My life revolves around music and learning to use music in a way that honors the Lord and draws others to Him. So, I was intrigued as I read "The Growth of the Christian Church and it's Music." I quickly found interesting parallels to an issue that continues to grow in worship music today. Page 13 quotes St. Augustine as he admits his battle with feeling "sensual pleasure" from worship music. He says, "However, when it happens to me that I am moved more greatly by the song than by what is sung, I confess that I am sinning and deserve punishment." This is not a conviction that many of us feel. Maybe you do from time to time, but I believe so many musicians try so hard to make sure their worship songs are heard that the line between worship music and secular music begins to blur. Obviously it is important for a song to sound good... who wants to sing a worship song they don't like? The issue is that instead of writing worship songs that sound good, so many are writing songs that sound good but the worship element is just extra. For example, a few weeks ago my mom had some music playing in the kitchen. One song came on and the lyrics went something like this: "Come a little closer, stay a little longer." I asked my mom if it was supposed to be a worship song. She told me it was on a worship playlist by a Christian artist. I don't know about you, but those lyrics remind me more of a country song talking about a girl. It was as if the artist was so desperate for his song to be heard that he didn't mind if people thought it was about God or a girl. I understand that a lot of songs about God are love songs in a sense, but I think St. Augustine's conviction should remind us of what true worship should be. 

"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. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23-24

"Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2



Comments

  1. ClaboJanuary 26, 2021 at 12:00 AM

    I couldn't agree more. There is a song that I used to listen to that talked about how worship is more than just a song and that God is the one who needs to be seen and exemplified on stage, not our own personal agenda and attempts for recognition. I mean after all, the reason it is called a "worship leader" is because it is that person's role to help lead others into a place, setting, and environment where they can worship God intently.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackson RiddleJanuary 26, 2021 at 12:31 AM

    Because of my musical background I often catch myself focusing on the technicalities of worship so much that I miss the meaning of what is being sung. Not only does this take away from worshipping God, it allows me to miss what the singers are actually saying. For example, if a song sounds good but has a weird beat to it, I might sing the lyrics but I'll be focusing so much on the oddity of the beat that I won't pay attention to what I'm singing. If song writers fluff their lyrics to cover a more general audience, I might end up singing something sacrilegious without noticing. Thus I think it goes both ways; song writers shouldn't generalize their lyrics to ensure song popularity, and listeners should focus on what they're singing rather than getting distracted by the technicalities.

    ReplyDelete
  3. abbieheddenJanuary 26, 2021 at 8:42 PM

    Haley, I loved your post. I used to go to worship services with a friend of mine who was a devout atheist. She loves popular Christian music and would sing it to her heart's content... and I always wondered why. I never asked - it seemed such an insensitive thing to say, and I was hoping the music was a gateway to teach her more about Jesus. I think that her experience with the music was something different than the goal of worship should be, and I definitely think it may be partly due to the lyrics choices in Christian music.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more