Some worship songs are absolutely ridiculous if sung to us instead of God. Try it sometime. During the middle of a praise and worship song turn and face the person next to you. Who cares if they’re not already your friend. They will be after you whisper these sweet lyrics to them:
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
Having a tough day with your significant other? Sing the second verse to them! It has guaranteed wooing power.
You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause nothing else could take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to You
Caution. You may end up married by the chorus.
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
And that’s the entire song. Beautiful? Maybe if it’s sung to Jesus, but for some reason his name doesn’t ever make it into the lyrics. And that's sad. How can we call a worship song a worship song if Jesus doesn't even get into the lyrics? Read back through this song. It sounds more like a romance song to an estranged lover than it does a worship song praising our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
I looked through a list of the top twenty worship songs for the year, and thankfully, most were about Christ and worshiping him. If left to ourselves, we and our music can become too "me" and "I" focused instead of Christ focused. I'm hopeful for the future of our worship songs, as long as I can't sing them to my friend and they make sense.
But really, this isn’t a serious critique of our modern worship. This is more of a motivational speech, to get out there and sing those worship songs to the one who deserves to receive them. Besides, I don’t think your friends want you to sing to them in church. It's uncomfortable.
Lyrics from stlyrics.com.
Yes! I remember this day at church. It is certainly awkward to sing praise music to someone other than God, especially when your in the front row. I must say that, although Christ may not be 'mentioned' by name in the song, it is obvious that it is about a relationship between you and Him. So I don't find it to detrimental to the song.
ReplyDeleteKlint, thank you for your response. This praise song is obvious to us that it is indeed a praise song. But what about to a nonbeliever? Would they know it's a love song to Christ or to their sappy ex-boyfriend? As a friend once said, "If we can replace the name of 'Jesus Christ' with the name of our boyfriend or girlfriend, then maybe the song isn't that sound in the first place."
ReplyDeleteI also have hope for our worship songs, but I'm imagining a worship service in 20-30 years... (Soothing voice-over),"Please stand, open your pew ipad to app 1040, view the synchronous photo montage, and hum along if you like as our worship team lip-sync's 'As the River Flows.'"
ReplyDeleteWhen my children are older, will they think back wistfully of the good-old-days when the words for the songs engaged their minds - being projected up on a screen, as they are now?
Good article; and comment, Pete. Frankly, I like our church's bulletin format with the whole service including printed hymns in the bulletin. I like seeing the music and words written down, not just projected on a screen.
ReplyDeleteJonathan: Tell us more about yourself, where are you? How's your mom and dad? Somehow lost contact with them a few yrs ago. Greet them from Milt and Mary .
Haha. You two are both hysterical. I hope our worship services don't deteriorate into this. I do like both contemporary songs and hymns, just depends on the music and the words. My parents are doing good. I'll let them know you said hi. My dad's on facebook if you want to look him up, Mary.
ReplyDelete