- provides an opportunity to focus undivided attention on God and His character
- gives a medium to passionately express your gratitude and love to God
- allows you to be united in mind and spirit with your community
But sometimes, just as you're starting to drown out worldly thought-distractions and open up emotionally to God, a familiar chord progression begins. And by "familiar" I mean "way, way too familiar; so familiar, in fact, that the mere sound makes you want to close your ears and start saying 'LA-LA-LA' so you don't have to listen to one more second of it."
Some worship songs have just been so overplayed in churches and conferences the last 5, 10, 15 years (and in some cases, are also so bad) that -- for those of us who are still coming along on this spiritual journey of patience, maturity, and self-control -- they instantly induce an un-worshipful cringe.
And so, I give you...
Worship songs that need to be retired
and if they're not willing to retire, I'm trying to get them fired
[Note: there are some songs that would make this list, except you never hear them anymore, e.g. "Shine Jesus Shine." But it seems they have already called it quits, so there's no reason to bring them back onto anyone's radar.]
1. "Heart of Worship" [1998]
I'm amazed at how such a boring song became so incredibly overplayed. It doesn't even have a bridge, it just keeps coming back to "I'm coming back to the heart of worship..." over and over and over and over and over again. In the video linked above, Matt Redman at times looks like he's going to fall asleep while singing the song.
2. "Here I am to Worship" [2001]
Slow, boring, repetitive. It does have a bridge (and a poignant one at that), but the most musically and emotionally driven moments of the song coincide with pretty self-centered lyrics ("here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that You're my God").
3. "Trading My Sorrows" [1998]
I don't really hear this one too much anymore, but when I do, it's really hard to sing along with
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord
Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord Amen
4. "God of Wonders" [2000]
Good lyrics, decent song, just toooooo many times.
5. "Breathe" (or "This is the Air I Breathe") [1995]
Nothing to say. Stop playing this song.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Shout to the Lord, Open the Eyes of My Heart, Indescribable, Days of Elijah, Friend of God, Better is One Day
What songs are in your worship hall of fame?
Fun fact: I wanted to work in a "warship" pun by this point, but it didn't pan out
What are your favorite worship songs right now?
Which ones are you really tired of?
Jon
I can't write much (it may have to do with the fact that I'm hoping to write something similar in my blog), but I completely agree. Right down to every detail except I think I really enjoy the overplayed ones from days gone by ("Shine Jesus Shine" is a fave of mine), but the moment they start being overplayed again (if this ever were to happen) I would likely feel the urge to jam an icepick through my eye. "Better Is One Day" can be deleted from all human knowledge for all I care.
ReplyDeleteI instantly had a good laugh when this was posted and appreciate it very much. Did this stem from hearing God of Wonders this week in corporate worship? Coming from my beautiful Presbytery background I will say that the congregation absolutely loves these songs. I on the other hand would have to agree with you. However, I do feel like more and more hymns are becoming more main stream? Another interesting did bit, is that earlier this week I re-visited a few of these songs and experimented with just playing them differently and it was..fun? Regardless I will leave you with this - "And if our God is for then who could be against us?"
ReplyDeleteFirst, the first thing I thought of on seeing this was you saying in a Cru talk that your "own personal version of hell would be 'Awesome God' played on repeat, just over and over and OVER again!" which I completely agree with.
ReplyDeleteSecond, fortunately I can't even remember which songs irritate me because I deleted them all from my iTunes. :)
I love this post so much, it makes me think of drowning in the ocean with no land in sight.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I think you should do another post about worship songs with terrible metaphors.
@Will-- "deleted from all human knowledge"; hilarious!
ReplyDelete@Randy-- yeah dude, God of Wonders last week sort of inspired this. "and if our God is for us..."
@Jbranbs-- thanks for remembering that joke from my talk! i'm pretty sure, though, that in accordance with this entry, the song was "heart of worship"
@bmcness-- as we now know, your comment single-handedly inspired my next entry
"You are the Lord/The famous one, famous one/Great is your name in all the Earth"
ReplyDeleteSung this song at church today and I hate these lyrics. They're not that wrong, but I feel feel dirty using the word "famous" for God (soooooo many other better words for Him). Also, I wouldn't characterize His name as "great" in the world. There are a lot of Christians on the Earth, but a lot more who find His name a lot less than "great". Maybe the song's referring to something a little less tangible, but it's very confusing.