My assumption is that most of you who chose to follow a Facebook link here are pretty familiar with the idea of 'worship music'. In the event, though, that a few of you haven't been to a Protestant Christian church, here's a brief summary: in most modern church services, one staple is a time of musical worship in which congregants, under the direction of a 3-to-8-piece rock band, sing songs to/about God with varying levels of liveliness, key changes, gestures, and flag-waving.
On the one hand, it's a simple enough process. As a group, we join together to give praise to God. We could (and at other times do) accomplish this same end through a group prayer, free of instruments or melodies. But since musical worship is common in the Bible, it's fun, and music is a medium that is emotionally engaging, we have today's world of "How He Loves Us" (and 1999's world of "The Heart of Worship").
But what really happens when we worship God in this way? What's happening in the unseen realm? What are the relationships among the words we sing, the thoughts in our heads, and God's response to us? Are the words we sing important, or just the state of our hearts? Could we just as easily worship Him with a song of "La La La"s or animal noises?
I don't know the answers to these questions. Maybe share your thoughts in the comments below. But for now, I offer you the one thing I have thought about in this area, and that's the words of our worship songs and the purposes they serve.
What's in a worship song?
For those times we're able to think about the words and not our voice or the person next to us
The phrases in worship songs seem fall into one of three categories:
1. True statements about God and/or me
Examples:
"You are good when there's nothing good in me"; "I need You"; "You are mighty to save"; "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe"
Purposes:
These are crucial, and ultimately I think songs can be made up entirely of these thoughts. Thinking rightly about God is one of the many ways we honor Him, and by singing these words, we reinforce our belief in them. It's natural to sing these things with a loving and grateful heart, which increases our intimacy with God. And if all else fails, simply honoring God with positive, true words about Him is worshipful.
2. [Admittedly false] statements about me that I'd like to be true (resolutions)
Examples:
"I will worship with all of my heart, I will praise you with all of my strength, I will seek you all of my days, I will follow all of Your ways"; "Giving all I am to seek Your face, Lord all I am is Yours"; "Where You go, I'll go... I will trust in You alone... I will live for You alone"
Purposes:
There is always in the Christian life a healthy desire to look ahead. And while it will be completely by God's transforming power that our future will be more godly than our past, we still (again by His grace) bring to the table willingness, submission, and surrender. And so, these sung phrases allow us to express that future-looking surrender-- I will follow, I will obey, I even now give You all that I am.
3. Requests from God
Examples:
"Give me faith to trust what You say"; "Refine me, Lord, through the flames"; "Let Your glory fall as You respond to us/ Spirit, rain/ Flood into our thirsty hearts again"
Purposes:
This is very similar to the purposes of the previous category. But these lyrics, serving as requests, focus not on our role of surrender, but the much more essential role of God as the one who actually brings about the things we want to see in our lives-- transformation, contentment, hope, etc. Note that while we greatly benefit from these blessings, they're ultimately all for the sake of God's glory.
This observation is probably not very profound. But I've already found it somewhat helpful in evaluating worship songs and, more importantly, to understand them while I'm singing them and thus worship God with more mental presence.
In terms of evaluating, I simply am realizing I prefer songs that focus on the first or third categories, but not the second. Sure, it's important to make spiritual commitments and to be resolute, but that's not the sort of thing I feel the need to gather 'round and sing about. As for understanding what I'm singing, it's really nice for me to understand the connection between the different components of the song. Otherwise it can seem like a random connection of unrelated lines!
For instance, I can start to see the "big picture" of a song when I see what its various segments are and what they each mean. So a song's meaning might take on one of the following forms:
"God, in light of these truths about You and me [lyrics in category #1], I need You to work in certain ways [category #3]. As You do those things, may I become more of the person You want me to be [category #2]."
-or-
"God, I really need to work in this area [category #2]. Please provide all I'm lacking in this area [#3]. This whole process is worth it because of certain great traits of Yours [#1]."
Now, I'm not dissecting these songs phrase for phrase while I'm singing along in church. But once I've taken a little time to study the lyrics and understand more of how each line works toward the overall message, all future instances of singing that song seem to be enhanced. This may not be the case if you try this-- I know not everyone has my weird, analytic brain.
The Heart of Worship
I still think 'warship' for worship is one of the best typos possible
Please comment on anything in this post. If you need more direction, note the several questions at the beginning. Failing that, there are tons of YouTube links you could comment on. If you aren't understanding what's happening right now, I'm begging you to comment.
Jon
