Smile When You Say That...
Oh blast it...the culmination of my deepest thoughts always comes sometime after 1 AM. Ah well, hopefully it will make sense.
Since the first month of school, there has been a growing dissatisfaction in my heart with the approach towards worship and the fellowship of believers (aka "The Church") that I have witnessed my classmates taking. Growing up, worship was viewed as giving glory and honor to God--whether through singing, ministering to others, praying, giving of tithes and offerings, etc. I haven't seen that modeled differently here, but the view of singing is different here. I was raised on a mixture of up-beat, occasionally cheesy worship songs; slow, contemplative ballads with normally-deeper lyrics; the rest of it was somewhere in between. I hated a couple of the over-played ones, but for the most part I loved it all.
The first full week at Northwestern was a bit of a jolt for me musically, to be honest. In the 9 months I have been here, I don't think we have sung more than a total of 20 up-beat songs in chapel and P&W combined. I'm not saying that I have a problem with that, but I do have a question or three regarding this style of praise and worship.
#1: What makes the slower songs more preferable to the worship leaders here (if it isn't for the feel-good moments that their lyrics and emotion are sure to bring)?
#2: Why is it that the more up-beat songs have been labeled "doctrinally-unsound" or "fake" more often than the slower ones (at least that is what I have been told)?
#3: Why the heck do we always have to be thoughtful and focus on Christ's sacrifice? I'm not trying to make what He did on the cross seem unimportant, but for Pete's sake--He's alive! We have been set free! Why aren't we shouting that from the rooftops like the cheesy lyrics state?
I realize that my last question may seem more like a rant than a question...and actually, it is. I have had people here say (and I quote): "It's good to be contemplative" and "Some worship music is just too happy for me." Uhhhh what does "too happy" even mean when we are worshiping the Creator of joy? Deep thought is good...yeah. It is. I'll get back to that one in a bit.
Maybe I'm more of a charismatic than I thought. Perhaps my youth group (which, by the way, has plenty of teens who stand stock-still and barely sing for the most part while the worship team does a phenomenal job of trying to change that) was an exception to the rule of Midwesterners being required to stand with their hands by their sides during worship. (That was supposed to be a joke.) I never would have guessed that I would ever be considered one of the peppiest worshipers in a room. Seriously, just ask my middle school, jr. high, or high school leaders what I looked like during the singing time for most of my life. It was pathetic.
Okay, off the bunny trail. My story is over. (You're welcome, Connie:)
A'right. Back to the question about "too happy." In my opinion, worship should be a healthy mixture of both joy and pain. I have read articles by and talked to people who think that we should implement the lamentation psalms from the Bible into our lyrics more often. Well, I actually have seen a fair amount of that in the past couple of years. Just listen to "Need You Now" by Plumb and you've just been given a summary of half those passages. What really bothers me is that I don't see many people here at Northwestern openly celebrating the joy and freedom that we have in Christ. I promise I am not lumping people into one big group...I promise I am not assuming to know everyone's hearts. But something has been bugging me for a while now, and I am going to say it outright.
I am sick of the feel-good, emotional, low-lighted worship experiences that turn out to be just that--experiences.
Worship is supposed to be a 24/7 activity. It isn't humanly possible to do this, but our main goal in life is not only to love people...it is to give God honor and glory for every single thing that we ever do. While it is wonderful to have those emotional times when we immerse ourselves in deep thought during song, it is quite another beautiful sight to behold when we turn our eyes to heaven with joyful hearts and finally understand what we were made to do: sing praises to the God of love.
This week in P&W, we sang "Happy Day" after a night of slow, soul-searching music. Some people had just torn up sheets of paper with lists of struggles and sins that were being given to God. As soon as I realized what song was being played, tears sprang up in my eyes. It had been a virtually-dry night for me, spiritually speaking. "The greatest day in history..." triggered so many memories of a time that is now past in my life...of Amanda shaking the tambourine and moving to the music, of Victoria playing her violin with an intensity in her face that I so admire, of Brad and Logan trying to get people to make an "O" with their arms during the chorus, of Josh and Caleb and Bailey showing off their major guitar skills, of Travis going nuts on the drums. Most importantly, I was remembering (and celebrating once again) what those lyrics really mean.
I am pretty sure that this post is rambling like crazy. I don't even know how many of you read the entire thing. Not sure if that even matters, honestly. I have another rant...but I will save it since I am pretty sure that it is even longer than this one. Stay tuned for that this week.
I just want to sing happy songs sometimes. Is that really so bad?
Since the first month of school, there has been a growing dissatisfaction in my heart with the approach towards worship and the fellowship of believers (aka "The Church") that I have witnessed my classmates taking. Growing up, worship was viewed as giving glory and honor to God--whether through singing, ministering to others, praying, giving of tithes and offerings, etc. I haven't seen that modeled differently here, but the view of singing is different here. I was raised on a mixture of up-beat, occasionally cheesy worship songs; slow, contemplative ballads with normally-deeper lyrics; the rest of it was somewhere in between. I hated a couple of the over-played ones, but for the most part I loved it all.
The first full week at Northwestern was a bit of a jolt for me musically, to be honest. In the 9 months I have been here, I don't think we have sung more than a total of 20 up-beat songs in chapel and P&W combined. I'm not saying that I have a problem with that, but I do have a question or three regarding this style of praise and worship.
#1: What makes the slower songs more preferable to the worship leaders here (if it isn't for the feel-good moments that their lyrics and emotion are sure to bring)?
#2: Why is it that the more up-beat songs have been labeled "doctrinally-unsound" or "fake" more often than the slower ones (at least that is what I have been told)?
#3: Why the heck do we always have to be thoughtful and focus on Christ's sacrifice? I'm not trying to make what He did on the cross seem unimportant, but for Pete's sake--He's alive! We have been set free! Why aren't we shouting that from the rooftops like the cheesy lyrics state?
I realize that my last question may seem more like a rant than a question...and actually, it is. I have had people here say (and I quote): "It's good to be contemplative" and "Some worship music is just too happy for me." Uhhhh what does "too happy" even mean when we are worshiping the Creator of joy? Deep thought is good...yeah. It is. I'll get back to that one in a bit.
Maybe I'm more of a charismatic than I thought. Perhaps my youth group (which, by the way, has plenty of teens who stand stock-still and barely sing for the most part while the worship team does a phenomenal job of trying to change that) was an exception to the rule of Midwesterners being required to stand with their hands by their sides during worship. (That was supposed to be a joke.) I never would have guessed that I would ever be considered one of the peppiest worshipers in a room. Seriously, just ask my middle school, jr. high, or high school leaders what I looked like during the singing time for most of my life. It was pathetic.
Okay, off the bunny trail. My story is over. (You're welcome, Connie:)
A'right. Back to the question about "too happy." In my opinion, worship should be a healthy mixture of both joy and pain. I have read articles by and talked to people who think that we should implement the lamentation psalms from the Bible into our lyrics more often. Well, I actually have seen a fair amount of that in the past couple of years. Just listen to "Need You Now" by Plumb and you've just been given a summary of half those passages. What really bothers me is that I don't see many people here at Northwestern openly celebrating the joy and freedom that we have in Christ. I promise I am not lumping people into one big group...I promise I am not assuming to know everyone's hearts. But something has been bugging me for a while now, and I am going to say it outright.
I am sick of the feel-good, emotional, low-lighted worship experiences that turn out to be just that--experiences.
Worship is supposed to be a 24/7 activity. It isn't humanly possible to do this, but our main goal in life is not only to love people...it is to give God honor and glory for every single thing that we ever do. While it is wonderful to have those emotional times when we immerse ourselves in deep thought during song, it is quite another beautiful sight to behold when we turn our eyes to heaven with joyful hearts and finally understand what we were made to do: sing praises to the God of love.
This week in P&W, we sang "Happy Day" after a night of slow, soul-searching music. Some people had just torn up sheets of paper with lists of struggles and sins that were being given to God. As soon as I realized what song was being played, tears sprang up in my eyes. It had been a virtually-dry night for me, spiritually speaking. "The greatest day in history..." triggered so many memories of a time that is now past in my life...of Amanda shaking the tambourine and moving to the music, of Victoria playing her violin with an intensity in her face that I so admire, of Brad and Logan trying to get people to make an "O" with their arms during the chorus, of Josh and Caleb and Bailey showing off their major guitar skills, of Travis going nuts on the drums. Most importantly, I was remembering (and celebrating once again) what those lyrics really mean.
I am pretty sure that this post is rambling like crazy. I don't even know how many of you read the entire thing. Not sure if that even matters, honestly. I have another rant...but I will save it since I am pretty sure that it is even longer than this one. Stay tuned for that this week.
I just want to sing happy songs sometimes. Is that really so bad?
Justine, I admit i have often had the same experience with worship music in large groups. I would suggest a couple of things in response to your questions, being that I was part of the music team at my church for many years. We don't even have one at all now, but that is another story and so I must resort to my own worship.
ReplyDeleteThis is my experience, that the person or group who picks the worship songs for the meeting usually tries to find out the passages being taught or at least whatever topic will be addressed. Sometimes the teacher has songs to suggest if they are musically minded as well. I find that often the older the teacher, the more conservative they want the music. also the less likely they will know any new music. Second, the more upbeat songs can easily be labeled "doctinally unsound" and i have heard the word "fake" too because of what voice they are written. My worship leader told me that it was a decision made by our leadership that the worship by the church body is a corporate event and so we did not use any songs that spoke in first person of any aspect of one person's relationship or worship to God. Corporate worship had to always use that language. We tried to get around it a couple times, by changing from I to We, etc. It doesn't really work. Because people know it one way. I personally think that is one reason songs like Shout to the Lord, and others are some of the few that have lasted so long in popularity recently, and why nothing can very well replace the hymns. Some of the more upbeat rewriting of the hymns are some of my faves. For some reason, the contemplative songs end up in plural or corporate voice, the rejoicing upbeat songs are in singular/individual voice.
It is a hard thing, I know firsthand what it is like to miss the music. We don't have worship at all in our morning meeting, the only one on Sunday with our whole church. We meet all over Ames, Des Moines and 2 surrounding towns in 15 house churches, meeting in homes, designated by where we live. Ours has about 40 attenders, with another 25-30 friends and neighbors associated. Our goal in the next few years is to have at least 25 small churches in the area, and most of the growth has been successful through new converts than bringing people from other churches. Each small church does it's own music, and so we have a couple guitar players, another pianist like me, and that's it. We just sing what we like, and have a file of songs we use again. It's hard. I need to do a better job, find good music. there is so much awesome Christian music, but how much is for corporate worship? All i can say is that i still look at the songs with great lyrics, awesome music, memorable melody and have to put it though that filter. Also, there is the issue of singability, if the song leader cannot sing it so he can teach others, that's a problem. those that are hard to teach and those in first person can be great to share as a solo, which does have a place in the worship, too. So, dear cousin, take heart. Try talking to the worship leaders, even if you don't want to volunteer to join, but as concerned student wanting to understand their strategy, maybe you can be someone that can just bring them new music to consider. I found that my youth group was willing to try to sing any song with great lyrics no matter what it was like. Ever listened to old Petra or Audio Adrenaline? dcTalk? in my youth group we sang those songs. nowhere else can that happen. it's probably your equivelent to being in a high school garage band. Hope this helps. Sorry it's so long.
Hey cousin, thank you so much for this. What you are saying makes a lot of sense, and I agree with all of it. I love Audio Adrenaline (and am excited to see how the new line up will do)and I love dc Talk. I haven't listened to Petra much at all, but I have heard great things about them.
DeleteI have been thinking about talking to Tec (the Praise and Worship leader) or someone connected to him about all of this. I am interested in being involved, but even if I'm not, I would like to help them out in some way.
This helped a lot. I was afraid of the reaction I would get to this post (aka two or three people on my FB friend list who are very opinionated), but this was far more encouraging.
Amen! to your post. I understand to an extent of what you were saying, not that I have been completely in your shoes, but I know the ins and outs of praise and worship. Though worship is always my favorite part of the service because of the time we are able to spend in Gods presence just worshiping Him, it is just that--singing our hearts out for what He's done for us in song, not singing sad songs that may still be stuck on the cross instead of celebrating an empty tomb. Some of the best worship songs that can be sang as a congregation are done by Bethel and Klaus, but those are only two of the many artists/worship bands. But, I also know of many great fast songs...such as "I am Free" by Newsboys and "Free" by Jonathan Hunt performed by Planet Shakers. There are so many great songs out there now for congregational praise and worship.
ReplyDeleteI will pray that things change for you in this situation.