Oh Be Careful, Little Mouth, What You Sing

I write this from an uncomfortable place -- I'm afraid right now. Our church’s excellent music leader recently announced that he’s leaving for another ministry. I’m very hopeful that his new ministry will expand the borders of his influence for the kingdom, but, perhaps selfishly, I’m afraid for our church. Our present music director is impeccably trained and musically talented. It shows in his work. He also exhibits some affinity for music with theologically rich lyrics. I know these traits are not all that common in worship leaders. Not long ago, my family spent a few months visiting many churches around the area. We saw enough to know that there is reason to be afraid, very afraid. With one or two exceptions, the music ministries at the several churches we visited left very much to be desired. It's clear that our present music director will not be easily replaced. I’m afraid he’ll be impossible to replace. I tend to trust the powers that be at our church, but I’m still afraid. Here are three characteristics I’m hoping they’ll look for in a replacement, in order of importance to me.

1) Theologically rich lyrics. First, I want a music director who is committed to theologically rich lyrics. For the few people who pay attention to my Facebook page, you’ve seen me ride this hobby horse before. I favor songs like one of my favorites, "Arise, My Soul, Arise." Every time I sing this song, I am enriched by the profound soteriological concepts beautifully expressed there. If you wonder why I sometimes bemoan some contemporary Christian worship songs, I challenge you to try this experiment. Take a week or two teaching your way through "Arise, My Soul, Arise" with your child. Then take a week or two teaching your way through today’s most popular 7/11 chorus. See the difference?

I can’t help but see a connection between the present popularity of “substance-lite” lyrics and a diminished view of God. My view of God was developed, in part, by singing songs like “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.” (That’s just the first verse.) My kids learn about God by singing “You're a good, good father, It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are.” There’s more of the same to this song, but that pretty much covers the theological content. Perhaps I should not be surprised that I now see the “big man upstairs” attitude toward God (which used to be limited to the world outside the church) finding its way into evangelical Christianity when we are diminishing the language that we use to describe Him within the church?

I understand that I am swimming against the current here, but I am convinced that the “dumbing down” of corporate worship parallels the debasing of our broader culture. Many worship songs tend to be purely emotional, stripped of any substantive doctrinal content. Similarly, modern American political campaigns are emotional affairs, denuded of any policy substance. "Kasich seems like a nice guy." "Cruz's smile creeps me out." These are real "reasons" real people have given for supporting a political candidate. And should we be surprised? Fox and CNN have for decades been peddling an infotainment product that is long on pretty faces and short on substance. They get us riled up, but they don't teach us anything. And so we see the rise of substance free candidates who engage voters on a purely emotional level. That’s bad for politics. I think it’s worse for worship.

Let me clarify a couple of things that I am not saying. First, I am not saying that worship should be stripped of emotion. To the contrary, I challenge anyone to sing and engage with “Arise, My Soul, Arise,” and not feel the emotion. The choice isn't between emotion and no emotion. It's between emotion along with doctrinal engagement and pure emotion stripped of anything that appeals to the mind.

I also am not saying that all contemporary songs are bad, clearly they are not. If you are tempted to reject what I’m saying as “chronological snobbery,” I would respectfully suggest that you check your own commitment to chronology, because I am not merely an old guy who likes old music. I would cite "In Christ Alone" and "His Robes for Mine" as good examples of content-heavy contemporary worship songs. On the flipside, it's also the case that not all "old hymns" are content-laden. The debasing I'm talking about didn't start in the 21st century. Many early 20^th century "hymns," including some of the old favorites, are sappy, emotional, and shallow, imho. It's just more striking today because content-free worship songs tend to have fewer words and more repetition now, having given up any pretense to content. I'm not against contemporary music. I prefer more substantive contemporary music to less substantive music. (The same goes with old songs -- I like to sing old songs that mean something.) To prove that this is not just another rant by an old guy against CCM, here are three links to contemporary Christian music ministries that I’ve found tend toward theologically rich lyrics: Church Works Media, Getty Music, and Watchsong.

This also is not about musical styles. I can enjoy various styles of music, but this is not about what I enjoy. I do prefer a more dignified style in my worship music since I think a certain seriousness is necessary to the best worship, but that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking only about the substantive content of the lyrics.

   

Finally, I don't deny that relatively shallow, somewhat mindless, very sentimental worship can be "good." But I think substantive, thoughtful, meaningful, and heartfelt worship always would be "better." My beef, if I have one, isn't with shallow worship. It's with worship leaders who should, imho, be leading from the "good" to the "better." I believe that, before any new song is sung by the congregation, the lyrics ought to be reviewed by a pastor to discern whether they have a message and whether that message is biblical. If the song fails either of those two tests, it should be relegated to being sung on the radio and excluded from congregational singing. Better yet, the message of any new song should be taught by a pastor (perhaps on Sunday or Wednesday night) before the song makes its debut on Sunday morning. I think this requirement would discipline song selection. And I imagine some would be surprised that many popular songs are strings of cliches without any real meaning.

2) Musical training and competence. The second thing I’m looking for in our new worship leader is a level of musical competence. I think a college degree in music is essential. In my limited experience, I’ve found that trained musicians avoid one of the great mistakes of many “worship leaders” – trying to use popular recordings for congregational singing. As it turns out, many of the top tunes on the CCM charts are “unsingable” by a normal congregation. This should not be surprising. Those songs were written, arranged, and recorded to sound good and to sell records when sung by professionals (after a lot of studio production), not for congregational singing. It seems to me that trained musicians tend to understand this better than amateurs. I also would be more confident that a trained musician would understand, for example, when hammering the djembe fits with the style of a particular song, and when it doesn’t.

3) Talent. I put this last because I think it may be the least important. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important. Our current music director is a huge talent, and that’s a big help. I’ve suffered under worship leaders who are always singing just below the pitch being played by the piano. It’s jarring to the ear. But I put vocal talent last because I’ve found that when a congregation is led in worship by a talented singer who lacks the first two qualities I’m looking for, the song service tends to devolve into a performance. The leader stands up there singing out with his eyes closed, neither knowing nor caring whether the congregation is with him. His sweet, melodious voice fills the room, and that’s all that matters. Reducing the congregation to an audience is not what I’m looking for in a music director.

Having said all of that, I am trying to learn through this to trust. Ultimately, the church is God’s church. I trust Him to give us the gifts we need to live the corporate lives He’s called us to live.