Styles Come, Styles Go
July 31st, 2006 by Dan Price | Posted in Theology
Do you remember being a kid in church, turning to hymn 243, and singing words like “Ebenezer” or “Prostrate” and wonder what the heck you were singing about? Was Scrooge getting an enema? Singing with a bunch of people every weekend is a strange phenomenom if you think about it. Why do we do this? What is the function of worship music? And most importantly what is worship?
What is Worship? “Worship is the response of grateful and humble people to the living God where submission, sacrificial service, praise, profession, testimony and gratitude are freely expressed in innumerable ways.” Lee Campbell PhD “Worship is our response to God’s Initiation” Tim Smith, Mars Hill Church, Seattle
We are created as worshippers to worship God. There is something inside us that wants to place value on things. We want to say “this is good” or “this is bad.” We assign weight and worth to almost everything we come in contact with. This is not born out of some kind of evolutionary process, this is something deeper something spiritual, something beyond all that. This is the reason we were created, to worship God. The fall has perverted our response to God though, and we place the highest value on other things.
Our sports teams, Our music Our job, our performance Our bodies Nature Our minds Our human reasoning Our desires Our feelings/experience Our doctrine Worship itself
We worship God when we sacrifice the worship of these things. When we offer up ourselves to him, we offer up everything we have.
The quintessential verse on worship is probably Romans 12:1-2.
Romans 12:1-2 1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
Worshiping means giving our bodies up as sacrifices to Him. What’s more interesting is the part right before that. You may think, “Wait a second! That’s the first verse in chapter 12.” But I truly believe that Paul was in a continuous thought from Chapter 11 to 12, remember chapter and verse distinctions didn’t come until much later. Anyway, let’s read some of chapter 11.
Romans 11:33-36 33Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! 34For who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor? 35And who could ever give him so much that he would have to pay it back? 36For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.
And let’s go back and read that verse in Romans 12 1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept.
The fact that we are supposed to offer up our bodies as living sacrifices is because we have a God who is so great we can’t understand him!
How’s that for a theology of worship? When is the last time you used that to tell people about your faith?
You know in the 1st Century the Greeks understood this. They had gods for everything and even for the “unknown God.”
Paul uses this to witness to them in Athens.
Acts 17 22So Paul, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious, 23for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it—’To an Unknown God.’ You have been worshiping him without knowing who he is, and now I wish to tell you about him.
24″He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need there is. 26From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
We are worshiping the Great One! We worship a God we can somewhat know. But he is a God we also worship because we can’t completely understand him. We are worshiping the Creator.
God existed as three in one before the creation of the world— (Genesis) Father creating, using the Son to create (John). Spirit hovering over, indwelling.
Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. 3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that it was good.
John 1:1 In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6God sent John the Baptist 7to tell everyone about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8John himself was not the light; he was only a witness to the light. 9The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was going to come into the world.
So the Father and Son are there creating, the Spirit is indwelling in the process. The uncaused cause, the triune God is creating out of nothing. That is beyond us. That is a reason for worship.
When we look at God’s plan of salvation we see another reason to worship. We see the Son submitting his will to the father to sacrifice his life for us. If God does that for us, can’t we give him our lives?
I can’t give you specifics about what it means for you to worship God. John the Baptist was worshiping God when he preached about the coming of Christ. Paul worshiped God when he was content to be in prison. Noah was worshiping God when he built a boat even though he was being mocked by everyone around him. You worship God when you respond in a proper way to God’s initiation. This might mean that you respond gracefully, when you are treated unfairly. It may mean that you raise your hands in praise here at Riverview because you’ve seen God work in your life. How Does Music Fit Into Worship?
Did you know that it’s not a biblical mandate to have music in our services? We have tons of freedom to have our services in many different ways. The cool thing is that we do have the freedom to use music, which is one of the most powerful gifts that God has given us.
Music fits into our corporate response to God. We as a community are singing prayers to God together. We are telling him that we love him not just individually, but together as a community that has seen him work. This has been a tradition since the Old Testament times up until now.
So what is Worship Music supposed to sound like? We have a folk band, a post-hardcore band, acoustic set ups. Which one is the best? What should worship look like?
Let’s take a look at the history of worship music in the Church.
History of Worship Music (thanks to Travis Swan)
313 AD – The Edict of Milan makes Christianity the formalized national religion.
373 AD – Ephriam from Syria writes songs, takes secular melodies and puts orthodox lyrics to them -there are still 400 hymns that he wrote that exist today -he wrote many of these hymns to combat heresy in the Church.
600’s – Gregory the 1st (Pope Gregory) compiles priests’ chants – Gregorian chants established, still used in Catholic mass today
900’s – Mass is in place as the accepted form of taking communion and worship
9th Century - Someone in Ireland writes Be Thou My Vision as a protest song to Viking oppression
1520’s - Martin Luther stands up to Rome (who had reduced worship to paying dues) and writes songs of personal experience in Christ
Later in the 1500’s - John Calvin says Luther’s hymns are too much about personal experience, begins to chant Psalms with no instrumentation
1680 – Bach is sick of congregational singing, so he composes instrumental and chorale music to be experienced in church
1707 – John Wesley brings personal hymns back in, writes a ton of hymns and adds instrumentation (Methodists).
Wesley brings hymns to America; colonists don’t like the English melodies, so they set the hymns to simple American tunes – each note only one note away from the other.
1890 - Dwight Moody’s soloist Ira Sankey creates a new song form – simple chorus, soloist that sings the verse – Gospel music begins
Same time - Fanny Crosby writes 9500 songs – Gospel song becomes song form of the day for the protestant church in America. Crosby was blind, but was never bitter about her disability. At the age of nine she wrote these verses about her condition:
Oh what a happy soul I am, Although I cannot see; I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy, That other people don’t; To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot, and I won’t.”
She later remarked, “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”
She also once said, “When I get to Heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!”
Early 1960’s – Catholics after Vatican 2 use acoustic guitars in mass – “Folk Mass.”
1969 – Hippies - Jesus Movement in Southern California hits. Guitar enters the protestant church.
1980’s - Integrity music decided Jesus movement songs talked “about” God – and coined “Praise and Worship,” songs that talk “to” God.
1995-The move into Christian pop culture, and growing popularity of megachurches, was marked by the popularity of Hillsong, which in 2005 broke Australian records by selling more CDs on the week of the release of the CD than all other CDs in the pop market combined together.
1990’s- Passion Network introduces “pop rock” worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and David Crowder.
2000’s- Riverview Church begins Folk Worship and Post-Hardcore. Approval and complaints from church members abound.
Right now we have six different bands at Riverview, some of which have followed the modern sounds of Chris Tomlin and the Passion guys, some of the bands are completely different.
Why we started a folk band is because I met Brandon and Laura who play in a couple of folk bands together. It was natural for us to just start something new with their natural style because of who they are.
The same goes for the Difficulty (the indi band). This music is the style of music they listen to, it is the kind that they naturally play.
We are creating music that comes from who we are. We wouldn’t have a post-hardcore band, if we didn’t have the musicians who are naturally in their element there.
You may be uncomfortable with the harder music, or the folk music. You may just be waiting to get back to “real worship.” But as we look back on history, there have been so many ways to praise God and so many styles; we need to allow for flexibility and creativity, because this music is coming from who we are. We need to recognize, that many people love this and that the musicians are trying to help us make worship fresh by changing the elements.
What Does The Bible Say About Worship Music?
Nothing really. There is no prescribed way given to us about what our corporate worship should look like in regards to musical styles.
In the Old Testament corporate worship was lead by horns, percussion, strings, harps, lyres etc. But there is not an ordained style of worship. We do know from history that many times the music could be heard from up to ten miles away from the temple, which meant it was pretty loud. They rocked out. Alice Cooper would have probably been the worship leader if he were alive back then. They didn’t own decibel meters in those days.
In New Testament times the Jews and the Samaritans had disagreements about the way to worship God. The Samaritans worshiped on a mountain and the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem at the temple. Jesus has a run-in with a Samaritan woman, which is a whole other teaching, and she asks him where the proper place is to worship God. He tells her that “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem….True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:21, 23). True worshipers are those whose lives are filled with worship. Where the songs that they sing actually have meaning because of the worship in their daily obedience to God.
Isaiah 29:13 Says: “And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote.’”
What Is Worship Music Supposed To Be About?
The Psalms are a great source to see how the nation of Israel worshipped the unchanging God. We see that there are Psalms (which were songs that they sang together) of: Joy, Thanksgiving, Lament, Instruction etc…
Some of them are mixtures of these.
There are many times in the Psalms where we’re told to sing to the Lord. Here are some examples:
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Psalm 9:2 I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. 9:11 Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds. 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me. Then we get to Psalm 88 which is a bit darker.
Psalm 88 A Petition to Be Saved from Death. A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. 1 O LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. 2 Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul has had enough troubles, And my life has drawn near to Sheol. 4 I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, 5 Forsaken among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And they are cut off from Your hand. 6 You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths. 7 Your wrath has rested upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah. 8 You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. 9 My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called upon You every day, O LORD; I have spread out my hands to You. 10 Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah. 11 Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness?
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O LORD, have cried out to You for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before You. 14 O LORD, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? 15 I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome. 16 Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. 17 They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether. 18 You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness.
And that’s the end. No resolution. No hope. It’s just brute honesty toward God. What kind of psalm would you consider this to be?
This psalm is a “Maskil,” which means psalm of instruction. Of course, we can see that the theme is a lament too, but they used this song as a teaching! I think this is a manly psalm. The authors were not afraid to be real with God. They trusted him so much that when they didn’t see him answering their prayers, they prayed more desperately. When you feel like God has abandoned you, do you give up? Are you this perseverant in your prayers? When you feel like God’s terrors have destroyed you, can you tell him that without rejecting him? Without sinning against him? It takes tough people who are truly trusting God to get to that point.
We are in a culture that defines our worship music in a certain way. There is no real prescription in the Bible that tells us that new songs have to be a certain way, but personally there are a few things that I want to consider. I do take worshiping in spirit and in truth very seriously, and I think that sometimes we find that we either aren’t worshiping in spirit or in truth.
Extremes in Worship music 1. Too Me Focused 2. Too Impersonal 3. Too Emotional 4. Too Theological
Songs and services can focus only on what God has done for us, or only on Who God is. Both of these are extremes. At the same time, a song can have no actual content, or truth, or can be filled with the whole doctrine of God in one stanza!
Balance is hard to find, but it is good to strive for. We want a mixture of simple songs of love to God and theological songs that remind us of the greater truths of God.
Why We Write Our Own Songs At Riverview
Did you know that about a quarter of the songs that we do here at Riverview are originals? Did you know that we rearrange about half of the songs that we do from the original arrangement? Why do this when there is so much music out there?
Psalm 33:1-11 1 Let the godly sing with joy to the LORD, for it is fitting to praise him. 2 Praise the LORD with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp. 3 Sing new songs of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp and sing with joy. 4 For the word of the LORD holds true, and everything he does is worthy of our trust. 5 He loves whatever is just and good, and his unfailing love fills the earth. We write songs, we sing praises to God because he does what we cannot understand!
We are in a fortunate place where we have musicians who can write and arrange new songs that we can sing corporately to God. I think this is a beautiful thing. We are made in the image of the Creator, and in a sense, we are “little creators” when we make stuff up because of God, Whom we are worshiping.
I want us to worship in spirit and in truth. I want our corporate worship to reflect what God has done for us. I want our songs to have more meaning and more musicianship. When we hear Doug Hinterman on the Sax or Sean here playing a guitar lick, we should lift up prayers to God for the grace that he has given us to be able to make music for him. When we go to any concert, not just a Christian concert, we should thank God for the general grace that he gives all people as image bearers, that good art is a result of God.
In leading the corporate worship we want to find songs with meaningful lyrics and interesting music, write songs with meaningful lyrics and interesting music. We want do things in excellence to give God glory and allow you, the congregation, to sing praises to him and worship Him for who He is and even what is happening at the moment musically.
I know that with 2000 plus people, you are not always going to like the different styles and that’s fine. I don’t always like particular styles of some of the songs that we do. I do want us to not let that hold us back though.
We are consumers because of the culture we live in.
If you let your consumer mentality to determine whether you like a service here or not, get over it. We aren’t here for ourselves. This service is to worship God together and to learn how to be sacrificial followers. If we can’t be sacrificial in our preferences, we are going to be pretty poor missionaries in our culture. Can you worship God by sacrificing your preferences?
We are worshiping God, not the band, not the style of worship, not the atmosphere, God is worthy of praise, no matter how much we screw these things up. These are all tools, gifts of God in and of themselves.
“During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister (Beecher’s brother) once substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits.
That’s when the minister stood and said loudly, “All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!”
In the same spirit, worship isn’t primarily about our styles or who’s leading it or even if the people singing can’t hold a tune. Our worship is about the object of our worship. Our worship is about Who we are worshiping. That is WHY we want to worship Him with good music. God has given us so much freedom to use such a gift. Let’s use our instruments and voices to praise His name.
Daniel Price
Music Director-Riverview Church
dan@eriv.net www.eriv.net www.danprice.net
This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 11:28 am and is filed under Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Good article. Its pertinent that we stay with the style of the times in order to minister to the youth of the world which is a good way to see Christianity grow.
Great article Dan - what kind of reaction have you had from your congregation? And, what in the world does post-hardcore sound like?
I have a thought on being consumers, stolen from my pastor, Mitch Majeski - he taught last week that we are created by God to be consumers, it hasn’t been created by our culture - we’re created to be consumers of Christ. What the world has done is given us a ton of other stuff to consume INSTEAD of Christ.
John 7:37-38:
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
So this would relate to Sunday morning in that we’re used to being offered a bunch of appealing worldly stuff to consume, and so we take that mentality into the church service. If we instead embrace the fact that we ARE consumers, and come to Jesus, our eyes shift off of us and our circumstances toward God and His purpose in this world and His grace, and suddenly our preferences don’t matter. Instead of consuming the service, we consume Jesus, and are satisfied.