So I recently had a conversation with a non-Christian, but very spiritual person, who attends church every once and a while. We were talking about worship songs and how she rarely sings in the church services she attends because she wants to know and agree with exactly what the song is saying. This brought up a topic I have thought about for a long time: corporate worship.
Just for specifics, when I use the term corporate worship, I mean any music that is done in a group setting within a church. For example, Sunday services, woman's group services, etc. My thoughts on this subject come from previous bad experiences or at least frustration for the largely global "direction" of music within worship services. Having experienced everything from contemporary to traditional services, I hope that my opinion will hold a little weight on the subject, though it is only an opinion. (Further research on the topic will be explored, a.k.a. I will look at examples in the Bible)
So, to get to the point, my frustration comes from the focus of worship songs. Many popular Christian songs are focused on the individual (examples: Let Your Light Shine by Bethany Dillon, Amazed by Lincoln Brewster, The More I Seek You by Kari Jobe, just to name a few). While there is nothing wrong with these songs, they are often used for corporate worship. That is where my frustration comes in. To sing songs specific to an individual makes the power of standing in a group of people all worshiping God almost obsolete. I might as well be standing in my living room. Many of the songs are personally focused, but even more so songs that express a common meaning, for example, Everything by Tim Hughes, uses the words 'I' and 'my'. This song is on my mind because we sang it this morning in church. Wouldn't it be a thousand times more powerful if instead of singing "God in my waking, God in my sleeping, God in my working, God in my speaking" we sang "God in our waking, God in our sleeping, God in our working, God in our speaking,"? How much more connected and unified would the church feel singing these songs together. It is the idea that not only is this my heart, but the thousand other people around me feel the same way towards the same God. How cool is that!! But instead, this morning we sang a line from another song that stated "Though none go with me, still I will follow." None go with me? What about the other thousand people in the room around me? While that song does have a place, and I'm sure every Christian has experience that emotion of being the only one striving after Christ, I don't think it's place is in a room of Christians all perusing Christ together.
My second point of frustration is the directionality of worship songs. So often I am singing about myself, and what God has done for me. Don't get me wrong, this is super important and very touching, but again, I don't think it belongs in the arena of corporate worship. I would much rather be singing about who God is, His qualities, and His effects on us as a church body. I don't want to sing about how God has personally impacted my life, again bringing my worshipful focus back to me as an individual. I want to sing about who God is and how we all corporately feel about him. I much prefer worship songs that sing of God than refer to us.
This might come from a deeper urge. The concept of unity within the church, though it sounds like an insurmountable task, is burned into my heart. To think of the power and impact of a church body that displays God love to the world is an amazing thought, even to the point where secular acts of unity bring me to tears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo). So to think of the possibility of what worship as a corporate church body could be. Well, anyway, I think that's where this stems from.
And again, songs of worship that sing about God's impact on my life personally, and that address the changes He has made in me are very important, just look at some of the Psalms. But again, the arena of corporate worship has such potential to be unifying and invigorating, and I think one of the ways that can happen is through changing the focus and direction of the songs that we sing as a church body.
Off to spend some time with my hubby. Happy New Year everyone!
- Erica
"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" Isaiah 1:17-18
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