One of my dear friends posted a link on her facebook page to an article - My Journey Away From Contemporary Worship Music. I'll admit when I saw it, I cringed a little. I thought this will be another article telling what's wrong with contemporary style churches and their music.
I avoided reading the article for a few days because I didn't want to read it with a negative mindset, but I was still curious to see what the author would say.
As I clicked on the article, negative thoughts came to mind. Why are many traditionalists so stuck in their ways? Why are some contemporary attenders insistent on poking fun of hymns and traditional style churches? Don't both win people to Christ? Can't we all just get along?
I knew I needed to change my thought process so I began to pray. Even though I knew this article would be stating some negative things about contemporary music, I still wanted to go into it with a learning attitude. I prayed that God would show me if there was anything wrong with contemporary music and I prayed for a open mind if He needed to show me something.
This is what the author said that stood out to me:
"While contemporary worship seemed to take the listener on an exciting and emotional rollercoaster, the old hymns engaged the mind with deep and glorious truths that when sincerely pondered caused a regenerated heart to humbly bow before its King." . . . "Instead they were being challenged to learn, not merely a new word, but how to ponder the things of God deeply when we sing His praises."
I have some thoughts --
1. I grew up in a church that sang hymns only. There were many words that I had no clue what they meant. It did not cause me to attend church with a dictionary so that I could look up words and then begin to worship in awe because I suddenly understood the meaning. No, it caused me to wonder why we were singing songs when we had no clue what they meant.
How could we have true meaningful worship when there was little understanding of what we were singing? I didn't see anyone closing their eyes and soaking it in or meditating on profound truths. I saw people standing there, staring at their hymnals as if they had no clue what the next words were. That is one thing I never understood -- How could you not know the words? You've heard these songs for over 20 years and you don't know the words?
I saw many people with grim expressions. They did not look happy. And I saw many people that weren't singing.
2. The author states that the theology of hymns is typically more sound or healthy than much of contemporary worship music. I found that interesting because I have many times googled the words in songs and found the scripture that went along with the song. Or I have listened to the writers of the songs tell about why they wrote them. I've heard stories of reading scripture and God speaking to them. I've heard stories of them writing songs based upon their favorite Bible verses or the verses God was using to teach them something. In fact, when I write songs, it is usually from a quiet time of reading scripture or from a sermon that spoke to me.
The song that author speaks of in this article is One Thing Remains. When I googled those words I found some connection to Psalm 136. "Praise the Lord! He is good. God's love never fails. Praise the God of all gods. God's love never fails. Praise the Lord of lords. God's love never fails."
And then I googled the specific song title with scripture and found a blogger name Lauren that gave scripture for each line. You can find these lists at her blog, Fragrant Like Incense. She also does this for other contemporary worship songs.
I'm not sure how a song based upon scripture could be considered not healthy or sound.
3. I have also heard testimonials from people that God reached through contemporary songs. Just turn on K-Love. They get emails, tweets, facebook messages, and phone calls from people that were depressed, suicidal, and had no hope. The testimonials mention specific songs at a specific time in their life -- songs that God used to reach them where they were. How could one possibly criticize that?
God uses many things to reach many people from many different places in life. He can use hymns and He can use contemporary songs. I have a feeling that in heaven we'll be singing both.
It is not my place to put God in a box and say what He can and cannot do. I have done that too many times. I cannot limit His power and wonderful ways He works in and through people.
The picture above was taken by me at a Big Daddy Weave concert. People were definitely worshipping at this concert. My favorite song by Big Daddy Weave is "Overwhelmed".
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