I recently heard a new praise song that I believe demonstrates the horrendous slide past mediocrity and into absolute garbage in the realm of church music. By way of comparison, the words to this song, "Father of Lights," and the words to "Holy, Holy Holy" will be presented below, followed by a verse that directly applies to the discussion.
Father of Lights
Father of lights
you delight in your children
Father of lights
you delight in your children
Every good and perfect gift comes from you
Every good and perfect gift comes from you
Every good and perfect gift comes from you
Father of lights
In defense of this song—it is taken directly from scripture (James 1:17—Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.)But the overly repetitive presentation of the lyrics is an example of extremely bad poetry and lyricism. The presentation of this song that I recently heard included the singing of the chorus five times and the first verse twice. There was one additional verse in between the two repetitions of the first verse, which said no more than the first verse, but said it in just as repetitive a way.
By way of comparison:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. —Matthew 6:7 ESV
In reading the words "you delight in your children", I was reminded of parts of Isaiah where God did not delight in his children, but his arms were outstretched. What happened to coming to God contrite for our sins and asking for forgiveness? Doesn't that please God? I'm worried that the salt is loosing its savor. There is a big difference between distilling truth and diluting truth. --di
ReplyDeleteBrother: You are so wise! I can't believe that you are not running a ministry somewhere, or are you? Also, I was wondering what experience do you have running a ministry. You are good at pointing out what is wrong with ministries, but please tell me what God has used you for in ministry. - steve
ReplyDeleteSteve - Obviously your "wise" comment was tongue-in-cheek. That's all right.
ReplyDeleteMy experience
I studied music at The Juliard School in New York and music ministry at Baptist Bible College in Pennsylvania. I was the assistant director of a touring Christian madrigal octet. I was the music leader in three churches and have been involved in directing and singing in choirs, coordinating special music, performing special music, leading hymns, and playing trumpet, guitar and bass guitar in worship teams and church orchestras for the past 30+ years. I have also taught Sunday school and served on the Worship and Adult Education Committees for four years at the church we attended prior to moving to Lynchburg.
My comments
But I don't think experience in leading a ministry is a necessary qualification to recognize quality music or poor quality music. We are all called to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to give of our firstfruits to God, and to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Each of these mandates directly impacts our use and presentation of music, as well as all other areas of our lives. Offering mediocrity to God is a dangerous path.
If you have something to contribute to the discussion, I'd love to hear it. I'm not sure what your point was in saying I'm good at pointing out what's wrong and asking for my resume.
Richard - Thank you for your response. You have quite a bit of experience. I have pastored two churches in the Mid-west, and both times there was tremendous turmoil in the music area. I am sensitive as a former pastor to that.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about approaching your pastor (or elders--I'm not sure of the set up at your church)and speaking with them? Perhaps you could even help in the area of leading the music. I would just hate for this type of blog to cause divisions within your place of worship.
Steve - I appreciate your concern in this area and I also do not want this blog post to become a cause for division in my church. I don't believe anyone in my church even knows about this blog. And when I posted the direct comments regarding my church, I removed the link to my church's web site from my list of links, so as not to make it obvious what church is being spoken of in the post.
ReplyDeleteI use this blog mainly to communicate my thoughts on a variety of issues with my family (scattered around the world as missionaries and pastors) and with a few Christians I work with in Washington, DC. If I find out that anyone from my church is visiting this blog, I will be careful to post things that will be edifying and encouraging to the local body of Christ and not things that may cause distress or division.
If I may ask, how did you locate my blog? I don't think it is viewed by many people.
Richard,
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that on your own blog you felt you had to explain the purpose of your blog and then show your "worth" by way of your "resume" and experience.
There are many who share your thoughts and opinions in the area of music. Many enjoy music that is intellectually stimulating. I don't believe God created everyone to fit in one small box.
I certainly didn't pick up that you intended to be divisive in any way.
Your response was very gracious to what sounded to me to be a very condescending and sarcastic remark.
Thank you, Ruth. I truly did not intend to cause any trouble - especially within my church. In the past year my blog has picked up a few more readers and I am now careful not to say things that are easily identified with my church. It is a good church with a few of the typical failings that are common among humans who are still in the process of sanctification.
ReplyDeleteI hope my comments at ThatMom were not too strident. I think I had a bit of a burr under my saddle about the whole SBC/Calvinism/Voddie Baucham thing. I should probably learn to keep my mouth shut in such cases.
Thanks for visiting my blog.