The Sad Songs We (Don't) Sing
“God is interested in truth... and that’s why God is more interested in rock n’ roll rather than Gospel (music). Because Gospel (music) a lot of the times are not being truthful…because they’re not describing about their lives…a lot of the time.”
—Bono of U2
—Bono of U2
This post is dangerous…I recently heard a podcast from the Whitehorse Inn (http://www.whitehorseinn.org/) that was talking about “Happy Clappy Worship” and it’s infiltration to today’s evangelical churches. Bono’s statement got me thinking about what it is we sing each week at our services. Often times, our songs are celebratory in nature; other times pinpointing aspects of God’s character; other times surrender or even the magnitude of the Cross. Which are all good things, and necessary in a worship service. But, sometimes it feels like the spectrum of emotions is left unchecked.
What comes to mind is one of grief, lament, sadness, distance. If we look at the Psalms, we see the full range of emotions expressed by the Psalmists. God created us to be emotional beings; Jesus himself was emotional. I recently had a close friend lose her mother to a tragic car accident. In the following months, it has been our season of grieving with her, supporting her and praying with her. If I was to take her (or anyone) into church, would there be room for her to lament during the corporate praise time? Probably not. Many of our songs would not express this grief. And that might be something to think about as we plan our music. I like how Bono says that God is interested in Truth. Of course, he is Truth, so it’s no surprise. There are times when praise is a huge sacrifice; when all we feel like is grieving, being alone and saying/singing nothing’ I can’t imagine coming in and trying to sing “You Are So Good to Me” or “Let God Arise” or any particularly upbeat tune when I’m trying to process death, anxiety, loss of a job, grief, exasperation, etc.
So a challenge, I guess, for those of us who are involved in “Worship Ministry” would be to write songs from our lives, the core of our being; not necessarily a contrived statement about God, but rather songs that describe our relationships, our fears, our weaknesses. Then, following up with the fact that God is our salvation, our Rock, our strength in the midst of those emotions to remind us of the Truth. Many Psalms follow that “formula”, if you will, rather than the CCM formula of something that makes us feel good to worship or “the best worship.” No earthly song can be that.
If you will let me, here’s some honesty: I am not a fan of much “contemporary Christian” music. Not enough innovation, edge, or authenticity. I feel the same about most pop music, anyway, so I am not really picking on the church here. (I am just a frustrated guitarist, so who cares what I think, anyway). But, as an artist who is a Christian, I feel obligated to give God my best, and give him my worst (we are sinners saved by grace, after all). Give back to Him the gifts he has given to me, and be faithful to use them as uniquely as possible. I think we can bring in some of that edge, that authenticity by expressing to God our heart’s cry and letting him shape us into who he wants us to be. That, to me, seems like it would be attractive and compelling, rather than something to be ignored.
What do you think?
posted by Mr. Purdy at
9:20 PM
6 Comments:
i think that is a scary post.
i understand so much what you mean about tying ourselves, which is alot our emotions, into the songs we sing. isnt rasing your hand, closing your eyes, all an attempt to put full concentration on the WORDS you are singing and making them relavant and true in your mind so you can express them back to God? i think it would be great to stop writing mush songs and write real songs, and sing the real songs in church. we are supposed to grieve together, to laugh together, and find God together in a church because that is what a church does. and a worship team makes music for a church to worship with. so that makes perfect sense to write songs that are conveying what you are dealing with in your relationship with God and asking people to join you in realizing the power of God to help you with that issue.
we are a body. we are all believers. we are all humans. we all, in the end, have the same things going on.
As a worship leader, I am always concerned about leading in such a way that people engage in worship and that the congregation has an opportunity to participate. I do often rely upon upbeat songs that are usually happy and celebratory in nature. Have I been missing an opportunity? I do need to take this challenge to heart. People are hurting and may not want to sing "O Praise Him" or "All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises". I do feel that God can use these songs to begin a healing process in each heart that sings out of obedience to Him. But this may not be where people are at.
The goal at Saturday Night Life is to provide a "genuine real life experience" worship service where people can come as they are whether they are hurting or celebrating.I will keep this in mind Matt as I write and choose songs for SNL.
Another thought I have is this... "Is our church ready for songs like this?" "Will people accept these types of songs?" LBC is a church of slow change but I guess you have to start somewhere. That's where good leadership comes in. If people are thirsty, they will drink. We all need to come together and comfort those that are hurting and it can start with the songs we are or can be singing.
Great responses here! A thought as I respond--one, sometimes the songs we write out of personal worship may not be intended for corporate worship. Perhaps the particular "cry of the heart", whatever the season, is meant for that private time with the Lord.
Secondly, are we limiting our worship to something that is sung only? As we have explored at LBC, worship is 24/7 and takes on many forms in a believer's life. Is there a willingness to put aside the songs to make room for corporate prayer/confession/surrender/adoration or even silence to pour out your heart to Jesus? I think there is a danger when we fall into a particular structure and fail to see past the limits. But that may just be my own counter-cultural-post-evangelical thinking;)
SNL--my thought on if people are ready for these types of songs or can accept them...I can't imagine putting them in the service each week, but if they aren't willing to accept the full spectrum of emotions in worship, isn't that a heart issue that needs to be dealt with individually? And, I would believe that if the song contains Biblical truth interwoven with a raw emotion, they would be accepted because it is a shared human experience.
Ok. I have always wanted to do a "musicless" worship service. Imagine that. Me, the music/worship guy, wanting to do a "musicless" service. This might be a stretch at first but what if we did a song or two at the beginning of the service and then totally cleared the way for a prayer/confession/surrender time. Sounds like a bit out of the box. I like it! What if this were the plan for the whole night. Do you think people would be into that? If scripture were integrated throughout, maybe that could be the sermon time. How would that feel?
I like your statement here: "I believe that if we don't tell God how much this life hurts us sometimes, how are hearts break sometimes, how disappointed we are sometimes; then, we will never know the blessing of being healed and comforted by Him."
And, the more I reflect on the post and the responses, the more I am convicted by the truth that despite our discomforts, hurts, fears, etc., God is still on the throne, he is still sovereign, and his mercy is unending. Therefore, he still is deserving and worthy of a sacrifice of praise. And in those painful moments, praise is a sacrifice.
The church is a place where we can come and lay our broken hearts at the throne. We put pressure on ourselves to have everything together as worship leaders. Oh how I wish that pressure was not there but it is. I will do my part to keep my heart as real as I can while leading and planning the worship service. I challenge everyone to join me and doing the same. He wants us as we are and that is exactly where I want to to be. He will do the rest.
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