It was during a family dance party to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” that our patriarch commented about the vapid lyrics, “They just don’t make them like they used to.” I teased back: “Sure, because ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Duke of Earl’ were so profound!
Musical preferences are profoundly etched into us. One generation’s trash is another generation’s treasure.
Modern worship has a bullseye on it. It’s a regular occurrence that I read a blog or a reflection in a book decrying the insipid lyrics we sing in our churches or hear a complaint from a congregant about modern worship.
Last week I defended the treasure of hymns for the church. Now, I turn my pen to defend modern worship.
A few disclaimers:
1) I am not claiming that all modern worship is good: there is a plenty of poor modern worship;
2) I am not making an argument that modern worship is any better than any other era of music;
3) I am not making an argument that your church should primarily sing modern worship; there’s good reasons for churches to choose songs that are several decades or several centuries old.
With that said, here are four reasons that we should enjoy modern worship:
1) Modern worship obeys God’s command to sing a new song.
We are commanded to sing new songs to God. The Psalmist tells us, “Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!”[i] There will never be a moment for all of eternity that the well of worship will run dry. God is infinite and so our praise is endless. We are called to participate in new expressions of praise to our limitless God and join in singing with all we are!
2) Modern worship is musically fresh.
Modern worship’s structure is typically: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. This lends to music that is slightly more musically diverse than classic hymns, but slightly less lyrically diverse. Why do I say that? Because there are typically three musical sections of a modern worship song, with a chorus that repeats, while most hymns repeat the same tune three to five times, but have different lyrics for each verse. So hymns typically have more lyrical content while musically, modern worship is more varied.
It should be noted that if you go back further into the church’s musical tradition (early church music and Gregorian chant), those were primarily based on the Psalms and were, in general, far less lyrically rich than even modern worship.[ii] In fact, in some of the Psalms themselves, you find quite a bit of repetition: see Psalm 100 and 150 for example. But modern worship engages a broader swath of music and does so with more diversity in each song.
3) Modern worship is jubilant.
One surprise when you dig into what Old Testament worship looked like is that it was loud. In the Psalms we are told to “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.”[iii] We are told to “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”[iv] And, every drummer’s favorite verse: “Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!”[v] While there are certainly hymns that live up to this call, on the whole, modern worship excels in jubilant worship.
This of course isn’t to state that worship shouldn’t be reverent and even somber at times. A healthy worshiping body includes both calm and contemplative moments as well as dynamic moments of praise and weeks that are more reverent and weeks that are more jubilant. Most of us have a mode of worship that is more comfortable for us: quieter and meditative or louder and jubilant. It’s healthy for us to grow in both directions as worshipers.
4) Modern worship is theologically strong.
This declaration might surprise you the most. In fact, the most pointed accusation I hear against modern worship is that it is theologically weak. Granted, by its very nature, modern worship has not been vetted by time as our favorite hymns have been. However, it takes only a cursory glance at hymns to find hymns that are very theologically weak and likewise it takes only a cursory glance at modern worship to find theologically rich songs.
Let’s consider a few theologically weak hymns. In “He Lives,” we sing that we know Jesus lives because “He lives within my heart”: that places the foundation of our beliefs in our feelings, not on the Word of God. In “Away in a Manger” we sing that “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes”: that smacks of a Savior who is not fully human. “I’ll Fly Away” can encourage escapist theology. “In the Garden” is sentimental and leans toward an individualistic faith when we sing “And the joy we share as we tarry there none has ever known.”
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not for a minute suggesting that the hymns don’t contain some of the most powerful and rich lyrics ever composed. They do! “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Amazing Grace,” “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” and on and on! Gems all! And certainly there is dross in modern worship. But there is a lot less dross you might think if you examine modern worship closely.
A sampling of the top of the charts of modern worship finds songs rich in biblical truth. Consider some of the rich theology in the following modern worship songs:
The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) by Matt Maher
Father, let Your Kingdom come
Father, let Your will be done
On Earth as in Heaven
Right here in my heart
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us, forgive us
As we forgive the ones who sinned against us, forgive them
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one
Let Your kingdom come
Hymn of Heaven by Phil Wickham
And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain"
"Forever He shall reign"
So let it be today we shout the hymn of Heaven
With angels and the saints, we raise a mighty roar
Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave
Holy, holy is the Lord
You’ve Already Won by Shane and Shane
There’s mercy in the waiting
Mana for today
And when it’s gone I know you’re not
You are my hope and stay
When the sea is raging
Your Spirit is my help
He’ll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ
And I’ll say that is well
Oh I know that is well.
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me by CityAlight
No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid
For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon
And He was raised to overthrow the grave
To this I hold, my sin has been defeated
Jesus now and ever is my plea
Oh the chains are released, I can sing, "I am free"
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
If heaven is a place where every tribe and tongue are gathered, heaven will be a place of worship that is diverse beyond our comprehension. It is to our credit, then, when our musical preferences grow. I have been richly fed by Gregorian chant, traditional hymns, classical music, spirituals, urban and traditional gospel, bluegrass worship, as well as contemporary and modern worship. In heaven we will get to appreciate them all—and more!
Let’s appreciate the gift of all types of worship God has granted the church, and lean into preparing for heaven a bit more by appreciating more and more of the songs we get to sing for eternity!
Next week, I want to pick up one final objection against a subset of modern songs that I didn’t have room to properly address here: that they are too intimate and turn Jesus into a heavenly boyfriend.
[i] Psalm 96:1
[ii] https://www.worshiplibrary.com/library/music-and-the-arts-in-christian-worship/music-in-worship/a-brief-history-of-music-in-worship/
[iii] Psalm 33:3
[iv] Psalm 47:1
[v] Psalm 150:5
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Photo by Rachel Coyne on Unsplash