PSALMS, HYMNS, SPIRITUAL CHORUSES, AND WORSHIP WARS - CHURCH MUSIC PART 1 OF 4

Song of the Angels, William-Adolphe Bouguereau

 "...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord...." Ephesians 5:18

One of the saddest books I've read is Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement: Confessions of a Former Worship Leader by Dan Lucarini. Part of it is the book aims to be ammo for the traditional side but isn't that good. He basically is calling for an unconditional surrender from Contemporary music lovers, for them to put the interests of the traditionals above their own (though he never suggests the reverse), and for them not to refer to traditionals as legalists though he uses some insulting terms for the contemporaries. Even more so - Lucarini's views have led him to not use his talent for writing music for fear he'll follow his previous tendencies in style.

As I write this four part series, I'll from the front say that God is more concerned with what comes out of the heart than what goes into the ears. Christ is glorified by His children worshiping together and loving each other, and the style of the songs they're joyfully singing is, on the top ten list of things He's concerned about, is somewhere around 8 millionth (or is it billionth?). 

You might have noticed that the first three items I have on my list are similar to the wording in Ephesians 5:18 (quoted above) and Colossians 3:16, inserting "choruses" in place of "songs." It should not be surprising that there are some who suggest we should sing only one of the three, with advocates for each of the trio.

Let me start with hymns. I grew up with hymns. And I'm glad I did. First, there is some wonderful music. But more importantly, the lyrics of many hymns are awesome. You could preach sermons from a lot of the old hymns. For example, have you noticed the richness of the Christology (doctrine of Christ) in the Christmas song "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (words by Charles Wesley, music by classical composer Felix Mendelssohn)? The hymns have inspired, comforted, encouraged, challenged, taught, and exhorted for centuries.

On the other side of the normal battle lines are the contemporary choruses. Some are jokingly referred to as 7/11 songs - seven words repeated eleven times. Instead of the hymns rich four part harmonies, the choruses usually are sung in unison, sometimes allowing the men and women to sing separately (but most often, as an echo). I've commented on hearing a medley of one of my favorite hymns (Great Is Thy Faithfulness) and one of my favorite choruses (I Love You, Lord), and mentioning one could be a sermon and the other would need some padding.

That being said, worship choruses have also been a part of my heritage. While simpler, a lot of the choruses from Maranatha music are Scripture set to music, such as "Seek Ye First", "Psalm 5", "Unto Thee, O Lord," and "Humble Yourselves In The Sight of the Lord." While I don't believe we should make personal preference in style a condition for worship, I also don't think we should mandate that younger generations adapt to the music we or our parents or our grandparents love. By the way, let me continue about setting Scripture to music...

I mentioned a book that saddened me; now let me mention one that was a blessing: Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible, part of the Reformation Theology series by Soli Deo Gloria Publications. This collaboration (edited by Don Kistler, as you'll guess from the title, has a completely different focus than Lucarini's, and this one's focus is not on music. But in the final chapter, Joel Beeke does a superb job of point out the transforming power of Scripture which is why we hold to and defend the teaching of Sola Scriptura. In this chapter, I was introduced to the practice of psalmody.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it is the belief that our Hymn book should be His book. In other words, we should be singing the words that the Holy Spirit inspired rather than the words men have penned. There are areas I disagree with them: 1) they normally sing aca pella, including psalms that say, "Praise the Lord with the harp! Praise Him with the loud sounding cymbals!" 2) they ignore other Scriptures for singing - I believe there are psalms in the prophets and the New Testament, the latter of which reflect Christian theology better than the Old Testament songs, and of course 3) I don't believe that Psalmody is any more spiritual than the other options. 

However, I admire the concept. Yes, I'd allow instruments, and I'd expand the song selection past the Psalms, but I admire the idea of letting our praise to Him being the inspired words of Scripture.

Let me clearly state, though, that the important thing is not which style we use, but that we love those who disagree. As Paul wrote in Romans 15:1-3, we should focus on pleasing our neighbors, not ourselves. We should be willing to sing joyfully what others want to sing.

Okay, I've gotten the elephant in the room dealt with. But should we sing hymns with the cymbals and the electric guitar? Should we sing contemporary choruses with piano and organ? Should we sing the Psalms with a full orchestra? More about that next Sunday.