Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Disciplines
The Power of Hymns
Singing hymns no longer factors in the worship of many congregations. The Christian movement possesses a rich heritage of 2,000 years of glorious hymnody. Yet today, these hymns are largely ignored, in order to make space in worship for the latest praise song by the newest Christian pop artist. And when the old hymns are sung, when they are gratuitously included in order to placate those who love those old spiritual songs, they are adapted to contemporary beats and instrumentation. Which means they are typically drowned out by the worship band and the amplified singers, so that even as we sing them, we cannot hear ourselves or our fellow worshipers.

Why do we do this?

Any contemporary worship leader will tell you we do this because we want our worship to be relevant. We want it to appeal to our contemporary generation, so they will feel right at home in our midst, so that worship is something they can identify with because it embraces them and their culture. In such a context, we’re told, we’ll be better able to evangelize lost people and incorporate them into our community. Using more and more contemporary music helps us to attract people to our churches, and makes our churches more relevant to their backgrounds, interests, and needs.

So how’s that working for us?

A recent Barna study indicates that nearly half of all Americans do not attend church. 43% of all Americans either believe in no God or in some god other than the God of the Bible. 54% of those who do attend church believe it is not their responsibility to talk to others about their faith. All these figures indicate downward trends in church relevance and belief in the Gospel, and all these indicators are decidedly lower than similar figures reported during the 60s and 70s, before the contemporary movement began to overwhelm traditional worship.

Is it true that only contemporary music and forms can appeal to lost people?

In a recent Fresh Air interview, Terry Gross spoke with The Handsome Family, a musical group comprised of the husband and wife team, Brett and Rennie Sparks. Their music may be described as a combination of country and folk, and involves themes related to being out of sorts with the world, lost, afraid, and yet somehow, hopeful.

Neither of the Sparks is a Christian. Brett was raised in a Southern Baptist Church, but abandoned his faith some time ago. Rennie was raised in a secular Jewish family, where religion was scorned.

During the course of the interview the conversation drifted onto sacred terrain. Terry Gross asked Brett about a Doc Watson song he covered, called “The Lost Soul.” She observed that this was a really dark, fearful song, that looked forward to the doom and judgment of sinners. She wanted to know why Brett chose to record this. He replied, “Seems obvious!” He was a person in need of salvation, but for whom no salvation was in view. Rennie quickly chimed in, “But they can still sing!” She seemed to be reaching for some comfort against the fear of impending judgment when she opined, at least “they’re all together in hell singing.”

Brett explained that, as a young person, he loved the old hymns of the faith. He learned how music works, and its power to engage both mind and emotions by singing the great hymns of the faith. Even today, he added, he still gets out an old hymnal and sings through some of those songs of the faith. Terry Gross injected that the great hymns are “undeniably beautiful music.” Rennie agreed, and she explained that, while she cannot embrace the Christian worldview, when you’re singing one of those great hymns, it’s real. Brett began singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and Rennie opined, “I feel better just hearing that.” Brett insisted, “There’s something else, but I don’t know what the hell it is.” All agreed that these hymns were not in the least ironical; they left nothing to guess about, no place to wiggle free from their grasp, no possibility of missing their central message. And still, they all loved them. Rennie opined that it’s not necessary to know why you like them; you can just let the message and music comfort you.

So explain to me again why we have been so quick to abandon this music for the fleeting, flimsy, ephemeral, but oh so hip forms of contemporary pop culture?

I’m not opposed to singing new songs to the Lord. But a song is not necessarily worthy to be used in worship, much less to supplant great standards of the faith, simply because it’s new. The evidence to support the claims of contemporary music’s power to draw people to church simply is not there. The American Church is more contemporary and compromised in worship than ever before; and we are more marginal to the real issues of life, and less effective in persuading lost souls to believe, than we have ever been.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink some of what “everyone knows” about music, worship, and the way to reach the souls of the lost. That, at least, would be a start.

For reflection
1. Do you have a favorite hymn, one of the old hymns of the faith? Why is this a favorite?                                                               

2. Is it possible that the Church’s capitulation to the contemporary is more of a compromise than a measure of relevance? Explain.

3. Talk to your pastor or worship leader. Why do you worship the way you do? With the forms and style of worship you do? How can we know this is the right way – the Biblical way – to worship?

Next steps – Conversation: Talk with some Christian friends about worship. What is worship for? What should worship do? What is the proper focus of worship? How can we know when we have worshiped truly?
T. M. Moore

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At The Fellowship
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This fall The Ailbe Seminary is pleased to offer three online courses for your spiritual enrichment. Check the course listings by clicking here. All courses are free and online.

ReVision: This week’s ReVision is part four of a five-part series on The Parameters of Prayer. Let’s face it: We don’t pray as much as we should, and we don’t seem too troubled by that fact. Download the free PDF of this week’s series, The Practice of Prayer, and begin making prayer a more vital part of your walk with and work for the Lord.

Crosfigell: Check out our Crosfigell columnfor this week, and learn how to enlarge your vision of God, and trust Him when things aren’t going as you’d like.

Scriptorium: This week we begin our new series on The Heart of God. We are examining the progress of the story of redemption throughout the Scriptures, focusing on God and His covenant as the primary moving parts in this story. This week’s series is available in PDF form (click here) and introduces the importance of Scripture and the unifying covenant themes that hold the Bible together.

In the Gates: In our Saturday column we continue looking at what is involved in setting the Law of God firmly in our souls. We’re looking at the role of the conscience in that effort in this part of our series on “The Rule of Law.”

Voices Together: John Nunnikhoven’s daily meditations can help you in the practical work of prayer and obedience.

In the Bookstore: Order a copy of The Poetry of Prayer from our bookstoreto go along with our new ReVision series of studies on prayer.

Videos: Finally, check out the state of your Christian worldview by watching the video and downloading the Personal Discipleship Inventory, a tool for evaluating your worldview and growing in Kingdom vision, disciplines, and outcomes.

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