Good Worship + Good Theology

August 22, 2007

While in seminary a friend of mine visited a church he was considering attending. He liked the church, but he said the worship songs were almost too theological for him to really worship. I understood what he meant - although I didn’t fully agree with him. When we worship most Christians rightly want an emotional experience. We want to express our love and adoration to God in song with simplicity and beauty. Worship need not be the place for a complex theological treatise - but certainly it has to be a place for rich theology.

When John sees four creatures worshiping in heaven, he records their incredibly simple praise in Revelation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (4:8). Not only is their praise simple, they never cease saying it. That is, they repeat the same praise over and over again. Although many would criticize contemporary worship music for being too repetitive and simple, this generally is not a valid criticism.

Must our worship music be stripped down or devoid of theological content to be truly engaging and truly worshipful? Certainly not. Although simple, the creature’s worship in Revelation is abundantly rich in theological content. In their song, simple as it is, they proclaim the praises of a preeminent God, holy to the extreme, eternal, powerful, the rightful Lord over all of creation, who will come again to bring his judgment. Good worship, true worship, must be theologically rich!

Here’s an analogy. I don’t know a lot about computers. I couldn’t begin to tell you what most of the specs on a computer package mean. I’m told that the computer in my study is top of the line - but that’s about all I know about it. On the other hand, the gentleman who picked out that computer knows almost everything about it. He knows the specs, he knows it’s performance ratings and capabilities, etc. The question is, “Who is better equipped to sing the praises of the computer?” The one who knows it best, of course.

Lately, I’ve been thankful for a new wave of theologically rich worship music that maintains the sort of simplicity and beauty that is conducive to true worship. There are many new songs that have been written by those who know their theological “specs,” and thus know their God. Please allow me to point you to a few of these resources. Maybe you have some others to add.

1) Reformed University Fellowship (RUF): RUF is the college ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America. Some involved in this ministry have rewritten new music for many old hymns. In my opinion some of the music is an improvement, and some not over the traditional tunes. But the truly great thing is that many truly great hymns that have been forgotten are now being remembered. Their hymnbook can be found here.

2) Sandra McCracken: Sandra has written new music for a number of old hymns as well. Her album The Builder and the Architect is full of great stuff. She has also written some lyrics for worship music.

3) Getty Music: Here you’ll find some wonderful new original hymns. Check out O Church Arise.

Posted by Aaron | Filed Under Blog, Church and Culture, Theology 

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