Last time I blogged about worship music, I talked about the pros and cons about both hymns and contemporary music. At Beacon of Hope, we have a pretty good blend of the two, but that doesn't mean I'm just choosing whatever songs out of a hymnal or whatever's the hottest new track in modern Christian music. A lot of work and prayer needs to go into song selection, discerning what will be beneficial for the church.
Each week I have at least one day devoted to spending time in my office. Generally I spend that time looking over the music for the upcoming Sunday, as well as looking ahead to the next week, what our pastor will be preaching on, and picking music to go with that passage and/or theme. Often I also find myself searching for new music to teach to our congregation. I always want to be very purposeful in that endeavor. I always want to choose songs that will encourage and strengthen the church. And there are many popular songs in the Christian community that I would never bring before the congregation, because they are not focused on sound theology but on playing with a person’s emotions.
Certainly there is nothing inherently wrong with someone's emotions being stirred from a song. There are songs that we have sung at Beacon for years that still make me tear up as we sing them. The difference is that the songs that stir my emotions do so because of the Scriptural truth embedded in them. It’s a fine line to walk when trying to find songs that are rooted in Scriptural truth and stir the emotions in an appropriate fashion.
But many songs being sung in churches today say very little and are only designed to stir the emotions by their musical composition. Those songs may say something that sounds spiritual but does nothing to truly edify the listeners. These songwriters are, for lack of a better term, lazy, not willing to put in extra effort to dig in and develop a theme in the songs they write. They are comfortable repeating the same tired phrase over and over again, as if they want to turn it into some mantra.
This is one of the benefits of singing hymns in the church. The congregation is taught sound doctrine in the lyrics they sing (and, as I've mentioned before, those lyrics will stay in a person's head thanks to a singable melody, causing that person to recall sound doctrine throughout the week). Many modern artists have sought to put a new musical spin on some of these tried-and-true hymns, which helps introduce them to a new generation.
This is not to say that all songs written within the past 30-40 years are bad! Again, as I've mentioned before, there are a large number of songwriters today that have written songs that are deeply rooted in Scripture and have been a great source of encouragement to many congregations, including Beacon of Hope. It's my job to separate out the good from the bad, for the sake of the congregation to whom I minister. When I find a song that has good possibility, I always pray about a it and bring it before Pastor Steve before incorporating it into our church's repertoire. There have been songs where we’ve decided it should not be sung at Beacon for one reason or another. There has even been an instance where we gave a song the go-ahead to be sung, and then decided later to pull the song entirely after concerns were raised. My hope and prayer is that each of the songs we sing will be edifying for the church and will draw us into the presence of God as we gather each Sunday.
In addition to choosing songs, I work on the order of service and any possible transitions in between songs, almost an explanation of why this one song is paired next to this other one. If a certain song has an instrumental break, I try to add a passage of Scripture so the congregation remains engaged with the song and its theme. Everything within a church service ought to have a purpose. This idea stems from I Corinthians 14:40, where Paul writes, “All things should be done decently and in order.” We want our services to be organized well so it all flows as a cohesive unit, magnifying the Lord and proclaiming the gospel. This is pleasing to the Lord, and is helpful to the congregation to understand what is happening in the service.
I take this part of my job very seriously. I never want to introduce a song to the congregation that could pose a stumbling block to someone. I always want to choose songs that will glorify God and edify and strengthen the church.
Next time I'll be digging into the melodic side of music, having not just excellent lyrics but excellent music paired with it.