New Worship Music

2011-03-12T18:15:00.000-05:00

from Jody Killingsworth: Worship Pastor of ClearNote Church, Bloomington, IN

Proponents of traditional worship consistently present a false dichotomy. Observing that CCM is lyrically and theologically impoverished, they conclude that this must somehow be the fault of the music. As if popular style and lyrical drivel are somehow intrinsically connected. Bring in the drums and guitars, they say, and inevitably we’ll be singing 30-minute versions of “Shine Jesus, Shine” every Sunday.

I’m sympathetic, of course, because CCM really is the mountain of emotive garbage they say it is. But this isn’t the fault of the rock n’ roll genre, per se. Rather, it highlights the failure on the part of godly pastors and elders to lead musicians to think carefully and creatively about the issues surrounding style, worship, and church life.

Here at ClearNote we’re fighting to protect both the lyrical integrity of the Church’s song, and to promote its cultural relevance. We believe these two categories are not mutually antithetical, but form the necessary ingredients of all true reform.

Our latest batch of worship songs now available for free download provides listeners a glimpse of our vision for reforming Christian worship. We sing these songs in our services pretty much as you hear them on the album (just add congregation). There are old texts here with old tunes, there are old texts with new tunes, and there are new texts with new tunes. If you like what we’re doing but object to the fact we haven’t included any Psalm settings, be patient. We’re getting there. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Idolatry in Worship

2010-04-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

Recently I read the book of Isaiah, and I noticed how God had become tired of all the sacriﬁces and offerings that were being offered up to Him. He had become burdened by the worship of the Jews after years and years of worship led by the Levites because they were offering sacriﬁces for their sins without truly repenting of them. They did not love God. And so God said these words, recorded in Isaiah 29:

Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed. Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?"

In this passage, God says, “Their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.” Does this sound familiar to anyone? How often do we get caught up in the routine of worship where we honor God with our lips but our hearts are far from Him? We can be deceived into thinking we are worshiping, when in fact we are either fulﬁlling tradition or taking part in something that is æsthetically beautiful. We become enticed by an outward appearance of worship rather than coming to a conviction of our sin and repenting of it, then worshiping God in response to the work He has done in us. This is idolatry, and it indicates that tradition has become our god.

What does our idolatry look like in the worship service? Here are some scenarios that might strike a chord with you.

Have you ever walked into a church building and thought, “Now that’s a church!” or “This is what a church should look like!” Church buildings that might cause you to react this way have a certain authority about them. But is this authority from God or is it simply authority as an æsthetic? In other words, the building deﬁnes the ultimate æsthetic of its kind.

Have you ever sat in a church pew during the prelude, listening as a cellist masterfully plays a movement from one of Bach’s Cello Suites, or hearing a prelude played on a beautiful pipe organ, and found yourself thinking, “Ah, this is how worship is meant to be,” without your heart meditating on who God is, confessing your sin, and giving Him thanks? As a musician, I am guilty, guilty, guilty. So often music, when performed well, has puffed up my pride rather than humbled me before a holy God.

Have you ever sat under the preaching of an eloquent, well-educated preacher, (maybe a Scottish preacher, at least for me) who is able to deliver a ﬂawless sermon, and you get a sense of pride thinking to yourself, “Oh yeah! That’s preaching,” and your chest puffs up? But was it preaching? Did it cut to the heart through the Gospel?

What about liturgy? Have you ever been a part of a liturgy that was ﬂawlessly put together and extremely well-executed? Too often, in churches that follow a strict liturgy we ﬁnd ourselves going through the choreography of the service. This is not necessarily the fault of the liturgy but of our double-mindedness. We worship with our lips but not with our hearts. What if there was a mistake in the execution of the liturgy or piece of music? Do you ﬁnd yourself becoming bitter because of your egotistical pride, as I so often have done in the past because my heart was not right before the Lord?

At the end of the Isaiah passage quoted earlier, God said, “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, ‘Who sees us?’ or ‘Who knows us?’”

The Jews were worshiping other gods “in secret,” committing all sorts of heinous sins and then coming to worship as if all was well. Sound familiar? Yet we as evangelicals don’t believe idolatry exists anymore! Idolatry is the basis for all sorts of sexual sin. So is it any surprise when the churches with the highest view of æsthetics fail to discipline their congregations (and even their pastors) on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and adultery?

Dear brothers and sisters, “Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them” (Deuteronomy 11:16). Perfect execution of worship is useless without Christ’s work being the center of it.

As it was in the beginning . . .

New Worship Music

Idolatry in Worship