I finally read my friend Brant's post responding to another post in defense of "praise choruses." And since this is one of my hobby horses, I can't resist the compulsion to ride.
In response to Cheer 1: The author claims, Praise songs are "on the whole, present truths that are theologically sound." What praise songs is he singing? The majority of the ones I've experienced in my life are either doctrinally unbiblical, or extremely light in saying anything significant, or they consistently shift the focus off of praise of God for who He is and what He has done and onto myself and my feelings and my will. Obviously, they're not all this way, but the majority of them, in my experience, are. I certainly cannot agree that "on the whole" they are "theologically sound."
Furthermore, the author claims praise songs "allow an outpouring of emotion often more easily than the sometimes more cerebral hymns." Maybe for some people. But the author's comment seems to sever the head from the heart. The Bible knows no such dichotomy. And the normative way to our affections is through our mind. *Why* is God's grace so amazing? Not because I feel it so strongly, but for the reasons so eloquently enumerated in hymns like "Amazing Grace" and "And Can it Be."
God has ordained the means of our salvation, and that is normatively through thinking, receiving, and trusting after hearing a message that is preached to us--a message about an historical event that took place in time and space on this planet. The joy that fills our souls in response to so great a salvation is surely and ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit, but He generally administers this to us through objective, rational means. And our corporate response of praise back to Him should be equally as verbal, intelligent, and biblically accurate. As Brant indicates, when we gather to worship together, it's not just a bunch of individuals each expressing our private feelings to God. Corporate worship is a the ultimate expression of our common faith--a faith that is centered on the God presented to us in the Bible. It is entirely appropriate, then, that our response be filled with the concepts that are presented to us in the Word.
In response to Cheer #2: The author says "many evangelical worship songs take their choruses directly from Scripture." To the extent that they do that these songs are to be commended. However, as Nathaniel in his comments duly notes, the vast majority of the time praise choruses draw directly from Scripture passages, they shrewdly excerpt only the portions of the passage that are "lovey-dovey" and show God as being full of compassion and mercy. But that hardly does justice to Scripture--or to the nature of God Himself. God is indeed full of mercy and love, but He is also full of justice and wrath. When we praise Him, we should make it a point of extolling all of His attributes. God is not great simply because he's nice.
The author also states, praise songs' "simple structure and emphasis on singability allows them to get stuck in the head rather easily." There is nothing wrong with this, provided the lyrics are not banal, inaccurate, or self-centered. While I love Jesus with all my heart, He is not my boyfriend; sadly, too many praise songs are written as sappy love songs to my boyfriend Jesus.
(And the world is on to us: In an episode of "The Simpsons," Lisa is talking with a singer who crossed over from Christian rock into mainstream rock. When asked how she did it, she responds something like, "It was easy! All you do is replace the word "Jesus" in the songs with "baby." If that's all it takes to convert our praise songs into secular rock, then I suggest there's something deeply wrong with the songs we're singing.)
As far as the musical composition of our songs goes, as beings created in His image, God has given humanity the ability to create. While God can certainly be praised through the simplicity of a 3-chord song, shouldn't the Church also strive to echo God's creation, producing works that combine musical complexity and simplicity in a beautiful and composition? It seems to me that in the past 100 years or so, the trend in church music has drifted away from that and toward utilitarian simplicity or outright mimicry of secular consumer-driven rock-and-roll. We should get back to creating works of beauty that lead the secular culture, not simply follow it.
In response to Cheer #3: The author says "the evangelical worship service and its emphasis on the emotional often allows maximal freedom on the part of the worshipper." As Brant notes, and as I say above, this comment illustrates a great divide between mainstream, pop-evangelicals and confessional Christians of all stripes. I disagree that the purpose of corporate worship is to give individuals a chance to be self expressive. God doesn't just work redemptively with individuals (though He certainly does that!); He also works through the community of faith as a corporate body. To miss this is to miss out on an important aspect of the Church.
Throughout Scripture, when God gathers His people together, it is a time of corporate solidarity. The Lord's Day worship is a sort of "covenant renewal," where God speaks to His people, and they respond--corporately. This is why we have corporate prayers, corporate singing, corporate confession and absolution, and receive the sacraments. In the Eucharist, I am not just having fellowship privately with Jesus in my heart. I am sharing communion not only with the Triune God, but all of the catholic (universal) Church--those present in the room with me, those scattered throughout the world, and even "the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven." This is, therefore, not the time for each of us to engage in individual expressions of personal piety. That can be had in family and private worship. (I wonder, are we expecting corporate worship to be a substitute for regular, daily private and family worship?)
In response to Jeer #1: "I have noticed a considerable drop-off in the amount of Scripture being read during the hour long worship service...which makes me think that we as evangelicals have deeper problems than the songs we sing." Here I am in full agreement. Part of the problem, as I see it, is illustrated in that evangelicals often label the first half hour of singing as the "praise and worship" part of the service, followed by the sermon. In other words, our approach to the entire worship service is often wrong. We often see the service as primarily a chance for me to show God how much I love Him and come away with a feeling that I've had a phenomenal "worship experience." But we don't actually expect to meet God there.
Yet, Sunday worship is a corporate response to a divine summons to gather the people of God to assemble before Him in His royal throneroom. Here we actually meet with God. We respond in contrition, in recognition of our creatureliness (no, we don't sing about how much we "just want to touch You!") and in confession of our sins. God responds, through His Word, assuring us that that our sins are forgiven and that we may rise up and boldly draw near to the throne of grace--that we can enter into the holy of holies because we are united to our faithful Savior who has gone before us and has made the way safe. Then we extol His greatness and sing His praise--and we use the words of Scripture (or at least words that are heavily informed by Scripture) in so doing.
Then we corporately affirm our faith. Which (just as our singing should be) is didactic. It reminds us who we are and why we are what we are. We are the Church of Christ--His bride, and we are united in Christ together with all those who are found in Him. And our profession of faith is how we distinguish God's people from those who are not: "We believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord..."
We then hear God address His people through the reading and preaching of His Holy Word. We listen attentively--not for "five steps for successful living," but to learn of God's holiness, His justice, and His goodness and mercy. He reminds us of His eternal plan of redemption, and how He's been working it out throughout all of human history. And He comforts us with the reassuring promise to be God to us and our children, and to preserve us in the midst of trials until our end, when we will have resurrected bodies and reign with Him for eternity.
Then we witness the signs and seals of God's promise--tangible, dramatic means our Sovereign King uses to illustrate and confirm what He has just told us--through the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. In the Supper, we truly and spiritually feast upon the riches of the body and blood that were shed for us and, just as our bodies are nourished, so our faith is strengthened. In this meal, we are reminded of Christ's past sacrifice and are given a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in which we will one day partake.
We then close with prayers and songs of thanksgiving and doxology, whereupon God blesses us and sends us out into the world to be His ambassadors in our individual vocations.
Obviously, the details and order of some of these elements are not all fixed. But perhaps if we really understood worship as a meeting with God, we would desire to make all of it conform to what God expects (as revealed in His Word) and, in so doing, we would make our praise both doctrinally and musically rich and beautiful--as best as we are able, something fitting for the holy King of the universe with whom we are meeting. (And maybe we'll start to sit up straight and pay attention.) SDG!
