Indictment on Evangelical Worship

Justin Wainscott, pastor and poet, has penned a powerful poetic challenge to much of what is typical in evangelical worship today.  If you do not already read his blog, I recommend it to you.

Indictment on Evangelical Worship

M. Justin Wainscott, © 2007

Set the stage and dim the lights,
Create my mood; abuse my rights.
Out-do all you did last week,
And never let the silence speak.
Entertain me, at all costs,
Blur the lines ‘tween true and false.
Smile and tell me all’s okay,
I’ll believe whate’er you say.
Give me mirrors; give me smoke,
Fill me with clichés and jokes.

Like an orphan with no story,
Cut me off from all before me.
Hide the pain and fake the smile,
Lamentation’s out of style.
Give me milk and warm the bottle,
Make sure it’s the latest model.
Numb my mind with borrowed tricks,
Feed my soul with Pixi-stix.
Don’t confront what lurks within,
Or else I’ll never come again.

The Transformative Power of Corporate Worship

I have commented several times here about the importance and impact of corporate worship. I am convinced this is a truth we need to recover. Eric Smith has written a moving account of how God rescued him at a significant crossroads in his life through the corporate singing of a local body. I commend his post to you.

Give Us Songs Men Can Sing

Here is another interesting quote from Gaines Dobbins’ The Churchbook from 1951. The call for music which allows congregational participation, and particularly allows men to participate was timely then. From appearances it was not largely heeded. It is timely now as well.

“Our church songbooks contain some splendid hymns, and also some which kill a congregation’s enthusiasm. From the psychological angle, a good song is one which has harmony and a stirring rhythm which lends itself to untrained male voices, as well as to graduates of conservatories of music.

Recently, I have been visiting various churches for the purpose of observing their music. Just from my listening to the half-hearted singing in many of them, I have felt sorry for the congregation, since many of the men were really trying to participate in the music but couldn’t because it was so difficult or so lacking in a strong, essential rhythm. It would be a great boon if our churches limited themselves to a few dozen of the good old hymns in which people can really participate. For church music should be sung with delight and gusto, so that the very walls almost burst outward with the hearty music. Churches need more men’s music. …

Effeminate hymns, too often employed today, handicap the clergyman, kill the interest of the congregation ….” (163-64)

Value of Worship at Home

In some of my work on Baptist theology and practice I came across this quote from Gaines Dobbins’s, The churchbook: A treasury of materials and methods (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1951), a standard text in the 1950’s. His point applies just as well today.

“Children who have learned to worship at home will not find it difficult to worship in the church. Children from worship-less homes cannot be led easily to appreciate the meaning and the value of church worship. A mark of the decadence of our civilization is the decline of family worship. Its revival would be one of the most significant signs of spiritual recovery. The use of one of the popular aids to family devotions, with suggestions for daily Bible readings and prayer, would prove of inestimable value in the promotion of worship in the home, where the best of all training in worship may be received.” (157).

God Deserving of Universal Praise

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!" (Psalm 100:1)

“What the singers undertake has to do with the world, and should their horizon be at all foreshortened, the happening would immediately decay into something else. Against all practicality or human expectation of being heard, they summon mankind. … nor do they measure their words against their only resources and possibilities. No, they look to him who is he focus of what they undertake and shout “all the earth” because no lesser assembly can be contemplated where he is concerned. What they gather to do must always be set in the midst of the world, or it is surrender of truth ad future from the start.”
-James L. Mays, “Worship, World, and Power: An Interpretation of Psalm 100”, Interpretation 23.3 (July 1969): 320.

Praise Reorienting Life

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!” ( Psalm 100:1-2)

“This doxology needs to be understood not only as a literary assertion of trustful simplicity (which it is) but also as an action which reorients life. When the community praises, it submits and reorders life. It is not only a moment of worship, but also an embrace of a doxological life which is organized differently. So the summons is a summons to reorient life.”

- Walter Brueggemann, “Psalm 100”, Interpretation (Jan 1985): 65.

The Pastor & Worship

Here is a great quote from Louis F. Benson, The Hymnody of the Christian Church (1927), preface, vi-vii:

“A good Providence has committed to the hands of every pastor, for such use as he can make of them, the three arts that lie nearest the human heart, - speech, poetry and music. The mission of poetry and music no doubt transcends the limits of congregational singing, but nevertheless it proves most spiritually effective in a self-expression by the people themselves in common song. . . .
Hymnody, then, is a spiritual function, and its welfare proceeds from the heart. Nevertheless its congregational expression needs guidance and a thoughtful ordering as much now as at Corinth in the days of St. Paul. Most of all it needs the inspiration which can only be imparted to preoccupied hearts by a pastor who cherishes it as among the best of God’s gifts, and understands it because he has learned the lessons of its chequered history, has measured its resources and traced the different lines of its ministry; and who is resolute to cultivate the spirit of song among his people.”

Note these points:
1) The pastoral value of poetry and music
2) The importance, value and power of congregational singing
3) The need for leadership in guiding the people to properly understand and appreciate the songs so that they might arise freely from the heart. It is true that authentic worship must arise from the heart, but it will not properly flow from “preoccupied hearts” without teaching and nurturing. And that, pastors, is our job.

May we too be “resolute to cultivate the spirit of song” among our people. Appreciation of congregational singing is no mere personal ‘taste.’ It is a spiritual issue, a deep need of our people; and we must lead, teach, and nurture so as to inculcate this value for the good of the souls of our people.

The Formative Role of the Psalms

Eric Smith has posted today a great quote from Jack Collins’ notes on the Psalms in the ESV Study Bible and his own contemplation. I agree heartily. We need these inspired songs and prayers to teach us to worship appropriately.

From “The Psalms as Scripture” in the introductory material about the Psalms in the ESV Study Bible:
“Their primary function has already been mentioned: the Psalter is the songbook of the people of God in their gathered worship. These songs cover a wide range of experiences and emotions, and give God’s people the words to express these emotions and to bring these experiences before God. At the same time, the psalms do not simply express emotions: when sung in faith, they actually shape the emotions of the godly. The emotions are therefore not a problem to be solved but are part of the raw material of now-fallen humanity that can be shaped to good and noble ends. The psalms, as songs, act deeply on the emotions, for the good of God’s people. It is not “natural” to trust God in hardship, and yet the Psalms provide a way of doing just that, and enable the singers to trust better as a result of singing them. A person staring at the night sky might not know quite what to do with the mixed fear and wonder he finds in himself, and singing Psalm 8 will enrich his ability to respond.”

The purpose of the psalms, then, is not just to express the way we already feel; it teaches our hearts how they ought to feel, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, shapes our hearts so they do feel as they ought to. This is the purpose behind all Christian worship, which we should keep in mind as we gather together from week to week. Are we purposefully shaping our people into the right kinds of worshipers, and are we ourselves being so shaped? We should have a deeper grasp of our sinfulness and God’s mercy after six months of corporate worship than we did before. We should be more quick to forgive, more patient in suffering, more grateful in abundance, more hopeful for the future in our every day lives as a result of steady participation in corporate worship. May it be so.

Introducing A Church to Psalm Singing

Last week James Grant, pastor of FBC Rossville, TN, spoke at Union as part of our Psalms Project. James’ title was "How I Introduced Psalm Singing to My Church...Without Getting Fired!"(link will take you to the audio). James knows more about Psalm singing than any other Baptist pastor I know and he did an excellent job. He has commented on this topic at his blog previously. He discussed how Psalm singing was a basic element of Christian worship from the beginning of the church until just about 150 years ago and then demonstrated how easy it is to begin singing metrical psalms to familiar hymn tunes.

Few of the people in attendance had sung psalms before but they easily caught on. We even sang Chad Davis’s version of Psalm 29 which no one had sung in a group before and went very well.

I encourage you to listen to James’s presentation and consider how your church might incorporate the songs which God gave us in His word.

Psalm 29 Versification

This past week my friend and co-pastor, Chad Davis sent me his versification of Psalm 29. Having heard Don Whitney teach about using the “Psalm of the day,” Chad was reading, meditating on and praying from Psalm 29 on April 29th. As he did so, Chad employed his poetic gifts to versify this psalm in a 87.87.D meter. Chad had the tune for “Come Thou Fount” in mind but any tune in this meter will fit (e.g. “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee," “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken,” “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”). This is part of the beauty of metrical arrangements.

Here is Chad’s versification. I think it is very well done- faithful to the text and easily singable.

Praise the Lord, O heavenly beings
Praise His glory and His might (v. 1)
Worship all His holy splendor
Give to Him what's His by right. (v. 2)

For His voice o'er waters thunders,
Over many waters roars (v. 3)
Full of majesty and power
Is the voice of our great Lord. (v. 4)

That great voice has such deep power
Mighty cedars it can break (v. 5)
Like a calf or wild oxen
It can make this whole world shake. (v. 6)

This voice makes the wild to tremble (v. 8)
From it flash forth fire and flame (v. 7)
This Lord brings both life and judgment
In His house all praise His name (v. 9)

O'er the flood our God is reigning
And His reign will never cease (v. 10)
May He give strength to His people
May He bless us with His peace (v. 11).

Basil the Great, "Speak of God's Glory"

Several weeks ago now Dr. Craig Blaising was in Union’s chapel as a part of our Psalms Project. He gave a wonderful address titled “The Psalms in Early Christian Worship.” Blaising basically demonstrated how the early church fathers sought to teach their people to pray from the Psalms. Drawing from his work on the recently published commentary on Psalms 1-50 in the Ancient Christian Commentary series, he cited a number of powerful quotes from the Patristics.

Here is one from Basil the Great which deals with how we approach worship. This struck me as particularly relevant in our busy noisiness which often fails to have a place for quiet in the presence of God:

One who is in the temple of God does not speak out abuse or folly or words full of shameful matters, but "in his temple all shall speak his glory." .,. This one duty, referring glory to the Creator, belongs to every army of heavenly creatures. Every creature, whether silent or uttering sound, whether celestial or terrestrial, gives glory to the Creator. But wretched people who leave their homes and run to the temple, as if to enrich themselves somewhat, do not lend their ears to the words of God; they do not possess a knowledge of their nature; they are not distressed, although they have previously committed sin; they do not grieve at remembering their sins, nor do they fear the judgment; but, smiling and shaking hands with one another, they make the house of prayer a place of lengthy conversation, pretending not to hear the psalm that solemnly protests and says, "In the temple of God all shall speak his glory." You not only do not speak his glory, but you even become a hindrance to the other, turning his attention to yourself and drowning out the teaching of the spirit by your own clamor. See to it that you do not at some time leave condemned along with those blaspheming the name of God instead of receiving a reward for glorifying him. You have a psalm; you have a prophecy, the evangelical precepts, the preachings of the apostles. Let the tongue sing, let the mind interpret the meaning of what has been said, that you may sing with your spirit, that you may sing likewise with your mind. … This statement, "In his temple all shall speak his glory," was made not unfittingly in a digression, because some in the temple of God talk endlessly until their tongue aches; and these enter without profit.

(Homily on Psalm 13.8).

Erskine Psalm Conference

I had a great time the last part of this week at the Psalmody conference at Erskine. The plenary lectures by John Witvliet, Terry Johnson, Mark Ross and Robby Bell were excellent. Witvliet in an address similar to the one given earlier at Union argued for the formative use of the Psalms. Johnson gave a strong survey of Psalm singing in the history of the church showing how the singing of the Psalms was common in the church until more recently (since the Civil war). Mark Ross gave a compelling and inspiring argument for the use of the Psalms in our singing from a theological perspective. Robby Bell, who has recently endured much personal suffering, lectured on the place of the laments.

Johnson and Ross specifically argued clearly that we should sing complete psalms (rather than just snippets) and the whole Psalter. It is certainly true that the overall movement of the Psalm needs to be seen to fully appreciate the message of the psalm.

I was pleased to hear that the lectures will be posted at the school’s site soon. When they are available I will post the link.

I also had two wonderful opportunities to talk with Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old, certainly one of the giants in the land in regards to the history of worship practices in the church. One evening I had the opportunity to sit with Dr. and Mrs. Old, Terry Johnson, and James Hering at the Old’s guest house for a couple of hours discussing psalm singing. Johnson and Old were kind enough to think with me about how to introduce this practice to Baptist churches (James Grant has done this at his church and will be sharing his insights at Union on May 5). We also discussed Dr Old’s forthcoming visit to Southern Seminary to deliver the Mullins lectures. For any near Louisville this will be a great opportunity. Dr. Old also mentioned that he will be giving an additional lecture on leading the church in prayer. I would love to hear this myself. In our tradition the idea of preparation or careful thinking about leading the congregation is very rare.

Psalms in the ESVSB

Reading the notes on the Psalms in The ESV Study Bible I was struck by the assumption of the Psalms being sung, both by Israel and the church today. Regularly the introductory note on a specific Psalms includes a comment that “the singing congregation” affirms a certain truth or “When the faithful sing this Psalm ….” Of course they were sung by Israel, have been sung commonly in the history of the church and still are sung by many today. But, this fact seems to be often left out of “studying” the Psalms. I am delighted to see how these notes begin with the thought of how these Psalms are to be used in worship.

May these notes help us regain that perspective, particularly for those of us in traditions that have not commonly sung the Psalms.

Worshipping the Right God

Here is a good word from a great new commentary on how the Psalms can help shape our worship and a warning on how we can easily worship a false god under the guise of worshipping the one true God. This is a needed warning for the church.

“Like the temple worshippers, Christians too need to be sure they are worshipping their God in accordance with what he has shown himself to be. They may not be constructing a visible idol, yet their conception of him may not be biblical. They may not think of him simply as just, but also as harsh, not simply as loving but also as sentimental. As we have seen, Psalm 50 shows us that it is possible to call him Yahweh and yet to be thinking of him as if he is Baal. The Psalms with their God-centered theology are a most effective antidote to wrong thinking about God and so may be effective in reforming our worship.”
(Geoffrey Grogan, Psalms, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary, p. 408)

“Bound for the Promised Land”

I love corporate worship. I realize this more and more as the years go by it seems. In the corporate gathering of the saints as we worship God, I see things more clearly than just about any other time. It is as if the reality of heaven breaks through my clouded vision and those realities I profess at other times are all the more clear. The sin which tempts me so during the week is then exposed as so clearly ugly and despicable. The truth of God’s character shines more brilliantly convicting me, assuring me of grace, strengthening and ennobling me. The reality of heaven is more concrete, sweeter as the truth of my mortality is felt more keenly. And the blessedness of experiencing this worship with my brothers and sisters is felt deeply.

One example of this occurred this past Sunday as we sang “On Jordan’s Stormy Bank I Stand.” I have sung this hymn many times and really appreciate it. However, this time I was struck and overwhelmed by the audacity of the truth we were professing in the chorus,

“I am bound for the promised land.”

What a crazy, amazing, audacious, wonderful claim this is for sinful people like us! It is a declaration not merely a wish. Based on the certainty of the gospel, in faith we make this claim because God has seen fit to redeem us in Christ. So, despite the suffering, frustration, and betrayal we experience, despite our continual failures we can hold fast knowing that for all those who are in Christ, we are indeed bound for the Promised Land!

Calls to Worship

Christian Focus has recently published an interesting little book titled, Calls to Worship: A Pocket Resource, by Robert Vasholz. I was interested in this book because I think we fail to think enough about how Scripture can function as a true call to worship.
Bryan Chappell in the foreword makes an excellent point:

“The call to worship is not simply a perfunctory greeting of human cordiality, but is at once a weighty responsibility and a joyful privilege.” (10)

“With a scriptural call to worship God invites us by his Word to join the worship of the ages and angels. God does not simply invite us to a party of friends, or a lecture on religion, or a concert of sacred music – he invites us into the presence of the King of the Universe before whom all creation will bow and for whom all heaven now sings. With the call to worship God’s people are invited to participate in the wondrous praise that already and eternally enraptures the hosts of heaven. This awesome news and great privilege should be reflected with appropriate enthusiasm and joy by the worship leader in the call to worship. Such a call will typically lead directly into a corporate or choral hymn of praise as God’s people respond to the blessings of worship into which they are called. A well-planned call to worship often reflects the theme of the service or the nature [of] the occasion so that the remaining elements of service are a natural outflow of, and response to, the content of the call.” (11)

The book then contains brief (typically two to three lines) calls to worship using biblical language and suited to various occasions in the church. These will no doubt be helpful to many. What I had hoped for, however, particularly after the comments quoted from the foreword, was suggestions about specific direct texts which could be used for calls to worship. I prefer to use full texts (complete Psalms, or discrete portions of scripture) as calls to worship.

Kauflin on Worship Music

Bob Kauflin’s new book, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), is gaining a lot of attention and rightly so. Through his work at Sovereign Grace Ministries Kauflin is one of the leading voices on worship today.

I knew I would agree with Kauflin on the core issues of worship. I was also delighted to read the following quote about the type of music we use. This is a lengthy quote, so I will simply cite it and plan to follow up with observations in another post. There is much wisdom in this quote.

“As I understand it, the best music enables people to genuinely and consistently magnify the greatness of the Savior in their hearts, minds, and wills. That’s a standard that will never change from culture to culture, generation to generation, church to church.
To flesh out this standard of excellence in your church, you’ll probably have a
musical center that effectively communicates to most people in the congregation. The songs sung in churches in rural Idaho, downtown Manhattan, Nottingham, England, and Bharuch, India are going to sound different. They should.

When it comes to innovations, remember that Scripture doesn’t mandate that we push the envelope, artistically speaking, on Sunday mornings. Artists will always be searching for new and fresh ways to express their gifts, but congregations must be able to hear the message without being distracted by the medium. When we meet to worship God, we’re not aiming to glorify creativity but the Creator.

And as a practical matter, edifying the church means using songs that everyone
can sing. What’s on my iPod isn’t always the best place to start when I’m picking songs for congregational worship. I need to think through the musical level of the people I’m leading. I generally look for songs with melodies between a low A to a high D that are easy to learn and hard to forget. I also try to avoid complicated rhythms.” (p. 106)

Celebrating the ‘Corporate’ in ‘Corporate Worship’

Too often in our churches today we fail to appreciate the importance of the corporate aspect of our worship. We are encouraged to ‘forget that anyone else is around’, to ‘tune everyone else out,’ or to ‘pretend it’s just you and God.’ Have we forgotten that the Scriptures envision our worship as involving “addressing one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19)? Additionally, often our worship is dominated by the work of the ‘professionals’ while the congregation is relegated to ‘audience.’ We forget that congregational singing was one of the key recoveries of the Reformation. Luther wrote hymns, Calvin versified Psalms while enlisting Marot and Beza to do the same for the purpose of teaching the people to sing the truths of the Bible. In fact when Geneva asked Calvin to return (after previously ejecting him) one of his stipulations upon returning was the instituting of congregational singing. I think we have often underestimated the importance of this aspect of our worship.

Much could be said here, but I want simply to recount one of many personal instances which have driven home to me the fact that I need to see/hear my brothers and sisters worshipping. Recently, I found myself wrestling with my unruly attention during a sermon. The sermon was good, but my attention and discipline was not. A brother came to mind who had had a death in his family that week. I had not seen him when church started so I resolved to contact him that afternoon to check on him. Later in the sermon, however, the preacher made a humorous comment and I heard behind me a laugh which I immediately recognized as the laugh of the brother I had intended to call. I was encouraged to know he was back in town and with us.

As the sermon closed and we moved to communion, we began to sing, “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” As we came to the third verse, we sang, “I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death.” My mind immediately went to my brother sitting behind me. He had just walked through the issue of death. The weight of the words pressed my heart with renewed force, as I thought of him and choked up. When we began the next verse with its affirmation of the hope of heaven, I stopped singing and leaned back to hear my brother. It was one thing for me to affirm these truths in my situation, but it meant much more to hear my brother who had just buried a dear relative express his confession of hope in heaven. I might have just floated through some more words if I was alone, but I was moved to tears hearing his voice singing:

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright.

Oh, how I need my brothers and sisters in worship. Their trust and confidence in uncertainty and loss bolsters me. Their passion and fervency stirs my dull heart. I need the community of faith, so I deeply appreciate a pattern of worship which allows me to hear from one another and not simply watch a stage.

More on Great Hymns from a Children’s Book

At my blog on children’s literature, The Children’s Hour, I have recently posted a review of Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers, by Douglas Bond. It is a great book with insights useful for adults as well as children. Here are some particularly good quotes that speak to our role in directing the worship of the church.

“Many hymns are prayers that express our desire after God better than we can ourselves. It is a glorious thing to worship God, and hymns will give you words with which to worship Him”

“Precisely,” said Mr. Pipes. “You see, Drew, when singing a hymn we join our voices in worship with Christians throughout the ages. Singing great hymns can help Christians avoid the foolish notion that our spiritual moment in history is better than other times.”

“. . .nothing we do in worship more unites our hearts and lifts us above ourselves than singing hymns set to grand music that reflects the beauty and order of our Creator.”

“Mr. Williams wrote hymns worthy of God in all His majesty and splendor, solid and deep hymns that first humble us with God’s holiness and then lift us above our sinful selves, overwhelming us with the splendor of God’s love and grace, freeing us to worship Him as He deserves.”

“He likes the word ‘grace,’” said Annie.
“That is because Newton understood the word ‘sin,’” said Mr. Pipes.

“Their first few visits to church with neighbors at home now seemed more like a trip to the circus compared with this [worship at Mr. Pipes’ church in Olney].”

“I want you both to be lovers of Christ’s church—yes, with all her warts—for she ever shall prevail, and those in her true communion on high will dwell with our blessed Redeemer Who bought His bride, the church, with His precious blood.”

The Place of Solemnity and Ritual in Worship

Having pointed out something alarming in the Episcopal Church yesterday, let me today point out a great article from an Episcopal priest. I read this article back in November and have been meaning to comment on it since. The article, subtitled “An Episcopal Priest on Casual Ministers & Reverent Marines,” appeared in the November issue of Touchstone. I thought this was a powerful piece, and I encourage you to read it. It is only 1.5 pages in the print magazine. The article grew out of the stark contrast observed at a funeral between the presiding minister and the Marines involved.
The author noted:

The care and dignity of the military rite put the Christian rites to shame. I don’t believe that the priest was intentionally irreverent or unprepared. But by comparison with the marines’ reverent ritual, the chapel service and the committal seemed slapdash.

The author then made six observations. I will highlight three:

1. It is hard to be casual and solemn at the same time.

2. It is hard to be solemn if you are in a hurry.
Haste says that something else is more important than what you are doing at present…
The trend … in the last forty years has been to shorten the services, to streamline things, so that people don’t get bored. ... The mentality says, “We know you have more important things to do, so we’ll get through the worship as quickly as possible.”

3. Ritual still has power, even in a culture that in many ways despises it.

My point is not to embrace all of Episcopalian liturgy but to highlight the importance of solemnity and meaningful acts in our worship. Breeziness may be hip, but it is not well suited for arresting the attention of a flighty culture with eternal verities.
I encourage you to read this article and consider the way in which you lead the people of God in worship.