Knowing The Score is an interesting blog written as part of the music ministry of College Church in Wheaton, USA.
It contains various reflections on different hymn lyrics. This post contains some observations about a growing theological maturity in some areas of contemporary songs for worship, particularly in the area of composing new tunes for older lyrics.
I came to College Church, 14 years ago, from a church with three morning services, in two styles. We had made a real attempt to present a contemporary service with substance, with the same values as our more traditional service. It was a challenge – usually a fun challenge – to present the same themes in two related but distinct services.
Ultimately, it was a failure. 14 years ago, it was almost impossible to adequately present many biblical themes with real substance, using only contemporary materials. We could sing “our God is an awesome God,” but could not go deeply and sing that he is “immortal, invisible, God only wise.” I heard one songwriter in the praise and worship genre say that after his songs became more theologically thoughtful, publishers became less interested in them. (Happily, this man ended up in a church pastored by a friend of mine, who continued to encourage him to write deeply!) It was discouraging. So coming to College Church with its passionate commitment to hymn singing was refreshing and invigorating.
I still have no interest in what is called “contemporary worship” (whatever is meant by that), and there is still a lot of dreck being put forth for use in that medium. But I am happy to say that the past decade has brought a lot more depth, substance, and historical material into the contemporary arena. In particular, “old hymns” have been “re-discovered” and cast into new forms for singing by congregations of all ages. In most cases, these settings even preserve the old language!
Read the rest of the post at Knowing The Score.
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