Tag Archives: hymnody

How Should New Testament Worshipers Worship?

August 31, 2021Tagscongregational singing, congregational song, hymnody, hymnsDr. Will Whittaker

I’m teaching Introduction to Congregational Song this semester at TMU. This week we focused on New Testament Congregational Song. I’m reminded again that as we come to the Father through Jesus the Son, we no longer have to depend on a high priest to offer animal sacrifices so we can find redemption for our sins. No longer must we follow arduous sets of rules and worship practices. We have instant access through the power of the resurrection. Worship transforms us as we meet together to encourage, edify, and express our collective thanks to God in the name of the Lord.

In the New Testament there were no new or updated worship liturgies beyond what was established in the Old Testament. Must believe that Old Testament worship practices were adhered to for the most part until Jesus came. A few elements such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper became regular parts of corporate worship then. What we DO get from the New Testament is instructions to believers about their “posture” as worshipers. While there is much more to be said, but consider these three well-known scriptures that stood out to me from our reading that I think have some powerful reminders for corporate worship.

Ephesians 5:18-20- …be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:15-17- Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Romans 12:1-2- Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What do you see when you read these scriptures together? What stands out to you? Here’s what I see:

We are able to worship TROUGH Christ because of the power of His death and the power of the resurrection.
Worship is NEVER about us. It is Christ-centric; Christ is the object of our worship.
Worship is never strictly vertical. While scripture is full of references to vertical worship e.g. “sing to the Lord,” scripture is also clear that we are sing TO and WITH one another in a horizontal fashion. Read these scriptures again. Every single one focuses on a horizontal element in worship. We are to sing to ONE ANOTHER…instruct ONE ANOTHER…admonish ONE ANOTHER.
Worship is an opportunity for us to express our THANKS to God in THE NAME OF THE LORD.
Worship is EXPERIENTIAL. We are to sing and make music from our hearts, offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, have a transformed mind et al. As we humbly offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, Christ transforms us to be more like Christ.
Worship UNIFIES US. Because Christ is the object of our worship, we are called to peace, we are and are unified by the message of Christ.

Friends, let the truths of these passages remind you our purpose in worship. While our liturgies might vary to some degree, the object of our worship must be Christ who desires to continue to transform us to be more like Him. Soli Deo Gloria

You’ve Made me Learn to Love Contemporary Music

January 30, 2020Tagsbaptist, Bible, Biblical, Biblical Foundations, blended worship, body of christ, Boomers, Builder Generation, Builders, choir, choirs in worship, choral, church choir, church leadership, church music, church music styles, church orchestra, churches, communication, community, congregation, congregational, contemporary hymns, contemporary worship, diversity, Gen-X, generational, generations, hymnody, intergenerational, intergenerational relationships, intergenerational worship, invest, investing in next generations, leadership, mentoring, Millennials, modern worship, multi-generational, multigen, multigenerational, music, music ministry, next gen, next generations, participation in church choir, praise team, praise teams, prayer, purpose, reachingnextgen, spiritual formation, The Bible, training, unity, value, vocal worship, vocal worship teams, vocals in worship, worship, worship spaces, worship style, Xennials, younger generationsDr. Will Whittaker

Last night I was approached by an octogenarian woman during our family night meal. She looked me dead in the face and said something to the effect of, “Will, you’ve made me learn to love contemporary music.” As I’ve thought about this over the last day, I’m starting to wonder how I’ve made her learn to love contemporary music? I didn’t realize I had that power! Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to continue our conversation because I needed to get to my first rehearsal. Of course the next time I see her I’m going to ask her, but for now, I can only guess why she said that to me—and 80-something year old woman whose church music heart-language likely does not include the latest Passion tune. However, something in the way we present contemporary music resonates with someone from our Builder generation.

While I don’t have an exact answer to why she felt compelled to stop me at the coffee bar yet, I have some guesses:

Utilize contemporary songs that are biblically-rich. I refuse to put on the lips of our people songs that aren’t clear in theology and Christ-glorifying.
Utilize contemporary songs where the music and text complement each other. Much has been said about this, but effective text/word painting is crucial to cementing the truth in the minds and hearts of the worshipers.
Utilize contemporary songs with a hook. You all know what I’m talking about—songs with the indelible earworm. Songs that have sections that contain melodic (or even harmonic) sections that you can’t get out of your head. My current earworms are Way Maker and I Belong to Jesus (O Hallelujah). If you don’t know them, be prepared to invest lots of time hearing the song in your head. But you know what? These songs reinforce the TRUTH of who God is and my relationship and response to Him. If you listen any pop music at all, the most popular songs have hooks–and rightly so, we humans respond to them. No matter your age, a fantastic hook transcends generations!
Instrumentation. I don’t think we can overestimate the importance of how the music is played and sung. A rock band is going to sound different on most contemporary songs than a full orchestra (even if you have the same rhythm section in your orchestra). We use orchestra every week and my guess is our chosen method of presentation is more intergenerational friendly.
Volume. I CANNOT stress how important volume and decibel level is in a worship service. I talk at length about this in my article here: The Noise is Deafening and It’s Not My Fault! Basically, as we get older, we get more sensitive to sound. If you want to ostracize older people, disregard decibel levels. We make very sure that we set volume levels appropriately for our worship space.
Relationships. I care about the people I serve. I care about the content that God has given me the responsibility to feed them musically. My octogenarian friend probably has learned to love contemporary music because I do not lay aside our historically-rich hymns of the faith either. In fact I try to find creative ways to use textual similarities between new and old and put them together in worship services. I want all generations in my church to know that no music is off-limits based on it’s copyright date alone. By this I’m able to bridge gaps and build relationships across generational lines. It’s kind of an inter-musical approach for the intergenerational church!

What might you add to my list here?

Let’s Just Call it What it is…

August 22, 2019Tagsbaptist, Bible, Biblical, Biblical Foundations, blended worship, body of christ, choir, choirs in worship, choral, church choir, church leadership, church music, church music styles, churches, communal, community, congregation, congregational, contemporary hymns, contemporary worship, diversity, ethnic, family worship, generational, generations, hymnody, intergenerational, intergenerational relationships, intergenerational worship, invest, modern worship, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multicultural, multigen, multigenerational, music, next gen, next generations, praise, reachingnextgen, relationships, spiritual formation, The Word of God, traditional worship, unity, worship, worship style, younger generationsDr. Will Whittaker

To divide congregations into groups, style groups, and preference groups is to be semi- or even pseudocorporate. The body of Christ is as chronologically and stylistically whole as it is spiritually whole. Harold Best in Unceasing Worship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003).

If music were to be eliminated from so called “traditional” or “contemporary” services, would there need to be different types of services? That’s right, very little. Let’s call it what it is—preference of music is the driving factor for having separate types of musical types at one church. And because music seems to be the driving factor in these decisions, worship becomes less about the preaching of the Word and the proclamation of the gospel and more about preferences of music, which are at best subjective. Hear me, I’m FOR all kinds of music…especially music that fits the cultural context of the church and demographic of your area. Be authentic, but be unified. It’ll take everyone being mutually submissive.

We’ve missed the point of, and driving force of worship, which is the centrality of the Word of God infused in every aspect of our corporate worship. Our churches should crave the spiritual food through the exposition of the Word week in and week out. I don’t want to hear platitudes on how to live my best life, I’d rather hear what the Word of God preached through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has to say about how I need to be daily humbling myself, taking up my cross, and following Him by loving my neighbor as myself.