There's no definition for what's a hymn and not a praise song. But Keith Getty says it should be singable without a band and easy for anyone sitting in the pews to pick up. And it should say something bold. "I think it's to the church's poverty that the average worship song now has so few words, so little truth," he says. "[It] is so focused on several commercial aspects of God, like the fact that he loves our praises." Kristyn Getty says that some of the most popular music doesn't show God the proper reverence. "There is an unhelpful, casual sense that comes with some of the more contemporary music," she says. "It's not how I would talk to God."
In case you missed it, Keith Getty is the responsible for what is rapidly becoming one of the most popular contemporary songs used in worship -- In Christ Alone" -- and Kristyn Getty (his wife) is more often than not the voice that introduces these new worship songs to the congregation.
No less a medium attuned to the national pulse than NPR picked up and delivered this story. You can read it all here. The point of this that the popular style of contemporary worship music, with its emphasis on rhythm and sound and its characteristic 7 word lyric is meeting a challenge in the praise band and praise song congregational setting. You might expect it to come from "traditional" worship advocates but, in this case, the words of warning about the theological vacuity and the shallowness of a musical form that relies on sound rather than text has come from one of the most prominent writers of contemporary worship music.
While I am no fan of contemporary praise music, I have to admit that the content of this song is certainly meatier than most of the genre. I can only hope that this is the start of a revolution away from spectator church music in which the focus is on the performer(s) and from the typical trite, shallow, and casual nature of contemporary praise music designed for people to actually sing. But... I have been disappointed before... |
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