Choosing Congregational Songs
This past Sunday evening, several of us from SSBC trekked into Park Street Church to enjoy a concert by Keith and Kristyn Getty. The Getty’s have written a wealth of modern hymns, many of which we sing at SSBC (see http://www.gettymusic.com/). Hearing them live, I was struck by the simplicity and power of their arrangements, lyrics and presence.
And yet the most poignant moment for me came between songs when Keith Getty explained the two major principles that shape their hymn writing. It struck me that these two principles should inform all the music we select for corporate singing in the church, regardless of the type of congregation.
Theologically Rich Lyrics - Most importantly, Keith said they attempt to pen lyrics that vividly articulate core biblical doctrines and the Scripture’s central narratives. He’s right on target. Church songs should embed the great dogmas into our souls, like the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, the divinity and incarnation of Jesus, and the propitiation of God’s wrath and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. We need to sing the truths and stories of God’s Word.
Unfortunately worship songs too often focus more on the feelings and actions of the worshipper, rather than on the character and deeds of the one being worshipped. In a culture that obsesses on personal discovery and self-narrative, we desperately need music that increases our biblical literacy and re-orients us to God’s glory.
Let’s ask the tough questions of our church songs: What does a particular chorus teach us about God and his Gospel? Are the lyrics biblically and theologically true? And if true, are they shallow or weighty, milky or meaty? Does the song focus us upward or inward? Do the emotions the song produces primarily arise as a response to truth, or are they stirred more by instrumental arrangements and energetic worship leadership?
Unifying, Sing-able Melodies - Second, Keith identified their goal in song writing: producing melodies that people can sing. What a concept!
We need this message today. Cranked up volume, dominant instrumentation, professional frills and an emphasis on lighting and multimedia too often telegraph to the congregation that they are an audience at a performance. They may sing along, or not. Either way the show will thunder on.
But this is completely backward. Congregational singing is the meat and potatoes of church music. And so we must choose songs that the average person can sing, and we should lead those songs in a way that serves the congregation, not entertains and awes them. Here’s a test: shut off the instruments for a stanza and see if the people in the pews can carry on a cappella.
He went on to say that they attempt to create music that can be sung by both pipe-organ hymn lovers and guitar-and-drums chorus types. Again, this is a prophetic word to the American church. Church music has become our personal radio station that we tune to contemporary or traditional, liturgical or hard-core. However, a church is the gathering of God’s people to glorify him as a body. So music should unify, not divide, the members of a local believing assembly.
The Gettys are a gift to churches, not only in the music they’ve produced, but in modeling the kind of approach we need to take in shaping our corporate singing.
- Pastor Jeramie
