Do the Words We Use in Worship and Prayer Really Matter?

[I have discovered from my recent tweets about the language of our worship and prayer that while many agree, several are confused. Some wonder why this fascination with the old and the traditional. Others think I'm simply an unlikely champion of the "good ole hymns." In an attempt to provoke more discussions amongst yourselves-- worship leaders, worship teams, songwriters, etc-- I have formulated the three most frequent objections I've heard...and I've attempted a response. If my response is severe, it's because I believe the issue is.]

"Worship songs" are not just "expressions of our hearts to God", they shape what we believe about God. In the first 1600 years or so, few dared to write "their own songs" for congregational worship. The first prayers and songs of the Church were Psalms (prayers they learned as Jewish children) reframed around Christ. By the end of the 1st century we see a few creedal formulas surface, many of which are quoted in Paul's letters. Later, when more songs and liturgies were written, they were carefully worded by theologians like John Chrysostom in the 4th century (whose liturgy the Orthodox Church still sings!) and much later, Luther in the 16th century. For many centuries after the Reformation, songs written for public worship had to have words taken directly from Scripture. Today, we are loose about it. We sit down-- and I say "we" because I have been guilty of this-- and try to write a song based on what's in our hearts, what we want to say, what my Church wants to sing...all of which may be OK if they are subservient to the larger question, "What is true about God?" Still, some insist...

1. "It's the Heart that Counts."
Tell that to Nadab and Abihu-- you know, the guys who offered a "strange fire" and got struck down in Numbers 3. Or Uzzah, the guy who struck dead for touching the Ark that was sliding off a cart it should never have been on because David did not "seek the Lord about the prescribed manner." Where did we arrive at the notion that God does not care about the way that we worship? Or that all that matters is our heart? What only adds to the muddle is the confused notion about what the "heart" is. We have been shaped by the Romantic Era so that when we hear "heart" we think "intention" or "desire." But in the Scripture the "heart" is the seat of the will. It is where action comes from.

But here's the real question: Are you sure that your words and your heart are two separate things? Can you sing "bad" words but have a "good" heart? Jesus seemed quite clear that our words always betray what's in our hearts. Perhaps our words in worship reveal what we really believe about God in our hearts. This is point of the whole Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi thing. It's the conviction that the way we worship is the way we believe is the way we live. It's not just a clever Latin phrase from a long time ago. Is it an accident that along with the rise of "popular worship songs" devoid of the words and content of the Creeds and Confessions of the Church has come the rise of a new religion, Moralistic Therepeutic Deism, that many think is "Christianity"? Have our words of prayer and worship become so generic that most of what we sing can be just as easily sung to Simba the Lion King or, better yet, Oprah's 'God'?

The Bible also tells us that our heart is desperately wicked. Scripture and the historic creeds and confessions of the Church (that were either based on Scripture or were themselves the basis for selecting the Canon of Scripture) are like iron stakes, driven into the ground on either side of a young tree. Without them, our worship grows crooked.

2. "What We Really Need is the Spirit to Show Up."
Immediately I want to ask, "Which Spirit?" and "How will you know it's Him?" What this statement may reveal is a fixation on an experience. But Christians don't gather together so they can "experience God" as if it's a sanctified frat party. We gather to pay attention to God-- His presence in the Sacraments, His voice in the Scriptures, His Spirit in His people-- and to pay attention to one another-- our companions on the way of the cross. To say it's all about God "moving" in a service is to leave that up to a subjective experience of whether He "moved" or not. If we aren't careful we may think that as long as we danced/cried/shouted/were moved/etc then it doesn't matter if what was said or sung was actually about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is letting Experience define Truth instead of letting Truth define Experience. It's a bizarre non sequitur: "I feel it, therefore it is true." No one would actually say this, but our actions may indicate that we are more concerned with "what the experience of God is like" than "who the God of the experience is." Pardon me for being crude, but that's a bit like saying, "As long as the sex is good, I don't care whom it's with." And, indeed, that seems to be the motto of our culture. But if we are to be Christ's Bride and not Bablyon's Whore, we can't qualify a worship service filled with sloppy theology by how good it felt. Our worship must begin with the question, "What is true about God?" not "What do I want/need/expect to feel?"

Oh, and by the way, every time the People of God gather in Christ's name, the Spirit of God is there. You (plural!) are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. He is present when we gather. The discipline of gathering weekly to worship is one of learning to pay attention to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not to have a group sensation.

3. "We Need to be Free to Express Ourselves in Our Own Way."
Resisting the urge to refer again to the aforementioned Nadab and Abihu, I will say, instead, that you are free to do lots of things. You are free to worship a false god if you'd like. You are free, as Adam and Eve were, to try to be god-like instead of reflectors of the Image of God.

"Freedom" is another convoluted word, muddied by the Romantic Era and the American Revolution. "Freedom" in the American sense is quite different from "Freedom in Christ." Jesus didn't die to give us free speech; He died to set us free from the law of sin and death at work in us. Our culture has idolized autonomy and called it "freedom." We like innovation and not imitation because innovation is an expression of independence, and imitation is proof of dependence. But Biblical worship has nothing to do with the arrogant and the independent. If you insist on making this about "expressing yourself", you will find yourself more at home with the Golden Calf than with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After all, the Golden Calf was an image Israel was familiar with, an "expression of worship" they knew and that made sense to them. You cannot fashion YHWH in your image; you are fashioned in His image, which is why there is a "prescribed way" to worship Him. It takes humility to say, "I don't really know how to worship." It takes humility to ask, as the disciples did, "Lord, teach us how to pray." And then to listen to the words of the Lord's Prayer and let those words shape the language of your prayer. Can we pray our own prayers and write our songs from our heart? Of course. But we would do well to let our language first be shaped by Psalms, Scripture, and the historic Creeds and confessions of the Church.

As children, we learned to speak by being spoken to. Our mother or father says, "Ball" and we watch their mouth and try to say it back to them. Then we say it with them. Soon we say it on our own. Then we speak on our own. But not with "our own words." That would be gibberish. We speak the words spoken to us. So with worship and prayer: Speak, sing, pray, the Word that has been spoken to you. Or as Paul wrote, "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" (Col. 3:16).

[I'm sure I'll write a follow-up post with some recommendations of books on Psalm-praying, or sources of the ancient creeds and confessions. But for now, the diligent can find them. Part of the education is in the search, right? :)]

Comments

[crosenhahn]

Glenn, the 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism' is so rampant in my generation. I talk with more Christians that rely on their heart/feelings then they do on the Word of God. Searching for an experience or 'encounter' with God seems to trump discipline, sacrifice and humility in our daily walk. There is is this notion/movement that says, God can fit your needs and make your situation/feelings better. When I look at the Bible and history that is rarely the case for those who live a truly devoted life to Christ. Thank you for writing this blog.

[Marshall Huwe]

As pretty much a "life-long" Christian having grown up on a Bible college campus and always being in attendance and/or involved in my local church I must say that your Sunday School class on Eschatology and recent blog posts have been most bracing and convicting. The best way to put it is to say that I have been made aware of how "sloppy" I have become in my attempt to be a Christ-follower. Thanks for sharing your insight and your "heart"!

[Terra Fisk]

I appreciate your intellectual honesty and push back against popular Evangelical thought! You'd fit right in at our Reformed church (or at least as much as Kyle and I do!) Thanks again for telling it like it is!

[Marsha]

Glenn...how good is our God..that if we surrender to what He says, wills..no matter how it looks or sounds..we will be right where we should be..
He has had me on a journey to rediscover the truth..not the world..

thank you for being a friend to Pete, the girls and I...more so..thank you for being obedient to God.. therefore the best kind of friend..
:as iron sharpens iron"
Marsha~

[Todd]

You're spot on, Glenn. Excellent post.

[Shaun]

Such a true and timely word, Glenn. I hope this message gets carried far and wide in the Christian fellowship, and may we as a people return to following Him as He prescribes, not as we feel.

Thanks for speaking the truth in love.

[Patrick]

I agree with most of your perspectives and believe that these are necessary critiques of not only, your particular charismatic church tradition (which is my heritage as well), but also evangelicalism at large.

I am very curious how your (seemingly) recent convictions of theology and practice have affected your local church. It appears (from afar) that your theology may sharply contrast with a church like New Life. How have you (and your leadership) reconciled this?

[Bradmeyer]

Glenn you are putting prose to thoughts and emotions I have been feeling for quite sometime. Thank you for having the conviction to say this.

[Glenn Packiam]

Thank you all for the wonderful confirmations of how the Holy Spirit is challenging and refining the Church.

Patrick...thanks for the great question. These convictions have been there, but you're right in saying that I have learned so much more in the past few years...it's a long story what set me down this road, but it involves a friend who is a self-described "recovering atheist" whose on voracious reading of the historic writings have show how thin our current worship is.

As for New Life...these are the questions we are all wrestling with now...making a conscious effort to pray, speak, sing in an overtly Trinitarian way...and to name Jesus in our prayers and songs instead of a generic "You." It was the subject of much discussion as we talked about songs for the NewLifeWorship project that releases in April. Part of what we've landed on so far is that while songs shouldn't be sloppy, not every songs needs to "say it all". It's the responsibility of the worship leader to insert other elements, read Scriptures, pray, etc, in a way that frames the songs in a way that is Trinitarian and Christo-centric (or, in short, "Christian"!).

Also, I don't know if you know this, but I have moved out of the worship ministry and am now the lead pastor/teaching pastor for a new service on Sunday Nights. Since starting it in the Fall of 2009, we've incorporated elements of historic liturgy in it: we say the Nicene Creed each week, we do communion-- with time for silent confession and corporate confession from the BCP--and pray the Lord's prayer. (If you search on my blog for a post called "Order of Service", you'll find more details. This was partly instigated by our senior pastor, Brady Boyd. He knew my love for these historic practices and encouraged me to incorporate them in this new service. He also wants us to find ways of bringing them in the main Sunday morning services. As a result, we've done that on some communion Sundays (in the morning service we do communion once a month as opposed to each week on Sunday nights), in corporate prayer meetings (I've included some prayers from the BCP that we have read/prayed together), and in our college service on Friday nights...So: it's spreading like a slow infection from within...on purpose.

hope that helps!

[Felicity]

I've certainly come through a lot of strange personal theology in the area of worship! I remember one pastor not wanting us to sing a particular song (one based on the Psalms) because it was too negative sounding. : ) I think your journey would be very interesting (and useful) to read. I love that your church is providing different avenues for worship.

[Patrick]

Thanks so much for the response, Glenn. And thanks for filling me in on your current situation.

I am familiar with New Life (one of your current pastors was a pastoral mentor) and am very encouraged that a church within our tradition is courageous enough to allow themselves to become informed and influenced by historical liturgical practices. I believe that Charismatics, in particular, have much to gain from a historically-rooted liturgy. The authentic, whole-being participation in worship that charismatics have fought for over the last forty years can, I believe, actually find a long lost home within historic creeds, confessions, scripture readings, and weekly communion. My prayer is that charismatics would recognize that the same Spirit that speaks, sanctifies, and gives gifts to the Body has skillfully guided the church over the past 2000 years. I'm very glad to see an influential church like New Life lead my tradition back to tradition. May the "infection" continue to spread!

I'm also encouraged that you are seeking to faithfully influence and invest in your current community of faith rather than simply leaving and beginning a new work.

Thanks for your thoughts and please keep up the good work!

[LSaik]

Glenn, I too love your blog and find your Relevant Magazine pieces to be very insightful. I'm yet to read your books but I plan to and am confident that there will be much wisdom to gain from them :)

I like how you've added in your comment that "while songs shouldn't be sloppy, not every song needs to 'say it all'". I agree that 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism' and weak doctrine is a problem in this generation, but legalism and 'boxing-God-in' (which is essentially a form of idolatry too) is a common problem of the more traditional practices and ideologies. Hence I think there is a balance that needs to be struck. Not loose, but not legalistic. Be grounded in strong and accurate doctrine, but aware that our God is bigger and far greater than we can comprehend - that all the doctrines, creeds and dare I say even scripture cannot fully contain or encapsulate who God is and what He can do.

The bible does say that our hearts are deceitful but lets also not underestimate our hearts as:
God writes His law on our hearts (Rom 2:15; Heb 8:10)
It is with our hearts we believe and are saved (Rom 10:9-10)
The Holy Spirit dwells in our heart(2 Cor 1:22)

So I guess my point is balance. Theology and heart working together with the Holy Spirit :)

[Dave]

Glenn,

I agree with the over all thought here that we shouldn't be singing whatever is put in front of us - but I do have a few thoughts on your points.

First, you of course know the scripture that we are too offer ourselves as living sacrifices and that this is our spiritual act of worship - but this has not always been the case. Sacrifices originally were meant as atonement for sin - worship is definitely not that. The sacrifice in numbers was not worship - it was an atonement for sin - it was because the disobeyed God that they got the results that they did. Your example of Uzzah was, again, not a person trying to worship God, he died because he disobeyed a direct command of God. Not because he sang some poorly written words of a college roomate - these are different kinds of offerings.

It's interesting that you mentioned David and how the early church primarily sang Psalms, because David was the king of expressing whatever he wanted in song. He sang that God would destroy his enemies. Jesus on the other hand told us to love our enemies. Maybe the Psalms aren't the best worship song either. Or maybe worship is supposed to be a time to connect with God, not just with his words but ours. Worship is communion with God, being in relationship with him; and relationship must have some of us in it too.

Lastly, if we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices - I think that means that we offer up all that God has made us. For some people that includes song writing. Does everyone with this ability immediately write excellently? No. Does this mean that their worship songs should all be thrown out? Maybe 3/4 of them :) I do think that we need to be careful about what we allow others to hear - because there are plenty of unscriptural words floating around in popular songs, however taking a hard stance is more likely to lead people to the wrong extreme.

My main concern is that we can't turn God's people into a bunch of skeptics. It seems we have a lot of that as it is. Do you think it's good to encourage worshippers to start analyzing songs during the service to decide if they should sing along or not? Of course not. I think this is a message for worship leaders and song writers and one that should be taken seriously.

Well, I think I could keep going - but I won't. Again I agree with your heart in this, and see the problems that you see - but the bible has more balance in what is says about worship than what your argument allows for. I think the most dangerous things that church leaders do is preach the extremes. Say that things should be different and jump so far to the other side that they miss they way God wants it somewhere in the middle. If we take the heart out of worship, we might just kill it.

[Amy]

While I appreciate your heart for reverence, I believe there is a vast difference between it and establishing legalistic religion. As a leader in the church, rightly dividing the Word of truth is of utmost importance (2 Timothy 2:15).

This is my first visit to your blog. I really enjoy your writing, but your theology, unless I’m misunderstanding you, seems to be mixing the Old Covenant with the New. I can’t help but think that the issue you are addressing in this post, the one of acceptable worship, is one of much less importance than an issue that you don’t address enough… the issue of the Cross. As believers we have been commissioned and empowered by Jesus to preach the gospel (good news), heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out devils. These are the commands we should be concerned with… but that’s an issue for another day.

I noticed you start off by using some Old Testament examples. This can be a tricky way to make your point, as God deals with His people in a completely different way today than He did in the Old Testament, thanks to Jesus. When Uzzah died for touching the Ark in 2 Samuel, God was showing the inflexible nature of the Law. The purpose of the Law, of course, was to bring us to the end of ourselves and into the arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the Law on our behalf (Galatians 3:24-25). Would you agree that the Old Testament should be used to reveal the types and shadows of Jesus Christ, where He was concealed, and to illuminate all that He has accomplished for those of us who believe on Him today? To use an Old Testament example and not make mention of how God dealt with people who were spiritually dead, compared to how He deals with those of us who are born of the Spirit under a New Covenant now, could lead readers astray and back into the bondage of “doing.”

The second thing I noticed is that you talk a lot about the heart. Again, I’m concerned that you are forgetting the Cross. In Jeremiah 24:7 God said, “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” And again in Ezekiel 11:19, “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,”
Jesus is the fulfillment of our “new heart.” So any worship songs asking God to “give us His heart” is in essence, a slap in the face to our Savior, as He already did.
In Matthew 12:34-35, Jesus contrasts a man with an evil heart and a man with a good heart, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
Of course a man can only become “good” by receiving Jesus, and once he does his heart is no longer evil in the eyes of God.
John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not claiming that a born-again person can no longer walk according to the flesh, but for one who is walking by the Spirit, the heart can be trusted, and God now sees them through “Jesus colored glasses.”
You said in your post, “We gather to pay attention to God.” I’d like to offer this: What we, the church, should be gathering to do is very simple, and that is to reveal Jesus. He is the answer to everything. God sent His Son to bless us (Acts 3:26). There are too many Christ followers that don’t know what Jesus accomplished on the Cross by suffering and dying for us. Knowing Jesus leads to the abundant life He came to bring us (John 10:10).
You mentioned your concern that we are letting experience define truth, but what is even more disturbing is that we are letting our own understanding define truth. The fact is, truth is revealed, not understood (Matthew 16:15-17). Our Heavenly Father gives us revelation knowledge, and that is the best truth defining experience ever!
In summary, Pastor Glenn, we don’t get to decide what is an acceptable level of holiness. Believers don’t get to decide what laws (scripture or man inspired) we are going to follow in order to put ourselves in better standing before God. All believers are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) because of what He has finished, not because of what we do to add to His finished work. And it is only through receiving the abundance of grace and this gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ that we will reign in life (Romans 5:17). It really is that simple. We are not more or less holy depending on our actions and efforts… it’s all about Jesus and His actions on our behalf. And this is the freedom Jesus brought us—freedom from determining some rules and regulations regarding how we worship, and/or supposing the need for Scripture or vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7) in our worship music. Singing songs asking God to do what He’s already accomplished through Jesus could be just as offensive as singing Disney tunes to some (myself included). But the good news is, God loves us anyway, and isn’t going to strike us down for doing so. What matters to God is Jesus and our acceptance or rejection of Him. What pleases God is our taking of what Jesus has provided, (at a very high cost) and then worshipping Him with praises of thanksgiving for abundantly blessing us… in whatever way those praises come forth.
I’m sure you don’t mean to, but making issues out of things like how we worship and what words we say, you are inadvertently putting the people’s focus on themselves instead of on Jesus. Self-centeredness is an inroad for evil. The strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56). By pointing out our shortcomings, we turn around and try to “fix” ourselves in our own effort. That is making the sacrifice of Jesus of no effect (Galatians 5:4). You can’t clean the outside of the cup and expect the inside to follow suit (Matthew 23:25). That’s spiritually backwards. Keeping our eyes on Jesus and His gift of righteousness/right standing with God will lead to supernatural change (from the inside out), and all the glory goes to Him. The more we (the church) reveal Jesus in all His loveliness, the more people’s hearts will be full of Him and His goodness, and then thanksgiving will flow and we will be transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) and live the abundant life He died to give us (John 10:10).

I apologize for the fact that this is so long. This “comment” was truly born out of my love for New Life Church. It’s so easy for religious issues to seep in and become infections… but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is life. Simple life. Bless you.