I went to church. The worship leader smiled and said, “Today we’ll teach you a new song!” Here we go again.
“HALLE!” A pause. “LUJAH!” What a terrible song.
Then the song continued as a remix of Amazing Grace. Now it felt insulting.
Are we, as Christians, supposed to enjoy a worship service no matter what?
The people in the front row were just jamming it out. Was that what I was supposed to do?
We hear about Christians with abundant joy in their hearts and on their faces, made possible by their strong faith in Christ. Is that what this is about – to be a strong believer is to rejoice in any worship song, Philippians 1:18 style?
I think it’s objectively true that some songs are “better” than others. To go one step further, some genres are more suitable for certain purposes than others. The most popular song at a rave is probably not going to be well received at a funeral. At what point do we decide that a worship song is “not good enough”?
Language is probably the low-hanging fruit: it’s easy to detect vulgar language. It’s a bit harder to detect unbiblical content. As a result, many contemporary worship songs feel generic, vague, and “safe.”
“God is good!”
“I am saved!”
“Praise God!”
“Hallelujah!”
Now spice them up in twenty different ways and we’re good to go.
I struggle with worship songs that I find terrible. Am I offended by the low quality, the low effort of what we are offering to God? Or am I acting like a Pharisee, gatekeeping people from worshiping with different tastes and scorning new and creative approaches?
Perhaps, when everything is said and done, there are different spaces for worship. One for modern, contemporary performances. Another for death metal rock fans. Yet another for rap and hip hop. And I’ll find my little corner of traditional, classically performed, beloved hymns. And God would see that it’s all very good.
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