worship. church. theology. culture.

PART 1: THE PSALMS AND THEIR PAGAN COUNTERPARTS Ooh…was that title provocative or what?  Though many modern worshipers feel that the worship wars are past us, I don’t think the fight is ever going to be over.  And if that’s true, discussions like these are still worth having.  I still hear the now age-old argument against modern worship (usually directed at modern instrumentation like electric guitars, drums, etc.), which can be basically summarized in this way: Modern worship is wrong … Read More

It’s all too tempting in worship to think more highly of oneself than one ought.  Evidence the myriads of worship songs (and the churches that regularly rotate them) which talk about our victory, our pursuit of God, our attempts to seek God.  These all aren’t necessarily wrong, but as I’ll make mention in a future post, worship leading is kind of like being a dietician.  When you feed people enough of the same thing, to the neglect of necessary counter-balances, … Read More

Welcome to another episode of Sunday Setlists; Brought to you by Fred McKinnon’s Blog Carnival! The worship this Sunday felt joyful and upbeat. 1.            How Great is Your Faithfulness  –  Matt Redman, 2009The musical arrangement of “Great is your Faithfulness” is bright and beautiful. Just as the lyrics point out “Everything changes, but You stay the same…”, so the melody and chord progression keep the same spirit of upward movement through the entire piece.  Not only that, but the … Read More

Two days ago, in Loveland, CO (a ways north of Denver…why did they choose Loveland?), the Hillsong United army graced Colorado with the only other concert besides their Passion 2010 appearance in Atlanta on this tour-leg in the US.  Besides the fact that I enjoy their music, great drumming, and prominent use of electric guitars, it was a chance for me to experience what is probably the extreme edge of the “rock show worship” spectrum, because that’s what they bring—huge … Read More

Happy new year, everyone! It’s time for another Sunday Setlist Blog Carnival post! This week felt joyful and free-spirited; here is the rundown.  All People That on Earth Do Dwell – William Kethe 1561 / Zac Hicks, 2009This old hymn is set to some appropriate, contemporary music, complete with congregational clapping. Stylistically, it’s loyal to the original intent of the hymn and its lyrics which is a call for all God’s people to come before Him with gladness and joy. … Read More

A while back I offered a post, giving reasons why the use of so-called “7-11 songs” is valid.  The phrase “7-11 songs” is usually used as a pejorative to encapsulate what many traditionalists criticize as the shallow, mundane, and overly repetitious singing of a song.  “Seven words, sung eleven times,” so they say.  My previous post stuck to mostly biblical argumentation, hoping to keep the door open to the concept of singing minimal words multiple times.  We certainly need to … Read More

About a year and a half ago, I threw our congregation a shocking worship curve ball.  We kicked off the fall of 2008 with a service of lament and mourning.  We devoted the entire liturgy to songs, Scripture readings, and preaching based on lamentation.  We read lament psalms corporately.  We sang another lament psalm in a chant-and-response format.  Those who were willing put ashes on their heads and came forward to kneel at our chancel to pray and lament…lament for … Read More

Every few months we hold a “cerebral” worship service where we sing hymns and praise songs that are very theologically dense. Here is what happened in this week’s service. If you haven’t heard already, we’re part of a network of worship leaders sharing our worship experiences each Sunday through Fred McKinnon’s blog carnival. Summary 1. Thou Lovely Source of True Delight  –  Anne Steele,  1760 / Kevin Twit, 1998A slow and contemplative song reminiscent of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, … Read More

Here’s what happened in today’s worship service.  We’re part of a network of worship leaders sharing our worship experiences each Sunday through Fred McKinnon’s blog carnival. SummaryI loved worship today!  It was full of meaningful symbols, great songs, and a Christ-centered atmosphere.  Today, regrettably, some of our slides for congregational singing were severely off.  This is so disappointing, because I know that the enemy uses it to rob God of the glory He deserves.  Nonetheless, it was good to be … Read More

I’ve been cooking this up for quite a while.  Many know that my particular church’s context involves two services on Sunday, unique in musical style yet similar in liturgy.  Many also know my passion for traditional worship as well as modern worship.  I’m always looking for ways to bridge them, and I’m especially looking for ways to tastefully import elements of traditional worship into the modern worship grid.  One of the ways is, of course, my setting of old hymns … Read More