songwriting: need new church music?
i’ve been listening to some amazing teachings on worship leading lately, and a few of the sessions deal with songwriting.
as a writer, these discussions REALLY caught my attention. i wouldn’t consider myself a congregational music writer, but i have almost-possibly-but-not-totally “toyed with” the idea of writing for congregational use. besides, i’m constantly aware of the need, as my experience as a worship leader leaves me looking for contemporary material with timeless messages (my worship blog has much more on that soapbox).
anyway, here’s where y’all come in: looking at the growing pool of contemporary praise and worship songs (this means excluding the vast sea of hymns that we might still use), what topics do you think the Church could use? what topics are missing from that pool of contemporary praise and worship songs?
what do we need current Christian songwriters to write about? what truths/experiences/emotions/etc. are we leaving out?
Not to be a downer, but God’s wrath/justice rarely gets sung about. Especially Jesus bearing it. First time I heard DCB’s “God of Wrath,” I was floored.
Transparency and humility!
Allen: God’s wrath/justice isn’t a “downer” topic to me… its the flipside of God’s grace. if we didn’t know His wrath, we wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate Christ’s atonement!
Heather: songs about transparency/humility? like David’s psalms of how messed up he was & how much he needed God?
I thought the same as Allen…the fear of God. I would imagine in writing a song about it though would be fascinating because it would require one to really think in depth of what it means to fear God.
The other topic I thought of was urgency. Something I think is missing today is the Christian’s sense of urgency. The Early Church felt this deep sense of urgency, believing that Christ would return any day. So they were sharing the Gospel message and were making it their life. I feel like that urgency has been lost and we just think of the Gospel as an afterthought in our daily lives.
One more topic, study. Its a strange thing to write about but I think there is a great need to communicate the GREAT importance of studying God’s Word and how it is ONLY in His Word that we are revealed truth and come closer to Him.
Three random thoughts that I have no idea how to put into music…of course I only write poems so if I come up with a poem anyone wanna put it to music?! hehehe
Oooo…God of Wrath is such a great song!
I would like to hear more songs about praising in the middle of uncertainty, depression, indecision, fear, anger, etc. I’ve written a couple of those for myself, but I’d love to hear something come from and artist with more linguistic/musical talent than myself.
I also wish I could find more songs on the spiritual disciplines. We’re studying those at our church now, and I’ve found it hard to find songs that are not just pretty generic when it comes to the disciplined part of the walk.
these are good thoughts and i agree. i think songs about honoring the Lord. many of our songs are celebrating our close friendship with Him it sometimes seems that we lose the other side of His greatness: He is God of the Universe, worthy of praise and we are to respect Him in the fear of the Lord.
also, songs about the Great Commission…it is our GREAT COMMISSION and we seem to often forget about that.
At Sojourn we’ve been writing a lot of songs of lament and repentance — these are two topics that seem to get short thrift these days, although the psalms are filled with them.
We need songs that honestly portray doubt and struggle as well.
Last, I would say that we need more great songs about the resurrection, never losing sight of the fact that “if Christ is not raised from the dead, our preaching is in vain … we are of all men most miserable.”
Thanks for asking this question, Mandy.
Mandy- yep, David is totally my hero when it comes to humility and transparency. I agree with Jeff up there, songs about worship in the midst of pain, uncertainty, depression etc…these tend to get lost nowadays with our “make me feel better” worship sets! I also think that the the holiness of God..the wrath part is hugely looked over in our “grace grace” culture! I love how you put it…the flipside of His grace! So true.
Love you!!
Hmmm…When I read the Psalm’s I tend to think of David as the original bluesman.
Anyway, this is weird, I tend to like the older church music. I dont care that much for contemporary church music even though I have strong charismatic leanings . I find it too long and repetitive and slightly corny. Ok, maybe I’m weird and slightly backslidden , but it just doesnt grab me that much.
Years ago I got hold of a band called Delerium, which mixes contemporary beats and tunes and lyrics with Gregorian chants and older church music and found it a breath of fresh air to my soul.
I find it much more invigorating and spiritual than contemporary praise music.
Some may look down on it as New Agey, or whatever……………..but it is definitely music that stirs my soul and makes me dream and yearn for something divine.
You can check them out by doing a YouTube search on “Delerium”
“Silence” by Sarah Mclachlan is a wonderful song, and “Angelicus” by Isabel Barakdarian, who sings in the 5th century Armenian church style by using only the words “Alleluia” and “Amen” in the vocals is absolutely wonderful to hear.
And I’d like to add that just by the sheer popularity of this band “Delerium” enjoys in the secular world makes me realize that the world loves the spiritual, the divine, the transcendent, and the ethereal vocals, lyrics and melodies that is sadly missing in secular society and music and also in churches.
I’m kinda with Danielle. I think too many choruses and praise songs today are “I” and “me” focused. I would love to hear more about Him! His attributes.