We are what we sing -- yet again

It is a valid observation that I am a bit hard on that category of hymnody that many people call “Praise Music.”  That is not a great descriptive title, because it describes – intentionally – contemporary Christian music with simple melodies and simpler lyrics.  The music tends to be highly repetitive and to concentrate on a single, simple idea.

I would contend that “A Mighty Fortress is our God” and “Holy, Holy, Holy” are praise music.  That contention muddles rather than clarifies the discussion, however.

I am a child of my time.  “My time” admittedly pre-dates contemporary Christian music. The contemporary music of “my time” was “And They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love” and “He’s Everything to Me.”  (I will still put the merits of these pieces up against a lot of what I hear today, but that is an observation for another time.)  Still, there are some truths that guide evaluation of our religious music.  Here are some things that come to mind.

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself as worthy of consideration if it contains the phrase “we just…”  The writer believes it to be a confession of humility and simplicity.  But, the term means “merely,” “only,” “barely,” “quite” and even “almost.”  So, it is “We barely praise you…” or “we almost adore you?”  Even worse, writers employ the phrase as if it were a comma, or when they need another syllable or two in order to fill out a not-so-poetic line.

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself if it appropriates a stanza of “Amazing Grace” as part of its content.  I reluctantly exclude a handful of well-done medleys.  But, write a song or cover a classic.  Don’t rely on the power of a marvelous free-standing lyric because a contemporary composer can’t find the words to carry the freight.

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself if it actually makes no grammatical sense.  The stringing together of pious phrases that contain either nouns or verbs, but not both, is a violence to both the language and to the faith.

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself if it cherry-picks a small portion of scripture out of context and uses it to try to make a case for an issue/topic that doesn’t exist in the larger biblical reading at all. 

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself if it appropriates Hebrew or Greek words (especially names/titles for God) that are unfamiliar and not self-explanatory.  Note to the lyricist: OK, you found a Bible commentary and learned a new word.  Interpret its use or file it away. 

A piece of music immediately disqualifies itself if it employs a six-word or less phrase and repeats it four times (or more) without any other intervening lyric.  Singing “God is great; great is God,” repeatedly ceases to be praise.  It becomes a monotony that dulls the senses and assaults the soul.  A burden (“There is a Balm in Gilead”) or a refrain (“Blessed Assurance”) is one thing; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, we just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah has no meaning, no power and no praise.

We need music in our worship.  We need music in our souls.

Real music.