The Harp and the Bowl

Don't be fooled by the title. This post isn't about some fad diet where you worship instead of eat. The term worship diet refers to the totality of the songs you sing as part of your worship experience. I use the phrase to make a case for the importance of a having a balanced worship diet. This is the first of a multi-part series on that all-important topic.

I recoil a bit against the common habit of simplifying worship into two catch-all categories: praise and worship. Well-meaning individuals often use this kind of shorthand to describe songs as either high-energy and exuberant (praise) or slow and intimate (worship). The problem with this overly simplified categorization is that worship is much more complex than this.

Perhaps I overdo it a bit in counter-reaction to this, but I think it is actually healthy, once in a while, to step back and look at our worship from several different perspectives. At my church I actually do this once in a while as I review our “core” song list. If it’s true about food, the old saying “You are what you eat,” then the true is same in worship, “You are what you sing.” At least it’s true in the context of worship songs anyway.

Over the course of the next few posts I’ll be opening up this topic in some detail. I’ll make my case for why it’s important to understand what you sing on whole as a church or group (and in your personal worship time). I’ll be looking to assess the worship diet from the following viewpoints:

• General Category – I use my own four category model
• Focus – Does the song focus on God or on our response to him?
• Voice – Is the song about God or to God?
• Singular or Corporate – Is it a “we” song or an “I” song?

Obviously there is interaction among these different areas of distinction, but for the sake of clarity and brevity I will consider them one at a time.

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