The Harp and the Bowl

I'm a week away from attending the Lift Worship Leader Conference being hosted by Passion City Church in Atlanta.  That's the church plant by the Passion folk: Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and the like.

I'm stoked!  And for good reason. 

Several years back I was part of a small songwriting conference put on at Northpoint Church (Louie's former church) that included Tomlin and Redman and others.  It was fabulous and inspiring.  Also, it was at this conference that Matt Redman's Facedown album was recorded.  It was an honor to be part of that amazing project - in my opinion, hands down Matt's best yet. 

I say yet, because at Lift, Matt will be recording another live album! I am hoping it will surpass the high water mark of Facedown.  They just sent the registrants a few of Matt's newest songs to listen to so we can get familiar with them ahead of the conference, and though I'm morally obliged not to share them with you, I'll just say that it's going to be close!

It's been quite a few years since I attended a WL conference, and I'm looking forward to whole experience.  There is nothing quite like worshiping with a whole bunch of worship leaders!  Plus I have the honor of attending with my dear sweet beautiful wife. 

I am expecting great things, so be sure to check back here for my post-event report. 

As the concluding way in which we'll examine our worship diet let's consider one final important topic.  It's what I call the "I" vs. "We" song, that is, whether the song is personal (I) or corporate (we) in its perspective. 

This is another area in which I think perhaps the pendulum has swung a bit too far toward the "I" song, which I think dilutes the sense of corporate gathering in worship.  When we gather for church on Sunday mornings (or whenever) we are more than just a bunch of individuals having a personal quiet time with the Lord.  We come together to celebrate together the greatness of our God.  Therefore it is important that we have at least some songs that are purposefully corporate, using words like "we," "us," and "our" instead of "me," "I," and "my." 

Again, as with song direction, the song category has an influence on my preference for personal or corporate perspective.   Songs of invitation and celebration lend themselves best to the corporate perspective.  Songs of majesty can work either way, and songs of intimacy more naturally tend toward the personal perspective. 

Do you agree that we've gone a little too "I" in our worship of late?  Do you agree that it is important to purposefully include corporate songs in our worship diet?

The third way in which we should consider our worhip diet is with respect to the direction (voice or person) of the songs.  This is sometime differentiated as horizontal vs. vertical songs.  That is, does the song talk about God (horizontal) or is it direct to God (vertical), as in having a conversation with God. 
This may seem a minor point to some, and so if this is just a pet peave of mine, feel free to disregard it.  But for me, there is a different dynamic to a song that speaks about God than a song that is directed to him.  For me this issue is inter-related with the general song category (part 2 of this series). 

1. Songs of Invitation (gathering songs) that are about God have a different effect than invitation songs sung to him.  A horizontal gathering song is helpful as a call to worship.  However, a song that invites God/Jesus/Holy Spirit into our gathering are naturally be sung directly to God - offered up as a kind of prayer.
2. For songs of Celebration I think either direction works, depending on where the song is in the worship set. It's just my preference, but celebration songs early in the set that are horizontal are effective in setting an atmosphere of corporate praise, especially if they are "we" songs instead of "I" - which we'll look at in the next and final post on this series.  Later in the set, once the focus has turned more vertical, it is possible to have songs of celebration directed to God instead of about him.
3. Majesty songs, as with invitation songs, result in two different effects depending on the direction.  Majesty songs sung about God create a sense of "otherness" within us as we sing.  Majesty songs sung to God give us a sense of connectedness to that "otherness," drawing us into his awesome presence, causing us to bow our hearts in reverence.
4. Almost always songs of Intimacy are vertical because that is the very nature of intimacy.  It should be a conversation and an experience not just a theological statement.

When I lead worship I pay attention to song direction when creating the set list.  I tend to move from the horizontal "about" songs early in the set and move more toward vertical "to" songs near the end of the set, though it's certainly not a hard and fast rule.  That's because worship is really about engagement, and if we never actually talk to God during worship, we end up with the sense that we've not really met with him.

As a final comment let me say that songs which change voice randomly inside the song, sometimes even from sentence to sentence, annoy me and can cause my heart to shift restlessly during worship. 

So what do you think?  Does it matter to you when you're worshiping whether a song is about or to God?  Do you even notice?

The second way I like to look at the worship diet is in regard to song focus.  Does the song principally talk about God and his nature and works, about me and my response to him (or about the world around us)?

To some extent I think the pendulum of our modern worship diet has swung a little too far toward focusing on us. This is perhaps in over-response to the nature of most pre-modern worship and hymns that were almost exclusively focused on God, with little mention of our response.  Don't get me wrong, some of the most powerful encounters I've had with the Lord have been when I was able to genuinely pour my heart out to God in response to the revelation of who he is. Our response in worship is critical to making connection with the Lord.

But as with song category, what's needed is balance.  If the songs in our worship diet are too much about me and do not adequately extol the virtues and wonders of our God, then worship becomes anemic and too dependent upon my emotional response.  There is just too little revelations and truth there to respond to. Alternatively, if we sing mostly about God without an adequate amount of response on our part (surrender, love, adoration, bowing humbly, etc.) then worship can devolve rather quickly into nothing more than singing songs, which isn't worship at all. 

As a songwriter I try to write songs that cover both focuses, sometimes even in the same song.  I once even set out to purposefully write an entire song that did not have a single use of the word I or me.  It is much harder than you'd imagine!

What do you think?  Has modern worship gone too far such that we now focus too much on us?

I’ve seen a few different models for the categorization of worship songs, from the simple “praise or worship” model, to elaborate topic-based systems, to the “outer courts, inner courts, holy of holies” model popularized by John Wimber.

I have settled on a basic four-category system that seems to be a reasonable compromise between simplicity and usefulness:

• Invocation (or Invitation) – these are songs that might also be referred to as “call to worship” songs or “songs of ascent.” These songs invite people to worship and/or invoke the presence of the Lord among His people. Examples: “Come Now is the Time,” “Holy Moment,” “Praise Awaits You,” and “Arise.”
• Celebration/Proclamation – these songs celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of God. They include often-jubilant songs of thanksgiving and high praise. Examples: “Forever,” “Happy Day,” and “The Lord Reigns.”
• Majesty – these songs extol the nature and virtues of our mighty and wondrous God, his power, his holiness, his vastness, and his altogether otherness. These songs are all about him. Examples: “King of Glory,” “Agnus Dei,” and “Holy is Our King,”
• Intimacy – these are songs of personal devotion and surrender in response to the deep and abiding love of God. They typically, though not necessarily, tend to be slower and more meditative in nature. Examples: “You Won’t Relent,” “How Deep the Father’s Love,” and “Amazing Love.”

Of course, any given song may touch on more than one of these aspects, and some songs may not fit neatly into one of these, but overall I think these categories are sufficient for the purposes of ensuring a balanced worship diet.

Now, consider what happens when our worship diet leans too heavily on one category to the neglect of the others:

• Invocation – too much of this kind of song is like continually issuing an invitation to meet someone but never actually meeting up.
• Proclamation – too much of this kind of song causes the worship to eventually feel over-hyped and plastic.
• Majesty – too much of this kind of song makes God seem distant, untouchable, even aloof.
• Intimacy – too much of this kind of song reduces God to being our “buddy” and can cause the worship to seem feeble.

I think it’s perfectly valid for there to be seasons in the life of a body where one category gets more emphasis than others. But overall, it’s important to have a well-rounded repertoire that includes a significant number of songs from all categories.

Do you agree with my categories? Do you have others that you think should be added? Is my balanced diet argument true? Chime in!

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.

Stop by and check in regularly to stay up with the series. To make it easier, consider following this blog, or subscribe via your favorite RSS reader. And please be sure to join the discussion with your comments.

Worship is the natural and appropriate response to a genuine encounter with the living God. Worship is also the responsibility of every believer, because of who God is and what he has done for us.


Worship is not something you do primarily with your voice, with an instrument, or with your body but rather with your heart. What you sing, how you play and the movements you do in worship should be an expression of the worship that is in your heart.

Worship is not about music or songs, although music can promote the engagement of our spirit with God’s Spirit. Man has a spirit that inherently responds to music, because we are made in the image of God, the designer of music.

Worship should never be confined to a certain timeframe or location; it’s something you should do with your whole life. Sunday morning corporate worship service should be the overflow of what happens in the rest of your week.