Since this is a website dedicated to the discussion of worship practices, I thought a discussion on the theology of congregational song would be appropriate. This is a two-part blog post based on a series of lectures I gave on the History of Church Music. Each post will contain four important premises that all worship leaders should consider when selecting songs for corporate worship.
An important rule of worship is the old Latin phrase, “lex orandi, lex credendi,” which means the law of what is prayed is the law of what is believed. This has strong implications for worship practices, where the focus should always lie in developing disciple-makers in gathered worship, not in encouraging individualism in expression. So what are the first four premises for a biblical theology of congregational song?
1. The CORPORATE is superior to the INDIVIDUALISTIC
When we gather as believers on Sunday mornings, it is to be a sacred, set-apart time that is different from our daily devotional worship. When a worship leader selects songs that emphasize a corporate vernacular, then unity among believers is cultivated. However, if lyrics focus on an individual’s response to God, then individuality is emphasized over the corporate. Worship leaders have a responsibility to provide lyrics that provide a corporate response for the entire body of believers to sing back to God, revealing a unity in belief. Additionally, responsive readings are a good tool to use in cultivating a corporate response.
2. Worship must primarily stress the OBJECTIVE
It is a little disconcerting that this point even needs to be made. But in our American culture today, many worship services emphasize the subjective, or personal experience, over objective worship. When examining both Old Testament and New Testament worship practices, the songs always emphasized an objective voice in worship. In Deuteronomy 32, we see Moses sing,
3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.
And in Philippians 2, we see a song sung by the New Testament church, describing the person and work of Christ:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
These two biblical examples need to drive our selections for corporate worship today, where the gathering of believers is seen as formational rather than simply experiential.
3. Worship is the ACTION of the people
Since worship is the action of the people, it is therefore liturgical. I hope this word does not make you stop reading this post, because every church as a liturgy. Some churches have higher liturgies than others, but every church has a liturgy. Leaders should, therefore, always look for ways to include more of the congregation in significant acts of worship throughout their liturgies. By viewing worship as formational, leaders then desire to place Scripture, creeds, confessions, etc. in the mouths of their congregation, which directly ascribe holiness unto the Lord. The anthesis to this is a purely experiential worship service, where congregants sing about who God is to them, or how He makes them feel. This type of service is not formational, but rather anthropocentric, where the individual is placed as central importance instead of God.
4. FORM and CONTENT are both important
Theologian J.B. Torrance poses the questions, “Do our worship forms help people apprehend the worship and ministry of Christ as he draws us by the Spirit into a life of shared communion, or do they hinder it? Do they make the real presence of Christ transparent in worship, or do they obscure it?”1 If we view worship as formational, then both forms and content matter. Most Christians agree that the content of our worship is important to the deepening of our faith, but not all Christians agree that the forms of worship are formational. Jonathan Landry Cruse asks, “If we decide to have our worship services look however we think they should look, you know what will happen? They’ll resemble the world and it will become idolatry.”2
So, are our services reflecting culture more than they are reflecting biblical examples? These four premises have emphasized the corporate unity and objective goals needed in every Christian worship service. Next week, we will explore four more premises that every worship leader should consider when planning weekly worship services.
- James B. Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1996), 15.
- Jonathan Landry Cruse, What Happens When We Worship (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books), 32.
