Contemporary versus traditional music in worship: how to avoid the landmines
The whole discussion of contemporary versus traditional styles of worship wears on me a bit, but not as much as it used to. Let me tell you why.
Over time, the contemporary approach in music that I once brought to the table has become the traditional. (There. I said it. It wasn’t even that painful.) Not in every church, to be sure. But I have to admit I’m on the elderly side of this discussion more often than not these days. Yet I’m quite encouraged by some of the new worship songs I hear from my now-adult children. There are still plenty of examples of thoughtful lyrics and God-focus in this new generation of worship music. I think many of the new songs express far greater honesty than my generation dared to. I also notice a greater interest in, and respect for, a variety of ways to approach and express the Christian faith. In the right setting, it seems to be as natural for my children and their peers to embrace more liturgical and reflective expressions like Taize’. In other words, they are exploring how to best do worship with at least as much vigor as we did.
So with that preface, here are a few “broad brushstroke” observations on contemporary versus traditional styles of music in worship.
First, every church congregation needs to be honest about what resources they have for music and worship. Worship styles need to reflect the makeup of the people gathered for worship. Don’t worry about bringing in a 20-year-old electric guitarist with the pedal board full of effects if the average age of your congregation is 75 or older. On the other hand, if your church meets in a storefront and your worship leaders are three former members of a club band with enough leftover PA equipment to cover a thousand people, maybe you shouldn’t worry about fundraising for a pipe organ. Just like every other initiative you undertake for the Kingdom, let God help you optimize the resources you have – human, musical, and otherwise – for worship.
Second, whatever form of worship you choose to employ, consider the worship dynamics that may affect the aging members of your congregation. In many churches, and perhaps especially in smaller congregations, seniors make up a substantial portion of those in attendance. I am one of them, and can speak authoritatively about the shape our knees are in. A lot of contemporary worship services are structured for an extended set of praise music at the beginning, sometimes extending into a 35 to 40 minute time frame. Seniors need to be given the permission to stand up or sit down as their bodies allow. On the flipside, many traditional worship services have people popping up and down throughout the service except during the sermon. I’ve been in some settings where adequate time was allowed for such movement, and in others where the movement involved prohibited senior members from keeping up with the content of the service. I would suggest it is more important for someone in either setting to have their heart engaged in worship rather than their knees engaged at the proper angle of extension for “approved worship posture,” whatever that might be. The encouragement here is for churches to be flexible with members of our congregations who may not be as flexible as they used to be. Please.
The third issue, randomly selected from a list that could go on forever, concerns repetition. Repetition is a subject worth discussing in both contemporary and traditional styles of worship. Let’s be clear about this. To one degree or another, worship music is by nature repetitious. In the early church, repetition taught core confessions of faith through the earliest church hymns. The question today is whether repetition does anything worthwhile to advance the worship of God.
I think that, used properly, repetition can indeed be a valuable tool in music and worship. It can help us “fill our minds with things from above.” It can present exactly the reminder we need to get us through the next few days.
On the other hand, I understand that repetition can drive anyone nuts on the right day.
The common salvos lobbed across the deck from traditionalists say that praise choruses tend to be way too repetitious. The response from the contemporary contingent is often, “Yeah, but have you seen how many verses that hymn has? And what’s up with that refrain anyway?”
Veteran pastor John Piippo outlines the discussion this way: “Over the years I occasionally hear some Westernized linear-thinking Christian mock the repetitive worship found in a Pentecostal church like mine. But the ancient Hebrews were tribal, and tribal worship is repetitive. This morning I read N.T. Wright’s Everyone commentary on 1 John 2:3-5. I’m preaching on these verses this coming Sunday. I was so pleased to read the following.
“’[S]ometimes, in some traditions at least, the things we sing in church are deliberately repetitive. We allow in something which is very deep and important to make more of an impact on us than if we just said or sung it once and passed on. Quite different traditions find this helpful: the Taizé movement in France, for instance, uses some haunting brief songs or chants; but you find the same thing in many branches of the modern charismatic movement, where repetition is an essential part of worship. True, some people find these tedious, and want to get back to old-fashioned hymns as quickly as possible. This may be partly a matter of personality. But it may also be that such people are unwilling to allow the truth of which the poem speaks to get quite so close to them. Repetition can touch, deep down inside us, parts that other, ‘safer’ kinds of hymn cannot reach, or do not very often.’
– N.T. Wright, The Early Christian Letters for Everyone, p. 139
“Repetitive worship is not ‘mindless’ but mind-shaping.” (http://www.johnpiippo.com/2014/08/n-t-wright-on-repetition-in-worship.html?spref=fb).
And, I would add, repetition used well works in almost any style of musical expression. Christian rock pioneer and evangelist Larry Norman reminded us frequently, “Rock ‘n roll means repetition. So do hymns.”
Whatever your worship style, one key to connecting with God is to worship with a heart ready to receive and with a voice ready to offer praise. A lot of other details will shrink in comparison – and should.
Grace and peace!
–Steve Wamberg