If you attend college here at Biola, then you listen to worship. If you attend a church outside of school, you hear it frequently. Worship music is an ever-present component of Christian life. No matter who’s singing, your ear is sure to catch hold of music and lyrics by mega worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, Matt Redmond and Peter Furler.
Generally, contemporary worship is a genre of music characterized by overt references to God, similar sounding melodies and a lack of lyrical variety. Critics of this type of genre usually cite the lack of musical talent in any given worship band. “Anyone with a guitar who can play a C, G and an E chord can sing worship,” said a sophomore who preferred to remain anonymous.
Yet avid Christians often rebut the “lack of talent” critique by referencing the Psalms and remarking that Bible says to make a joyful noise to the Lord. After all, they respond, the focus is on God, not on the performing artist.
However, this idea of “focusing on God” deserves a deeper look. Let us consider, for a moment, the creation of the universe: God, the most perfect and holy being, created man in his image and likeness, giving us creativity, skill and rationale – characteristics which separate us from animals and other creation. Then, in order that we might worship this perfect God, we sing him praises, some of us even choosing to take up instruments and perform songs of worship to the creator.
A song is comprised of two parts. The form (the musical notes and skill) and content (the content of the lyrics). Christians agree universally that bad content is offensive to the Lord, after all, singing a song full of vulgarity would not be considered worshipping him. Christians have addressed the content aspect and all Christian songs contain appropriate content. But what about the skill portion of worship music? As Christians, we are called to excellence in all areas of our life. Yet contemporary worship often stops with excellent content and forgets to include high caliber form. If bad content is offensive to the Lord, then bad form is also offensive to him.
Does this suppose that God might be offended by both a Justin Timberlake song (bad content, good form) and a Chris Tomlin song (bad form, good content)? Possibly. Yet when the focus is merely on the heart and not ever on the skill, it shifts the focus away from excellence by forgetting to incorporate both areas of a song.
Whenever someone quotes “make a joyful noise,” they capitalize on the fact that noise, in their experience, is any sound made. Rarely, if ever, do they mention the “joyful” aspect of the verse. No matter what the intent, a sloppy or mediocre worship song is not joyful in its form; it is merely noise with good lyrics slapped on top.
Great artists have achieved levels of excellence with all of the popular instruments used today: drums, guitars, piano, etc. This highlights the fact that, with a lot of hard work and dedication, one can become excellent at these instruments, but it takes practice and hard work, something that worship bands don’t oftentimes give. Therefore, in order to make God the focus of our worship, we must incorporate not only good content but good form, for with excellence in both areas, we please God by giving him our best – and that means playing instruments excellently.
