Worship has always borrowed to sanctify

Christian worship has always been borrowing from the culture around us and flipping it on its head. Why would we stop now? A further expansion of the discussion about contemporary worship.

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash

Over three centuries ago, a German-Lutheran pastor, poet, and hymnist by the name of Paul Gerhardt wrote the familiar passion hymn, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” First of all, who knew what this Lutheran pastor wrote would become in such common use by denominations not of his tradition? Even Michael W. Smith, an influential figure in the development of modern worship music, performed the hymn in 2019 for his album, which was entitled “The Hymns.” The hymn, since it was written, has appeared in over 700 hymnals, including those of almost every denomination imaginable, from hymnals in Gerhardt’s own tradition to Methodist hymnals to Anglican hymnals, most commonly set to the tune that Gerhardt himself paired with it. The tune, by the name of “Herzlich tut mich verlangen,” was adapted from the melody of a secular German love song, “Mein Gmüth ist mir verwirret,” written by Hans Leo Hassler about being in love with a maid.

Okay, James… where are you going with this? What does this have to do with quite literally anything? Well, I’m glad you asked, because the astounding thing is this - Gerhardt, only doing what others had done and been doing for a long time before him, took something from secular roots, and flipped it on its head, transforming it for use to glorify God in contemplation of His suffering on the cross. “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” while being familiar to me as a Lutheran, is not an isolated incident. In fact, the very music style and instruments used in worship were not exclusive to the church. Rather, the organ was originally used quite casually in culture, prior to its adoption by the church. The organ, originally used during performances in Roman amphitheaters and for other entertainment purposes, was something that Christians took from culture and sanctified for use in the worship of their Creator.

My point in all of this is that worship is about bringing what we have in this world and laying it down at God’s feet. It should not surprise us that Christians of all time have been borrowing elements of music, imagery, and practices, that are more commonly found in secular settings, for the use of worshipping the God and Lord of all. No instrument that has ever been used for the purpose of worship has ever been exclusive to the church, but their association with the secular environment does not make them unworthy for worship, or else God would mark even us as unworthy to join in worship of Him. Rather, the church has, out of habit, sanctified these things, which once were used for worldly purposes, and has laid them down at His feet in a gesture of asking God to take these broken things and make them new and repurposed for use in His Church.

Worship is an interesting word that comes from the English words “worth” + “ship,” making its root meaning “the acknowledgement of worth.” When we worship God, we are acknowledging his worth with adoration. While worship is a two-way street, where we also receive the gifts of His Word and Sacraments with joy and thanksgiving, our primary focus on our part is our response back to God and giving back to Him. This isn’t us trying to earn God’s favor, but it’s the fruit that we bear because of the salvation that God has decided to give us. In this way, even our service toward our neighbor, which has been ignited by the new heart God has given us, can be considered an act of worship. However, when we are speaking about the environment of the church, we are particularly concerned with our response to God through prayer and praise.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to make sacrifices of both grain (the fruit of the harvest) and animals (whose blood pointed to the Messiah). They were also commanded to tithe - that is, they were required by the ceremonial law to give a tenth of all that they had for use in God’s House (first the tabernacle, then the temple). In this way, the best that the Israelites had and owned was dedicated and given back to God. While we aren’t required to worship in the same way that the Old Testament believers did, our worship still models this act of giving back, or thanksgiving. When we use music for edification in worship, we are speaking to each other about the great things that God has done for us, and in this way, we are giving back to Him by serving each other. When we gather for worship in itself, to hear the Word and receive the Body and Blood of our Savior, we are giving back by revering the promise.

Yet, when we look at our worship today, the story seems to have approached a standstill. There is a desire for movement, but unnecessary stalling has prevented Christians with the will to contribute to the repository of praise from doing so. I can’t be the only one who, on one hand, looks lovingly at the ancient and aging hymns, but yet on the other, wonders where all of the new hymns are. While the hymnal in use in my denomination was published in the late 20th century, even hymns from its own century and the one prior are few and far between. I’m all for the continued use of these wonderful hymns and love many of them, but I’m particularly confused about where the equally truthful and worthy hymns of more recent years are.

Many arguments have been made for the exclusion of newer worship music, but every one of them falls flat. Amidst the friction against contemporary worship, the argument has been made for a mere, faulty, yet pithy phrase turned liturgical law referred to in Latin as “lex orandi, lex credendi” - that is, the way of prayer (worship) influences the way we believe. Yet, if we are being historically accurate, it is clear to see that this is quite the opposite. What we believe influences how we worship, and not the other way around.

For example, the belief systems at work in Calvinism are what led to the Genevans’ complete and utter rejection of anything musical other than the Psalms. Calvin’s rejection of any of the bells and whistles of worship used by other churches didn’t make him a popular fellow long-term, but this rejection did not lead to the inception of his notorious beliefs. Rather, his notorious beliefs are what led him to his irrational objection to anything that resembled the hymnody employed by other groups. Even then, his fold went home to enjoy the very music he objected to. In the very same way, the belief that the music commonly employed in worship today is inherently problematic is what has led to its absence in our worship. Even today, congregants like me will still privately listen to the music that their pastor said wasn’t useful for worship because, at very least, it’s better than the other music on the market, and even they can’t deny that.

Another argument is merely nostalgia. Granted, the church and its influence on society and on culture have been significant throughout time, and music can bring us back to when the church was more important in culture. Yet, this appearance has grayed in a culture that appears to be increasingly secular. The church has, by these means, become an increasingly pessimistic organization that continues to reel in confusion as members continue to leave in droves. In this shift of the church’s point of view, she is too prone to look back longingly at the past, rather than looking forward to the hope of the resurrection that she is supposed to be steering toward. In her weeping over the fact that she is no longer the center of culture and society, she vainly craves the state of being great over what made her great in the first place—the message of the Gospel and the hope of the salvation won by Christ and sealed by his resurrection. Why would we ever let such a cloudy feeling stifle us from continuing to write lyrics that still talk about the unchanging hope found in Christ?

Yet another suggestion is the faulty notion that contemporary worship is anti-liturgical. This couldn’t be more laughable since the very use of any sort of music is at its very basis liturgical. The use of newer hymns and music doesn’t mean we’ve just totally nuked the liturgy entirely; in fact, at most we’ve just made renditions of the same liturgical songs with modern instruments. How terrible could that be? This excuse is perhaps the most unthoughtful of them all, simply because it couldn’t be more untrue.

In Lutheran circles, we’ve also seemingly initiated a ban on all feelings in worship. The unfortunate thing is that humans are emotional creatures who are touched by any sort of music, even the old hymns that we use. Our hope isn’t just a feeling, and most of the denominations we point fingers at and accuse of failing in this regard wouldn’t even say they think they’re saved just because of a feeling. Yet, we are still going to experience feelings no matter what we do - and we shouldn’t feel sinful in feeling happiness, joy, or any other emotion in our worship. It’s okay for us to experience emotions in worship, as we should, and we shouldn’t be made to feel wrong about this, especially since they are mostly not within our control anyway.

Finally, there is the complaint about “substance.” Yet even when we look at the hymns already in our hymnary, some of them could be argued to be lacking this sort of “substance.” The matter of fact is that the music we use in worship doesn’t all have to be heavy. Some of them can be simple messages like “Jesus loves me” and still be just as good as the 6+ stanza hymns that are heavy. One of my favorite Christian artists, received a comment from a poster on social media that read, “I miss the Christian artists who had real substance to their music and not just feel good lyrics” to which Forrest Frank responded, “Don’t confuse joy with lack of substance” in a post that he included with one of his most hymn-like songs called IN THE ROOM. This is a really good point, however. God doesn’t demand that our praise be heavy with theology - rather, He’s more glad to hear any of our prayers and praises, no matter how substantial or simple.

Previously, I’ve written extensively about the theological validity of contemporary forms of worship. In my last piece, I did add the disclaimer about theology and how we should take care in this regard, but we wouldn’t really have this problem if we encouraged our own to “sing unto the Lord a new song.” However, I’m realizing more and more about the importance of “redeeming the times, because the days are evil.” I recently wrote down in my notes, as I was thinking about this a few days ago, “If worship is about giving God our best, why don't we give God our best music as praise for what He has done?”

Yet, truly, if we have music that is continuing to be written for the glory of God and sanctifying the music styles used in our secular culture at the same time, why aren’t we using it? Why aren’t we encouraging my generation to listen to this music instead of the mainstream music that has to be profane to be relevant?

This is the tragedy: that my generation, whose knowledge of Christ as their Savior is diminishing, is leaving the church for satisfaction in worldly things because they were encouraged that freedom can be found in rebellion, partially because of the values instilled in the messages of the sin-ridden music that is so prominent. Yet, imagine how different this would be if we were encouraged to make use of the Christian music that has sanctified the styles of the secular music of our day. I personally can’t imagine how different our culture would look if the pop stars that became the role models for my generation were instead average people who wrote music for God.

Even as one who has consumed almost exclusively contemporary Christian music, I’m certainly not perfect. However, instead of listening to profane diss tracks as a means of release, I’m listening to none other than new hymns that praise God and bring my focus back to the message of the Gospel.

So I’ll leave you with this quote from Jordan Frye, the lead singer-songwriter of the Christian group, Urban Rescue:

"We have this idea in our heads and in the Church that worship music has to sound like worship music… I believe the love of God can be discovered through multiple styles and sounds, ranging from pop to classical, from rap to rock. Our music just overflows from who we are living in the place and time that we live."

If worship music like this is directly at our disposal, why wait to praise Him?