For thosewho know me you will probably find it hard to believe that at one time in my
ministry I was the president of a local chapter of the Hymn Society of America.
In the
worship tradition in which I was raised a limited number of songs were used. In that tradition we did not sing Praise to the Lord the Almighty or A
Mighty Fortress, or I Heard the Voice of
Jesus Say. Those songs are filled with great theology and poetry. These are
songs that have survived, and I believe will continue to survive, in churches
for generations. On the other hand,
there are other songs from that era and from other past generations that have
not survived.
Today more
worship songs are being written than ever before and these songs, because of
technology, are getting to the local congregations faster than ever before.
There are some that will come and go and then there are others that will be
around for a long time.
What makes
songs stick? It is all about the text. What is the song saying? How is it being
said? Is it theologically correct?
When we
choose worship songs, we first read the text.
There could be a moving melody and great arrangement, however, if the
text is not worth singing then none of that matters.
In the end,
song text must line up with God’s Word, which is the ultimate guideline for
anything we sing in church. It is God’s Word that should be the guide for any
element of the service.