I Reviewed All the Lyrics Our Church Has Sung This Year and Noticed a Troubling Pattern

Recently, I wrote about the music that most churches sing on Sundays and how it has changed over the years. And I don’t mean that music has changed in obvious stylistic ways. I mean in terms of the content of our songs, specifically that today we do not often sing about the return of Christ.

Matthew Westerholm, a professor of worship, did his doctoral research comparing extensive collections of worship songs from our era and previous eras. “Among many similarities,” he notes, “one difference was striking: Our churches no longer sing about Christ’s second coming as much as we used to.”

While reading D. A. Carson’s book about prayer, I noticed he made a similar point back in the early 90s (Praying with Paul, 27–29). He asks rhetorically how many congregations sing with fervor and with anticipation about Christ’s second coming? The implied answer is not many. Then, to prove his point, he quotes at length two old hymns explicitly about the second coming. Not only had I never sung the hymns that he highlights as well-known examples, but I had never even heard of them.

This got me thinking not so much about the broader church in America and beyond, but about our own church here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. How much do we sing about the return of Christ?

I asked our worship pastor for the list of all the songs we’ve sung together this year. The number stands at fifty-eight different songs. Some songs we sang frequently, such as “His Glory and Our Good” by CityAlight, which became somewhat of an anthem for us as we preached through 1 Corinthians last year. Several others we only sang once.

When I looked at the list, about two-thirds of the songs we sang were written in the last fifteen years. I thought fifteen years would serve well enough as an arbitrary time marker for what constitutes a “new” song. The rest of our songs were older. The modern classic “In Christ Alone” is more than twenty years old. Other songs, like “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy,” are almost two hundred years old.

When I think about the indictment made by Professor Westerholm that most churches do not sing about the return of Christ as much as they used to, I checked to see if our modern songs followed that trend. Upon reviewing all the lyrics, I found out he is right. Our church hardly sings about the return of Christ, at least explicitly.

If you broaden the criteria to include songs that generally speak about a Christian’s death and resurrection, as well as our bright future with God and his people, then we actually sing a number of those. Consider the song, “Abide,” which goes,

When I pass through death as I enter rest,
I depend on You, I depend on You
For eternal life to be raised with Christ,
I depend on You, I depend on You.
(written by Aaron Williams, Aaron Keyes, and Jake Fauber)

These lines clearly lift our eyes toward eternity. Also consider “Behold the Lamb.”

When the age of death is done
We’ll see Your face, bright as the sun
We’ll bow before the King of Kings
Oh God, forever we will sing
(written by Kristian Stanfill, Melodie Malone, and Phil Wickham)

The modern hymn “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa is filled with lyrics centered on eternity and celebrates the well-known first question of the Heidelberg Catechism. Sandra McCracken’s song “We Will Feast in the House of Zion” certainly looks toward our eternal feasting. Additionally, the songs “On That Day” and “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me,” both by CityAlight, emphasize the theme of eternity. We sang all of these multiple times.

Also worth mentioning is “The Lord Is My Salvation” by Keith & Kristyn Getty, which has clear lines about the hope of resurrection.

And when I reach my final day
He will not leave me in the grave
But I will rise, He will call me home
The Lord is my salvation
(written by Nathan Nockels, Jonas Myrin, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty)

However, when I examined the lyrics, I noticed that very few of the modern songs we sing on Sunday at our church have the explicitness about the return of Christ found in “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” by Edward Mote from the 1800s. “When he shall come with trumpet sound,” the hymn goes, “O may I then in him be found.” Or consider the lines, “Lord, haste the day” from the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.”

Indeed, out of the thirty-six modern songs we have sung this year, I found only three that include lines about the return of Christ. The hymn “Christus Victor (Amen)” by the Gettys, Bryan Fowler, and Matt Boswell contains some wonderful lines, such as,

O Most High, King of the nations
Robed in praise, crowned with splendor
On that day who will not tremble?
When You stand, Christ the Victor
Who was, and is, and is forever

The language of “on that day” is biblical shorthand for the return of Christ (see 1 Cor. 3:13; Heb. 10:25).

The song “O Praise the Name (Anástasis)” by Hillsong also has overt lyrics about the second coming. Anástasis, by the way, is the Greek word for resurrection.

He shall return in robes of white,
The blazing Son shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
(written by Benjamin Hastings, Dean Ussher, and Marty Sampson)

Our church has also enjoyed singing “Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery,” which speaks explicitly of the second advent.

What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when He comes
(written by Matt Boswell, Michael Bleecker, and Matt Papa)

If the Bible had little to say about the return of Christ, then it would make sense for churches to sing little about it. However, the Bible has much to say about the return of Christ; I would guess that we could find over one hundred references to it in the New Testament. Part of what it means for a Christian to grow in maturity must involve consuming a well-rounded theological diet, not only through personal Bible reading and preaching but also in our Sunday singing.

Let me come back to D. A. Carson again as he writes about a passage in 2 Thessalonians 1. “We are losing our anticipation of the Lord’s return, the anticipation that Paul shows is basic to his thought.” Then he adds, “Even though we do not disavow central truths, for many of us their power has been eviscerated. The prospect of the Lord’s return in glory, the anticipation of the wrap-up of the universe as we know it, the confidence that there will be a final and irrevocable division between the just and the unjust—these have become merely creedal points for us, instead of ultimate realities that even now are life-transforming” (Praying with Paul, 27).

I do not expect my blog post to have much effect on those singers and songwriters who will shape the next generation of the church because I don’t know many of them. However, I encourage anyone reading this who possesses these skills and aspirations to serve the Lord and the church by providing us with more songs and hymns that celebrate Christ’s return.

We cannot completely blame the worship leaders and pastors of our church for not singing much about the return of Christ. Our leaders thoughtfully select the best theological songs that can also be sung congregationally. Unfortunately, there simply are not that many new songs available that cover this territory.

But as much as the worship leaders and pastors of our church (and other churches) have influence over the theological diet in our preaching and singing within our local contexts, let us approach this with a focus on preaching and singing about all that God has said in his Word. May it never be that the promise of the return of Christ becomes for us, as Carson puts it, a mere creedal point, something we might acknowledge , yet also something that causes us to yawn.

* Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

Why We Sing What We Sing, Part II of II

Last week, Ben Bechtel, the director of music and youth at Community Evangelical Free Church, shared Part I of how he chooses worship songs for our church, which you can read here.

Below is the second half of his post.

*     *     *

Why We Sing What We Sing, Part II of II
By Ben Bechtel

6. Diversity

At our church, we desire to have a repertoire of songs that give voice to the full range of human emotion and experience, and simultaneously honor all the aspects of God and His work in the world. We don’t want all of our songs to focus on the love of God or the grace of God, although those are central characteristics of God. We don’t want all of our songs to be happy in tone, although we should rejoice for what God has done in Christ.

There are certain topics or emotions not commonly evoked in modern worship music. Thus, as we add new music to our library, whether a new song or an old song rediscovered, we want to have an eye on enriching and diversifying the various songs we sing. 

Good Example: “Speak O Lord” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend (Spotify, YouTube). This song blew me away the first time I heard it. It is a prayer asking for God to speak to His people through His Word. The content of this song, coupled with its emotional and prayerful tone, makes it a heavyweight. As far as I am aware, there truly is no other song like it.

Bad Example: Adding a mediocre new song about God’s love when we have a plethora of incredibly written songs about the love of God.

P.S. This is where the Psalms and particularly poetic songs come in handy. The Psalms contain poems of joy, praise, sadness, lament, despair, longing, fear, and all human emotions by people seeking to love God in all of life. Whether read or sung, this book is invaluable to our corporate worship because it puts inspired words in our mouth to pray and sing to God in all times of life. As well, poetic songs have a tendency to say old things in fresh, vivid ways. For instance, we recently played the old hymn “The Love of God”, which contains beautiful, poetic language describing God’s love. Consider this stanza:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky

This song, and songs like it, has a way of stirring the affections towards characteristics of God that may have become stale to us because the ordinary way of speaking about them sounds, well, ordinary.

7. Past and Present

I believe there is a great need in worship music to have balance between old and new songs. This is not motivated by a desire to please young people with contemporary music and elderly people with hymns.

In the midst of a modern worship culture, we need to remember that the music we sing, and the church for that matter, didn’t start 20 years ago when Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman stepped on the scene (although we owe a great deal to them!). Ever since creation, God has placed songs of praise in the mouths of his people. Singing lines from the Psalter and old hymns that date back to the Reformation, and even before, reminds us of the rich tradition we have as the people of God and helps keep us connected to the history of Christianity.

Good Example: For our church, a good example of this is when our set on a given Sunday contains both contextualized hymns and contemporary songs. Our goal is to have both in every service.

Bad Example: I think the worst example for us would be a one-dimensional service where we play either all contemporary songs or all hymns.  

8. Symmetry with Sermon Themes

One thing we stress very heavily in planning the liturgy is that our songs and Scripture readings should accentuate the content and themes of the sermon. Hearing from God’s word is the most important part of the weekly gathering. Therefore, we believe that the songs we sing should help to highlight that endeavor.

A carefully crafted worship service with the same biblical themes brought out in all its various aspects allows us not only to hear truths about God but also to praise him for those truths. Thematic song selection drives the Word of God deeper into the hearts of the people we are leading in worship and produces a greater joy and gladness in God as a result.

Good Example: A service that centers all the elements of the liturgy on several themes from the passage being expounded. For example, our church just recently went through a short series on the book of Titus. The first sermon of the series was on Paul’s greeting to Titus at the beginning of the letter. Although there are numerous themes brought out in this letter, we sang songs such as “Christ is Risen” by Matt Maher (Spotify, YouTube) and “How Great Thou Art” (Spotify, YouTube) to capture the themes of resurrection life and the greatness of God and His plans. Then, immediately before the sermon, we sang the song “Grace and Peace” by Sovereign Grace (Spotify, YouTube) which explicitly picks up on the “grace and peace” greeting from many of Paul’s letters and expounds it. This is just one small example of how we structure the service at our church to bring out sermon themes.

Bad Example: There are two errors of which to beware. The obvious error is to pay no attention to sermon theme when selecting music. However, another error is to try to select every song around one specific theme in the passage. For instance, if the sermon is on God’s faithfulness, you don’t need to sing five songs on God’s faithfulness (although I’m sure you could!). Rather, a better approach would be strategically placing two or three songs that highlight God’s faithfulness while interspersing a few other songs that highlight other themes in the passage or that simply complement the songs about the specific theme.

9. Reflects and Projects

The songs that we sing, much like the sermons we preach, need to reflect the DNA of a church. As well, the songs that we sing should forecast and project where we want to be and where we are headed.

In selecting songs, it is important to know which songs have been particularly impactful in the past. There are certain songs that a church holds dear because of a specific time in the life of the church, and that is great! Songs have a way of defining communities, and I believe this should be celebrated and encouraged with good Gospel-centered “regulars” in the song catalogs of a church.

I also think that, just like preaching, singing needs to address issues that will arise among the congregation in the future. In selecting songs, it is important to be mindful of the vision the elders have for the future of the church. The hope in doing this is that the songs along with the preaching can forge a pathway for the future of the church by the Spirit of God.

Good Example: Currently our church is seeking to plant a church as well as grow in certain key areas. As I am selecting music, I need to keep an eye on choosing songs that address what we hope to be as the people of God in our local context moving forward while still maintaining who we are currently.

Bad Example: Selecting songs without careful attention to the people in the congregation and the leadership of the church.

10. Best of the Best

Finally, if a song meets all of these criteria, I want to ask, is this song great? Will this be a song worth singing for the next ten years? With the abundance of worship music being written in our day, it is important to be selective. We want to sing only the best of what’s out there. There are only so many songs you can introduce without overwhelming people. Ultimately, I want to introduce the best songs, both musically and lyrically, with the goal of helping the people of the church glorify God through musical worship.

[To read Part I, click here.]

BEN BECHTEL is the director of music and youth ministries at Community Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, PA. Ben earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Liberty University where he met his wife Whitley. In the spring of 2017, he will begin a masters of divinity program. You can follow him on Twitter.

[Picture by William Iven / Unsplash]