Songs of Heaven: Writing Songs for Contemporary Worship

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SECTION 1

REFLECTING ON WORSHIP

‘Sing God a brand-new song!

Earth and everyone in it, sing!

Sing to God—worship God!’ (PSALM 96:1 THE MESSAGE)

‘Songwriters in our community are the poets and prophets. Their words and melodies create beauty and cause the church to see who God is and what He is like. They help us to hear what God imagines for us and our future. By painting a reality that we endeavour to live, songs give us anthems to congregate around as a community, but also something that reverberates into our homes and daily lives. They mark significant milestones like births, deaths and marriages and are like modern day Psalms being sung as we journey towards God. Good songs make the scriptures come alive and ground our faith and understanding. They give us insight and wisdom for our everyday reality and are vehicles for navigating the good and the bad times.

Songs paint pictures and give expression to the deepest longing in our heart. Often you can almost hear the people gasp in wonder when a song is presented for the first time and they find themselves caught up in new ways of expressing what they know to be true. New songs keep faith alive and vibrant and fresh. It’s like turning the light on and seeing again what has always been right in front of you. Our song writers are a gift to the people of God as they create vocabulary that deepens and heightens the way we talk about Jesus, Gods great salvation plans and the Holy spirits enduring presence and empowerment.’

Cassandra Langton

‘When you write songs that people sing as part of their worship to God, there is a bit of your soul that shares the aches of those around you. When there is tragedy, the song of lament wakes up with you, and when there is joy, the sound of praise fills your ears. To some it might seem odd to reach for a guitar when tears are falling on scuffed up shoes, but I really don’t know any other way of being.’⁴

Reuben Morgan

4Reuben Morgan – ‘Return to the Cornerstone’ https://hillsong.com/collected/blog​/2012/06/return-to-​the-cornerstone/#.WVSRHIiGOM8 12/6/2012 Used by permission.

CHAPTER 1

A THEOLOGY OF WORSHIP

by Robert Fergusson

In the Christian community, the word ‘worship’ is used in such a variety of ways that its meaning has become clouded. For instance, some say, We come together to ‘worship’ on a Sunday morning. For these people, worship describes our corporate expression and adoration of God. Whereas, others say, We sing songs of praise and then we start to ‘worship’. In this case, it seems the concept of ‘worship’ has been reduced to the quieter songs at the end of a song list. But is this the way the Bible defines worship?

Certain things defy definition. A kiss is one example. Worship is another. In both cases, a dictionary definition falls hopelessly short. We may be able to explain the mechanics, but how can we possibly describe the mystery? Yet at the beginning of a book on writing songs for worship that is exactly what we have to do. Unless we attempt to express what the Bible says about worship, this book will only strengthen the hands of songwriters, without inspiring the hearts of worshippers. Worshippers sing songs from a converted soul - their songs are birthed in transformation. So what is worship? What exactly is this word which causes creation to sing?

How does the Bible describe worship?

There are numerous references and descriptions of worship in the Bible. The first of which is found in the shocking account of Abraham offering his son Isaac to God. Abraham says to his servant, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you (Genesis 22:5) (Italics mine). There is no mention here of music. No gathered congregation. No songs. It is a story of single-minded obedience, a sacrifice, and the intervention of God. The word used in the Hebrew (Heb. Shachah) means to bow down or to prostrate oneself"⁵ in an act of reverence. So is worship an act of sacrifice to God?

In the New Testament, two Greek words are commonly used for worship. The writer to the Hebrews uses the word ‘latreuo’ when he challenges them to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28). This word can be translated worship or serve. The Lord Jesus Christ uses the Greek word ‘proskuneo’ when he says, a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks (John 4:23). The word ‘proskuneo’ means, To kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence⁶. Once again, there is no mention here of music, songs or song-writing. Although, as we shall see, songs can be a powerful expression of our worship and also can enable us to worship more effectively, worship is evidently far more fundamental.

In all of these, and other Biblical examples, worship is seen to be a reverential attitude of someone or something toward the One from whom they came. Angels worship the God who commands them (Hebrews 1:6); creation reveres its Creator (Psalm 148) and humanity glorifies its Maker (Psalm 95:6). This attitude of reverence is usually expressed in an act of service. True worship, it seems, has more to do with a reverential attitude and an act of service than it does to a song. Further, the English word ‘worship’ is rooted in the word ‘worth’. Worship, therefore, is about an acknowledgement of worth; a recognition and response of honour to someone who is worthy. This is the heart and lifestyle from which a song of worship is sung.

Worship is the necessary response of the created for the Creator

The concept of worship is inbuilt into the heart of every human being. It seems, we need to give glory to someone or something. If we don’t worship God, we find ourselves worshipping someone or something else. If we don’t have a god, we will make one (Isaiah 44:15-17; Acts 17:23). The object of our worship is determined by our belief system. If we believe we are self-made, we will tend to give glory to ourselves and honour our own achievements; we will applaud our own creativity. If, on the other hand, we believe we are the product of nature, our tendency is to exalt the world in which we live. We will elevate animals above humanity, we’ll seek guidance in the stars and worship the heavens (Acts 7:42). As Paul the apostle put it, we worship the created rather the Creator.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (ROMANS 1:20-25)

If, however, we believe that God created us, He becomes the object of our affection and reverence. He is the One we choose to serve. In simplistic terms, these then are the three choices we have: We can serve ourselves; we can serve the earth; or we can serve the God who made them both. In other words, we can worship our own creativity (which includes our gifts or talents), the created (which includes anything which is created as well as ourselves), or the Creator Himself. The object of our worship is the battle ground of the soul. When Satan, a created being, challenged Jesus in the wilderness, he wanted the Christ to worship him. When presented with the same challenge, our response should be the same as Jesus’: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only (Matthew 4:10). This choice is the foundation for our fulfilment and success.

The Bible makes it very clear that God created human beings in His image and chose us specifically to give Him praise.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 PETER 2:9)

Like a violin in the hands of its maker, we are created to make an ordered and beautiful sound for the use and pleasure of our Creator. Like a pot in the hands of a potter, we are created to say something of worth about our Creator and do something of value for Him. Our correct response sees our created purpose fulfilled. It is only as we learn to worship God that we discover our God-given destiny. Worship, then, is the necessary and vital response of the created for the Creator.

Worship involves both awe and adoration

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has enabled us to approach God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16), but how do we respond appropriately to One whom Jesus Himself described both as a Loving Father (John 16:27) and also One to be feared (Luke 12:5)? It seems that there needs be a combined adoration and awe in our approach. On the one hand, we are drawn by compassion and acceptance to worship with gratitude and freedom, and yet, on the other hand, we, worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’ (Hebrews 12:29). There is clearly a necessary tension in worship. Not a negative tension but a positive one – the tension of a violin string – a balance of extremes.

This tension is found in many aspects of worship. For instance, Jesus Christ desires us to worship both in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Similarly, when Paul the apostle encouraged the churches in Colosse and Ephesus to sing spiritual songs, he taught them to be filled with both the word and the Spirit.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (COLOSSIANS 3:16)

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (EPHESIANS 5:18-20)

Clearly, some aspects of worship can be defined, explained and taught but there are other aspects which are beyond understanding and defy description. True worship involves both priest and prophet, the predictable and the unpredictable, the expected and the unexpected, the rejected and the respectable. Worship, like music, is both a science and an art. When the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein attempted to describe music he writes that it is an utterly satisfying combination of mathematics and magic⁷ The only way to describe it is to be immersed. The same is true of worship. The only way to understand it is to worship God and then the songs we sing will reflect the balance of awe and adoration that comes from our immersion into Christ.

5Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 1995.

6Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 1995.

7Leonard Bernstein. The Joy of Music. Panther Books USA 1969.

CHAPTER 2

THE POWER OF A SONG SUNG TO GOD

My husband, Robert, says that one of the saddest verses in the Bible is to be found in Exodus 32:18. Moses had been on Mount Sinai for forty days receiving direction from God for His covenant people. Meanwhile these same covenant people waiting at the bottom of the mountain had become impatient and fearful and so they persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. As Moses descended the mountain, sounds from the camp reached him. Joshua, who was with him, thought that the camp must have been attacked but Moses knew better: ‘It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.’(Exodus 32:18 NIV)

What they were hearing was the sound of the Israelites worshipping an idol that could do nothing for them and forgetting the God who had brought them out of Egypt with powerful acts of deliverance (Psalm 106:13) It seems amazing that the people could so quickly forget what God had done for them just because Moses had been gone for a while but that is what happened and it’s a warning to us. Their songs were empty and powerless, achieving nothing except to rouse God’s anger against them. This was a tragic example of a song that was powerless because it was directed to the wrong person. Our songs of worship must be sung to God if they are to be powerful songs

There are times however when even songs that are directed to God can lack power. Jesus addressed this when he spoke to the Pharisees about the hypocrisy of lives that did not match up to their worship:

‘These people honour me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ (Mark 7:6,7 NIV)

He taught that powerful worship is inseparably connected to spirit and truth. Our worship must be based in reality and come out of the depths of who we are. We cannot worship powerfully and effectively if our hearts are cold or our minds are elsewhere.

I like the way the Message Bible puts it: ‘It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself – Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (John 4:23,24 – The Message)

This chapter is not a theology of song. It is really a series of anecdotes, images and reflections on songs that, when sung out of the heart to God, can carry great power. Songs in themselves are simply songs but the faith attached to them and the truth contained in their words is what makes them powerful. In their different ways all the categories of song described in this chapter are songs of faith and all are found in the Bible. In Appendix A at the end of the book I look at the different themes in the Psalms that relate to the themes described below.

A song of wonder

‘Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live"

(PSALM 146:1,2 NIV)

C.S. Lewis described praise as ‘inner health made audible’⁸ and this seems to me to sum up the power of praise. If we are finding it hard to praise God for who He is and what He has done then it is time to take a look at the state of our hearts. Our natural instinct when considering the amazing God who has created us, saved us and cares for us minute by minute should be one of praise. And as we share that wonder and delight in our God with others our own faith and love is renewed.

Sometimes we can find that we are writing a lot of testimony songs in which we thank God for specific things that He has done but we lose that pure focus on praising God for who He is. These songs of wonder, more than almost any others, raise our eyes from our little worlds and preoccupations to see the bigness of our God. Many of the expressions of worship in Revelation fit into this category (Revelation 4:8, 11; 4:12,13). These songs allow us to share our enjoyment of God in corporate