Hymn #26: Not in Praise of Praise Songs
Created | Updated Nov 26, 2016
Obligatory Rant
We're turning down the home stretch on this month's race, so it's probably time to get the contemporary music out of the way. It's not really a pleasant topic, so bear with me while I get this over with.
Have you ever been to one of these religious services? I think the parody-makers have nailed it. I call today the 'obligatory rant', because everybody in creation is complaining about these people. Here's a list of 'pet peeves' intended to inspire the people responsible for these performances. Here's one called 'Why I've Stopped Singing in Your Church'. While I applaud many of the writer's sentiments, I would have appreciated it more had he not been selling his own book.
After 2000 years of composing Christian worship music, they've come up with something even more annoying to church music lovers than Charles Wesley and his 18th-century Methodist pop tunes: Top-40 style 'hymns'. Of questionable musical quality and dubious theology, the mumbling mostly led by a praise leader who has his/her eyes closed. As you can see, it isn't only the musicians complaining. I suspect this is a fad, and will eventually go away. After all, we survived 'He's Everything to Me', and the bikini beach movie that went with it. I have made an executive decision not to link to this wonder, but you can find The Restless Ones on Youtube. (I didn't say you should.)
Some Current Praise Songs
Here are some current hits. Homework: considering what we've studied this month, how would you evaluate these songs in the light of the western musical canon? Would didgeridoos help?
Enough's enough. You can find more, if you're so inclined. The main complaints are: sounds like pop music, because it is; is repetitive; contains clunker lines like 'open the eyes of my heart' (as Elektra says, 'Unless you're a surrealist, you can't get away with that'); is, er, self-referential. . . you get the idea.
Is This Is a New Trend?
Of course not. You think the people with the drum kits invented self-indulgent church music? Think again. Ralph Carmichael and his 'trendy' 60s music has already been mentioned. But go back to the 12th Century. Isn't this stuff just showing off? It's a matter of taste, of course. And yes, that stuff hurts my ears. Not because it's newfangled, but because it is distracting and not really doing what hymns do: creating a space for reaching out rather than in.
Share your favourite songs, good or bad. I'll propose that rather than singing one of these commercial goodies, we pull something out of the Southern Harmony. It's deeply personal, emotive, but simple, and the music flies straight as an arrow in the direction of Out There.
