Tag: Song selection

Oops

A few Saturdays ago we began our Saturday service with the Stuart Townend/Keith Getty song “Creation Sings the Father’s Song”. If you don’t know this one you can read a post I did about it a while ago or just watch the YouTube clip here.

After an opening prayer and bit of liturgy we did a Stuart Townend/Aaron Keyes song based off of Psalm 62 called “My Soul Finds Rest”. It’s a great song. You can see it here.

Both songs are strong, congregational, truth-filled songs.

They also sound a lot alike.

So after the second verse of “My Soul Finds Rest” I was so caught up in the moment that I launched into the chorus of “Creation Sings”.

Oops.

Here’s how it sounded in all of its splendor.

OK, so a few lessons learned:

1. Don’t do two songs back-to-back, even if there is a pause between them, that sound exactly the same. And are in the same key. And have the same time signature. And both have three verses and a chorus. And both choruses have similar lyrics.

2. If you happen to mess up royally like this, there’s no way to hide it. Just keep trucking, laugh, and correct yourself.

3. Definitely don’t post the recording of this royal mess up on the internet.

But I just couldn’t resist letting you hear this moment of loveliness.

We changed one of the songs the next morning. That’s lesson #4: rehearsals and run-throughs (our Saturday service is always a good “run-through” for us) are always a good idea.

Thinking Surgically When Leading Liturgically: Avoiding Token Songs

In most churches that have a formal liturgy and follow some sort of prayer book for their order of service, there are certain songs that get repeated more often than others. These are songs that are actually called for in the rubrics themselves. Every church eventually finds their own version of these songs that they prefer over others, and so they may very well end up singing these songs every week in the exact same spot.

These can quickly become “token songs”. We sing them because the liturgy dictates that we do, we could probably sing them in our sleep, we’re not really engaged with the words we’re singing, and we don’t even like them very much, but they check the liturgical box and keep the liturgy watch dogs off our back. (And they do exist.)

The Gloria
“Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, Almighty God and Father, we worship You, we give You thanks, we praise You for your glory”. It goes on. This is the text to the “Gloria”, of which there are hundreds of different settings in hymnals. It’s an amazing proclamation of praise and goes back hundreds of years.

Like I said earlier, most churches who sing a Gloria end up settling on one or two versions of it, and they sing the same version every single week for a very long time. For some churches it’s like the opening theme song.

In most prayer books that I’ve seen that dictate that a Gloria should be sung, I’ve also noticed an instruction sort of like this: “When appointed, the following hymn or some other song of praise is sung or said, all standing…” Notice the phrase “or some other song of praise”.

Did you know it said that? You don’t have to sing the Gloria. You can sing some other song. There’s usually more wiggle room in prayer books than people think. It’s wonderful when you realize that.

If you sing the Gloria in your church, try replacing it with a song of praise from time to time (or every week, or once a month), or even a block of songs. In most cases, you’ll have the support of the prayer book. This helps this portion of the service not get so formulaic and predictable.

The Doxology
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below…” In most churches that follow a more formal liturgy, this song is sung every Sunday at some point in the service, and for people who have grown up hearing it every Sunday, it can be the most meaningful song in the entire service. That’s a good thing and that’s a bad thing.

You can always count on the congregation belting out the Doxology. It’s a great, ancient text the focuses our attention on the glory of God in three persons and calls us to praise Him along with all of heaven. It’s a wonderful, wonderful song in the Church’s repertoire.

But you can also count on a song losing its power when it’s sung every single week. This is why for the services at which I lead music, we sing it once, maybe twice, a month.

This can create a logistical problem, since in many churches the congregation sits for the offertory then stands for the Doxology while the offering is brought forward. If there’s no Doxology, then when is the congregation supposed to stand and let the offering come forward?

One answer: do a song for the offertory that’s congregational and have the people stand once the collection is done and join in singing part of the song in place of a Doxology. Tell the ushers that their cue to come forward is when you ask the congregation to stand.

Easy. Now you’re keeping the Doxology from becoming a token song and you’re freshening things up a bit.

An aside: keeping a service that sticks to a formal liturgy from feeling dead is all about little changes like this. You usually can’t make a huge change. But you can work around the edges and do things here-and-there that can make a huge difference when all added up.

The Sanctus
“Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are filled with your glory…” I posted some alternatives for the Sanctus several months ago and encourage you to read this post for some ideas. Don’t let this high point in the liturgy become robotic.

Agnus Dei
 This might be referred to as something else (like a “fraction anthem”) in your church, but this is a song that is sung towards the end of the communion liturgy, after the priest has broken the bread. The traditional liturgical text is something along the lines of “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”

I have to be honest and say that in my experience, growing up liturgical churches, this is one of the greatest missed opportunities for preaching the gospel through music.

Right here, as people are preparing to come to the Lord’s Table to receive the bread and wine, and after they’ve heard the retelling of the story of Jesus instituting this Sacrament, is the perfect moment to sing the Gospel. Instead, frankly, we too often sing a dirge-like, dreary, minor-key song.

I get it – and I absolutely see that there are places for those kinds of songs and for praying for God’s mercy – but I think we serve our congregations better when we draw their attention to how God has already shown us mercy in giving us his son to take our place on the cross and receive the punishment we deserved to secure us eternal peace with God.

So instead of singing a traditional Agnus Dei, I draw from these. They each take about 1 or 2 minutes, which is the traditional length of the song in this spot. I pick and choose some verses and chorus, which I’ll detail below:

1. Here is Love Vast as the Ocean
– Traditional hymn
– Verse 1: “Here is love vast as the ocean, loving-kindness as the flood, when the Prince of Life, our ransom, shed for us his precious blood.”
– Verse 2: “On the mount of crucifixion, fountains opened deep and wide. Through the floodgates of God’s mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide.”

2. Jesus Paid it All
– Traditional hymn.
– Verse 2: “For nothing good have I, whereby thy grace to claim. I’ll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb.”
– Chorus: “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
– Verse 4: “Lord, now indeed I find, thy power and thine alone can change the leper’s spots and melt the heart of stone.”

3. The Power of the Cross
– Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
– Verse 1: “Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary…”
– Chorus A: “This the power of the cross: Christ became sin for us. Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.”
– Verse 4: “Oh to see my name written in the wounds, for through your suffering, I am free…”
– Chorus B: “This the power of the cross: Son of God, slain for us. What a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.”

4. Jesus Thank You
– Pat Szcebel
– Verse 1: “The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend… You the perfect Holy One crushed your son, who drank the bitter cup reserved for me.”
– Chorus: “Your blood has washed away my sin…, the Father’s wrath completely satisfied…, once your enemy, now seated at your table, Jesus, thank you.”

5. Grace Flows Down
– David Bell, Louie Giglio, Rod Pageant
– Verse 1: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Amazing love, now flowing down from hands and feet the were nailed to a tree. His grace flows down and covers me.”
– Chorus: “It covers me…”

Those are just five suggestions of alternatives to a traditional Agnus Dei. There are many more songs/hymns you can adapt for this purpose.

Go for it.

How Often Should I Introduce New Songs?

How often worship leaders should introduce new songs is an incredibly important question.

Someone recently wrote and asked me this question and here’s how I answered:

Week one: Teach Song A

Week two: Do Song A again somewhere in the service. If it’s a slow song, do it during communion or at the end of a set. If it’s an upbeat song, do it first thing, and ease into it.

Week three: Teach Song B.

Week four: Do Song A again. Do Song B again somewhere in the service where it fits.

Week five: Don’t teach anything new. Give people a break.

Week six: Teach Song C.

Week seven: Do Song A or Song B again. Repeat Song C again somewhere in the service.

Week eight: Do one of the three new songs you’ve taught. Don’t teach anything else.

So in the course of roughly two months, you’ve taught 3 new songs, and repeated each one at least twice. This gives you enough experience with the song to know whether it’s a keeper, whether it should be put on the bench, or whether it should be canned.

Out of those three new songs you’ve done in two months, two might stick around in your repertoire. More realistically, out of three new songs, only one will really become a regular song. There are exceptions, of course.

As I look back over a year, usually I’ve added 6-8 solid new songs to the repertoire. Another 4-6 are in the repertoire but still needing some time to simmer. Another 4 – 6 songs are put back on the shelf.

Adding too many new songs overwhelms a congregation. Not introducing any can deaden them. Find the right balance for your congregation of building their confidence by singing familiar songs, and spending some of that capital you’ve earned on stretching them with new songs.

Proclaiming the Gospel Though Music at Christmas

Worship leaders face a lot of temptations this time of year.

Sentimentality
There’s a great temptation to embrace the sentimental elements of Christmas. Snow falling softly while the fireplace roars and children laugh while eating warm apple pie that Grandma made while singing “Silver Bells” on top of a reindeer. This makes us feel all warm inside but makes no lasting difference to our lives.

Creativity
Creativity for the sake of helping people hear and celebrate the good news of Jesus Christ in a fresh way is a good thing. But creativity for the sake of saying we’re creative is most certainly not a good thing.

It can be easy to get carried away with trying to be creative this time of year. A Christmas pageant with a real live baby Jesus, surrounded by live animals, standing on hay, surrounded by a choir of angels suspended from the ceiling illuminated in bright light, while the choir sings a Christmas anthem accompanied by a 16 piece string section while a video plays and dancers dance and everyone in the congregation holds pretty little candles.

This might really impress people, make some people cry, and be more elaborate than any other church in town, but when we place creativity as the highest priority on our lists, it usually comes at the expense of the simple and powerful clarity of the Gospel. If creativity serves the goal of making the Gospel as clear as possible, then go for it. But if it gets in the way, avoid at all costs.

Tradition
Christmas can bring out the traditions like no other season. Traditions can be very good and helpful. But they can also be boring and stale and ineffective. Just because your church has always done it a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the best way.

Oh, if it were only so easy as telling people this and convincing them to try something new. I know it’s not.

If you’re serving in a church with a lot of traditions that you think could use some reevaluating, my advice to you is to tread slowly and softly. You’ll probably have to live with a lot of those traditions you’re not crazy about for a long time. But build trust with people and you’ll earn some capital you can spend on convincing people that there might be a better song than “Come On Ring Those Bells” to open a Christmas Eve service.

Satan hates this time of year when Jesus’ birth is being proclaimed around the world and in the songs being played in the department stores. It’s no wonder, then, that those songs are increasingly watered down and Jesus made to seem incidental rather than central. Sadly, the church too often goes with this flow. Let’s push against it and proclaim with boldness the good news – the best news – of the coming of Jesus Christ.

Just Because You’re Tired of a Song…

For every one time you lead a song during a service, you probably sing it two other times during rehearsal.

Them: 1. You: 3.

For every one time you lead a song during a service, then lead it a few weeks later a second time, chances are that a quarter (or so) of your congregation isn’t there to sing it.

Them: 1 – 2. You: 6.

And then for every time you lead a song during a service, then lead it a few weeks later a second time, and everyone in your congregation happens to be there all at the same time, you’re probably also leading that same song in some other context.

Them: 2. You: 7.

It’s understandable that you get tired of certain songs when you’re leading worship. Between rehearsals, multiple services, and different events, odds are that there are particular songs you sing quite frequently.

But it’s important to keep in mind that just because you’re tired of a song, it doesn’t mean people in your congregation are tired of it too. You get tired of songs more quickly than your congregation does.

Sometimes it’s the opposite problem. You just love a certain song and could sing it every week, but people in your congregation are sick of it. It takes growing in discernment, wisdom, and observational sharpness to be able to spot this.

However, it’s more likely that you’re the one who’s going to be getting tired of a song first. Be encouraged that it takes much longer for the congregation to get sick of it than you think it might.

Here’s the main reason why this should be encouraging to you:

It isn’t necessary to introduce new songs as often as you’re tempted.

There’s probably a song you did a few months ago that people would be quite happy to sing again. Maybe you did a song just last week that people really seemed to enjoy. Then do it again this week. You know that song you think people don’t want to sing again? Maybe they wouldn’t mind so much.

So keep in mind that for every 7 times you sing a song – the average person in the congregation is singing it twice. Don’t be so quick to put that song on the bench.