‘Mighty to Save’ and other worship songs that annoy me

Sorry if I sound grumpy today. It might be my age.

I am not usually a huge fan of contemporary worship songs. I don’t like extended chorus singing. This is the stuff of nightmares for me. I can pull off a few tunes with everyone else but then my mind wanders. Sometimes I sit down on the pew and read my Bible until the songs are over. Sometimes I scan the introduction to the hymnal, looking for historical inspiration. Or even trivia.

Perspective critic

In moments like these, I prefer Anglican churches because there are more books available to read than Baptist churches and certainly more than Pentecostals churches that offer no reading material whatsoever. But if a solid hour of voice-lifting, arm-swinging, anthem-bashing is not your bag then you shouldn’t be in a Pentecostal church anyway. Right?

It’s even worse when the worship songs are lame or badly written or have sentences that just hit me wrong.

The old chorus “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord”, for example,  always striked me as being just  . .  plain DUMB! Hallelujah is a command, a call to action. It means “publicly acknowledge Yahweh” and is used in the Bible to spur on acknowledgement of God’s great acts in a public fashion. It’s never used towards God. How do you command God to praise Himself? 

Last month, while fully immersed inside a thousand-strong-crowd of teenage Baptists, I found myself closed-lipped while the song “Your love never fails” was belted out by the band. The offending sentence went like this:

“You cause all things to work together for MY good”

Where did that word “my” come from? It’s not in the flipping’ Bible passage! Here is the original, unedited version from the BIble. 

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. Romans 8:28

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Not ‘my good’,  just ‘good’.The passage in question is NOT talking about our own personal satisfaction but of God’s greater good  – of which everyone will eventually benefit either directly or indirectly.  When did we stop seeking God’s good purpose and substitute it with our own? Are we silly enough to think the two things are the same? Am I the only person that noticed? Am I taking crazy pills?

Another annoying song is Hillsong’s “Mighty to Save”. The line that bugs me is this one:

“Saviour, he can move the mountains”

It’s not that the statement is untrue because actually, God can do whatever he wants, including the relocation of mountains. It’s just that the particular idea of moving mountains, which occurs most strongly in Isaiah, the minor prophets and later in the Gospels, is almost exclusively in relation to people moving mountains and not God. Jesus told his disciples that they could move mountains. The Isaiah passage [Remember Godspell’s “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”], as Jesus enlightens us, was in reference to John the Baptist who would level the mountains and fill the valleys. 

Mountain moving is the job of God’s people!

Yes, our Saviour could move the mountains if he wanted to, but he has commissioned us to move them so let’s get on with it, not in our own might or by human power, but by God’s Spirit (Zech 4:6-7)

INewImageThe idea behind this lyric, in my opinion, is the same lazy “let go and let God” philosophy that inoculates the people of God from doing anything practical or hands-on because we assume if we just sit back and sing some more songs then God, who is somehow energized by our inaction, will stand up, bare his almighty arm and get things done.

This song is from Hillsong, an Australian church. That surprises me. The Aussies are doers, aren’t they? Diggers, Stickers, People of Action rather than talk? [I am speaking to Baptist pastors in Australia next week] But here it sounds like “Hey, there are a whole lot of mountains that need moving but there’s no need to bust our guts; God will sort it out, so just be still and chill, let go and let God, say your prayers and then . . . Bob’s your uncle. Or in other words, no worries, mate, lets just pass the buck on to God again.

This is Hakuna Matata theology.

Jesus did not say to his disciples, “If you want to remove the mountain, host a city-wide worship evening and when people have reached a heightened sense of spiritual well-being, have them pray that God will do something and then return home feeling like they have done well.”

No! “YOU say to the mountain ‘Be removed!’, said Jesus.

The orders have been given. We are called. We are sent. We look up at huge mountains and we feel intimidated because of their size, and we feel scared because shifting centers of corrupted power and leveling mountains of injustice do not make us friends with those caught up in the institutionalized powers of Babylon. But we act anyway, in faith, because this is what Jesus had in mind for us to do. It’s all part of training for eternity and its something that God helps us with but choses not to take on by himself.

Martin Luther King understood this and used the mountain moving imagery from the Scriptures to move some actual mountains, with the help of God.

And so, until someone can tell me a good reason to sing along with everyone else, I will keep silent on these lyrics and continue my historical research in the hymnal book intros.

 Related on TSK: Bible Study: Jesus and the Loony

 

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on digital things ever since. He founded The Boaz Project in 2000 and the virtual Suddenly Seminary in 2004.

49 Comments

  • THIS!
    I actually don’t like the song Mighty to Save and several others because it sounds like we’re just running around bragging about God to others. Kind of like taunting all the other kids on the playground.
    And in our Baptist church we don’t have anything to read other than what we bring with us.

  • Jeremy Myers says:

    Glad I’m not alone in this.
    The worst songs for me are the ones where they have me sing about feeling the breath of Jesus on my cheek, and wanting him to hold me, kiss me, and… well, whatever else. It gives me the shivers, and not in a good way.
    I think I heard Michael Frost preach a sermon a while back called “Jesus is not my Girlfriend.” He’s not mine either.

  • David Andrianoff says:

    Right on! My sentiments exactly. My personal pet peeve is the gyrations of the “worship” team as they dance (prance) around the stage. Their message shouts “Look at me!” while supposedly facilitating the congregation to worship.

  • Mark e says:

    Andrews been taking his grumpy pills again

  • Jason_73 says:

    Mightyt to save was actually written by Laura Story (an American) about her husband who had been diagnosed with cancer, which imagine is a mountain that she needed God to move. I guess it’s a matter of taste?

  • Jason_73 says:

    Forget what I just wrote, got my praise song back story’s confused. I will shrink away now.

  • Andrew says:

    But its a good point, Jason, anyway. Some songs are just poems and expressive writings that are born inside a certain local and very personal context and have HUGE meaning to those who wrote and experienced them. We might be doing violence to those songs by making them universal.

  • I get quite sad when I read this. Since it’s about worship. Something very holy and important. When you forget the worship part and focus on the singing, you’ll probably get bored in a Pentecostal church, but the reason why Pebtecostals don’t is that they worship.
    Bad and unclear theology can be found everywhere in the church, espeacilly in the pulpit and in the bookshelves, and among older hymns as well. The theological errors you point out above are very small though, and since the point of singing them is worship, not having s theological debate, I think you kind of miss the point when you’re sitting down being grumpy over this instead of worshipping.
    Hallelujah has changed meaning from its hebraic usage, but I don’t think God is grumpy because of that. He understands what His dear children mean when they express their love. The sentence from Your love never fails is individualistic but not unscriptural, look åt the part of Rom 8:28 you didn’t highlite and see that “I” am included in those who love God. Finally, the critique towards Mighty to save is absurd. Do you really mean that we should perform miracles in the power of the Spirit (and you do admit that we cannot do it in our own strength) but not praise God for it. It’s not a theological error that God can move mountains, so please stop complaining.
    I think you would need some good theology about worship. It’s not so nice when you write something controversial to get a lot of readers when it strikes something as holy as worship. If your focusing at the singing, at how people move when they sing, and at the length of the singing, you’re clearly not worshipping, and then you’ve missed the point. Contemporary worship got some fuel from the Vineyard movement, their leader was a former jazz musician and a very spiritual man named John Wimber. Here’s some of his teaching on worship:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2e07MW0pR4
    And here’s a bit more detailed teaching:
    http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/journal6/wimber.html
    Please look at that, and maybe you’ll get out of your grumpiness. 🙂
    God bless you,
    Micael Grenholm, Sweden

  • Andrew says:

    Hi Micael. John Wimber? Yes, he was my wife’s youth pastor at YL Friends church. We are quite familiar with the ministry.
    But when you say
    “It’s not so nice when you write something controversial to get a lot of readers”
    then I take that as an insult. If you have been reading my blog over the past 11 years you will know that I do not blog for this reason.
    and I appreciate what you have said but for me, worship is connnected with belief and knowledge so i find it hard to turn off my brain in order to enjoy poor lyrics. maybe its easier for others than me.

  • Paul Roberts says:

    Ah Andrew, welcome middle age! Some of us have been here for a loooong while!!
    More seriously, I think the words that we sing in worship have more influence on our inner understanding of God than anything we read or hear, including what we read in the Bible. Which is why pastors and churches need to review their content very, very carefully. However, worship song leading and worship song writing have become very big business in those parts of the world Church influenced by western Evangelicalism. Large churches rely heavily on their worship pastors for their appeal (and hence their income). So woe betide the pastor who criticises the words of a song for being theologically wrong, inaccurate or confused. Especially when said song grew out of a ‘meaningful’ encounter in the life of the writer. (Coz all today’s Evangelicals are existentialists first and Bible readers second, right?)
    The net result is that most Western Evangelicals read the scriptures through the grid of the words they sing, not the What is actually on the page before them.

  • Brandon says:

    Totally agree. A couple of months ago, was in a crowd doing worship in our community, and the leaders were doing “Your Love Never Fails” and the bridge part which you highly came up and the worship leader stops it and she said “This isn’t right. It’s not about my good. We can’t sing that.” And she lead everyone in singing “You make all things work together for Your good.” instead. And it was a bit of a breath of fresh air.

  • Brandon says:

    *highly was supposed to be highlight.

  • Penny Miller says:

    No worship leader sets out to write an unscripturual christian-duping song. If you find yourself grumpily sat in a pew/chair instead of standing worshipping God (which we all do from time to time), then the place to look is your own heart – NOT the words of the worship song. When will we unite rather than constantly criticise and divide. God is good and that’s what we should be blogging about. Jesus is alive today and that is why we sing worship songs – I could go on but I will now stop before becoming too grumpy!!

  • Paul Roberts says:

    Penny, I realise that. But biblical accuracy is important. Heresy doesn’t emerge by suddent jumps or departures. It comes about gradually by little adjustments which go unchallenged until they have been absorbed by the many. And ultimately heresy is one of the cruelest things, because it can blind us to God’s liberating truth.

  • Nathan Hill says:

    It shouldn’t be a surprise that songs recontextualise scripture. We do this in reading, thinking, writing, preaching, songs, blogs . . . The call at the heart of this article is for wisdom in doing this, my call is for grace in receipt for those that do?
    Andrew asks one of his commenters to understand his heart in the context of 11 years of blogging. We like to be received graciously.
    We like to give generously, lovingly and prayerfully to our congregations. Tomorrow that will include many services where Andrew’s soapbox issues will be on display. His comments sound quite different into that context. A context where generational and cultural issues masquerade inside divisive arguments.
    I think there is worthwhile redress being called for in his article. I can see his readership includes those that would benefit and wonder whether his writing style helps them to agree with his point of view? It may stir those that agree, but will it give them language to encourage song writers and worship leaders in the right direction?
    Can we hear what is being stood for next to the noise of what is being stood against?

  • Nathan Hill says:

    True of blogs?

  • Ramesh Naraine says:

    Jonesie, you really DO sound like a grumpy old man!
    Jesus told us to move mountains but you seem to want to focus on moving molehills. If you were to focus on the exceptional church planting and social action that Hillsongs is doing in Europe and Asia you’d likely want to worship God and applaud their efforts.
    Then again it’s a different flavour that yours so you’ll probably want to bitch about it rather than celebrate.
    Grab the moment to worship along with the rest of the gang in the spirit of the song rather than nitpick about specific words. In fact, the examples you gave are pretty lame; there are much worse (and better) examples of heresy that I could give than those.

  • Ian Nicholson says:

    Good thoughts Andrew – particularly on moving mountains..
    To be honest the majority of worship songs in most generations are pretty naff with a few classics thrown in. Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns in his time – how many do we sing now? Moody and Sankey… give me oil in my lamp..’As a new Christian ‘heavenly Father we appreciate you’ and ‘I love you with the love of the Lord’ were sung with gusto and meaningful looks! The negro (are you allowed to say that now)spirituals were pretty superficial ditties … unless you were living under slavery when they became a heartcry.I must admit that the mind needs to disengage to go with the flow at times – ‘and in your presence all my problems disappear’ anyone?
    My attitude to worship has definitely changed as I got older – is it me becoming lukewarm and cynical,overfamiliarity or my personality changing or simply a change of context… dunno, probably a mix . There are still moments of spine tingling encounter and I must admit to listening to 10,000 reasons and your love never fails on continuous loop for several hours recently

  • Mark E says:

    “Jesus told us to move mountains but you seem to want to focus on moving molehills. If you were to focus on the exceptional church planting and social action that Hillsongs is doing in Europe and Asia you’d likely want to worship God and applaud their efforts.
    Then again it’s a different flavour that yours so you’ll probably want to bitch about it rather than celebrate.”
    I have to agree with this. But then…I do applaud what your doing Andrew….
    far too much time is spent in critiquing Hillsong…energy better spent in doing what you are put on earth to do…and do do.
    I am not saying, we dont need to be like the Bereans, but when gracious people start to waste time on critiquing Hillsong, they too easily get lumped with a group of people who waste their lives doing that.

  • Hi Andrew,
    In response to your post, I want to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – yes, I share some of your concerns; no, I don’t share some of your conclusions. I think what does come out of what you write is this: that worship songs cannot stand alone, but need to engage and be engaged by other aspects of our life as communities of faith.
    Re ‘you cause all things to work together for my good,’ if God is at work in all circumstances to bring about good for those who love him, then as I love him – as a loved child of God – God does cause all things to work together for my good. But [1] some of those things might be things God would never have chosen for me; and [2] God’s understanding of what my good might look like may be different from my own – in which case, my understanding needs to be conformed to his, and not the other way around. Your complaint seems to depend upon the very self-centred understanding of my good that you are rightly concerned ought not to be encouraged, but challenged. Rather than rejecting the sentiment, I’d want the singing to go hand-in-hand with teaching on what that actually means and what it might look like.
    Re moving mountains, I ‘get’ your understanding of mountains symbolising systems of injustice we, as God’s people, are called to confront. But throughout Scripture, mountains are identified as places of encounter with God…and the sea with rebellion against God and chaos that threatens to overwhelm his creation. So when Jesus says to his disciples, if you have faith that grows as vigorously as a mustard seed you can move a mountain into the sea, I think that at the very least part of what he is saying is, you can take what you discovered about God in the ‘mountain-top’ experiences and bring that to bear in those situations where God appears to be absent and his good will would appear to be all but overthrown. Now, none of that understanding is present in those song words – but neither was it present in your critique. As such, I think both are inadequate as stand alone statements…but I wouldn’t dismiss the song or your post (I’m much more at home with both/and than either/or anyway) simply because (as with a great many old hymns – for every age has its blind-spots) I, like you, can’t bring myself to sing every line.
    In response to some of the comments above, I don’t think the issue is that your heart is in the wrong. I think there needs to be genuine room for personal integrity – “I can’t sing that line” – alongside a recognition that we are (relational) persons not individuals – so sometimes I will need to sing songs that I wouldn’t choose, rather than be a stumbling block. Not being able to sing a line – for various reasons – doesn’t cut us off from those around us, and the things you do at such times are probably good things to do. In fact, I wish more people would ask more questions of the songs we sing. But let’s not expect more of them than they deserve – whether as those who question too much or as those who switch off the brain and surf the emotions.
    Keep writing, because it is good to be presented with the opportunity to reflect on things.
    Keep reading, because blog posts are not edited book manuscripts, but starting-points for conversations.

  • Tobit Emmens says:

    a good post Andrew! The thing that jumps out for me in your post, and many of the comments is the fixation that worship has to be songs. Recently in my local Cathedral, we played a video game (Flower on the PS3) as part of our worship, but more regularly, as a small missional community, our acts of worship are growing to involve a liturgy of the rhythms of community; conversation and tea. We worship together through the experience of community, exploring how God, through us, can transform our public spaces.

  • Yeah, I don’t want to have Jesus inside me etc. either. Sounds more than a bit creepy.
    Ever notice the similarities between certain types of praise music and porno soundtracks? I could make a comment about the different money shots at play but I think I won’t.
    My overall concern about Christian music is similar to Xn books, film and other forms of “art” – they tend to uh … what’s the word? Suck. Oh yeah. That’s it.
    Andrew – stop listening to garbage and grab some Proost. A bit of Jonny Baker should get rid of your ungodly grumpies :).

  • Andrew says:

    Thanks Andrew. I would argue that the “mountain thrown into the sea” passage you brought up is a direct reference to the judgment on God’s people Israel and fits within the other parables of vineyard, fig tree, etc. Only with a few interpretive steps from that point can we shift the meaning to the mountains of our own personal challenges but that secondary application is not ruled out.
    But I do agree that many of the old hymns have blind spots – esp. the escapist eschtatology – and yet I often sing these songs, bad theology and all, with everyone else.
    I was thinking this morning why there is such a difference and this is what i think it is:
    we all know the old hymns contain boo-boos and i often look around the room and smile and wink at my friends who are thinking the same thing. And they we sing the song with a knowing smile on our face.
    But with the boo-boos in our recent songs, i am not convinced that everyone around me sees the error and I feel that, if I am to worship in both spirit and truth (truth being “that which corresponds to reality) then I sometimes need more of the truth to be in place before I can pump it up on the spirit side.
    thanks for your thoughts and encouragement and i will keep writing and continuing the conversation.

  • Andrew says:

    yes, no argument here. i am just using “worship songs” as the category the church seems to use. worship is more than singalongs in a church building. ABSOLUTELY.

  • Steve Hayes says:

    Many years ago I was at an ecumenical youth camp where an argument arose between the Anglicans and the Baptists. The Baptists had a favourite chorus, “If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart.”
    The Anglicans said it was theologically bad in that it inverted the order of things and turned Jesus into a means to an end. Some spoke of it as “spiritual masturbation”.
    The Baptists found the objections incomprehensible.
    But much Westernn hymnography, old and new, is is egocentric in this way, as is talk of “the worship experience”.

  • Lila Katzenmaier says:

    my post vanished, when I klicked the button – weird 🙂
    so, I love it 🙂 – it’s your opinion and I like how you wrote it.
    Everyone has is own way of worshipping and one is through worship songs. My suggestion for everyone is for example: start writing your own worship songs, sing and repeat them as often as you like to and worship God in any other way you want to as well. amen.

  • Kate Early says:

    Nothing to do with middle age … this has bothered me ever since I was a teenager!

  • Kate Early says:

    They may not set out to do it, but if they do set out to write it should be based on truth. People sing and absorb those words and believe they are true – leading many into deeply-held misconceptions about their faith. If you are grumpy during worship because of the words in the songs, then I think it is possibly because God, Spirit is speaking to your heart. People should blog about what they want to blog about and God might be good but there are things in ilfe – many things – that are not. And crap lyrics are one of those things!

  • Kate Early says:

    How many molehills make a mountain? Do we think that Hillsongs church-planting in Europe is a good thing? Really? And nits … they are pretty brutal!

  • TLMH says:

    Just as there are “contemporary” songs that are not very theologically sound…my least favorite by far is “How He Loves”…you know the one David Crowder Band made popular, which has some incredibly weird word images…and is awkward to sing as a worship song.

  • Johannes M Menheere says:

    What song is the one u describe? Luckely not found it’s way to Europe yet!

  • maestrotwo says:

    TLMH — have you ever looked at the “incredibly weird word images” contained in The Song Of Songs? It makes “a sloppy wet kiss”(McMillan’s version) seem rather mild, wouldn’t you say?

  • Well said. Most of the contemporary stuff is chalk full of bad theology and fluff lyrics.

  • Andrew says:

    OK I will take a closer look next time they make me sing it.
    But I do need to say that I really like David Crowder. He has been a friend and colleague for a long time and I am so glad that God has given him honor.

  • Greg says:

    Yes, but that still doesn’t mean I want to sing either of those things in a large group of people! It’s like watching a hugely inappropriate group PDA (public display of affection) 🙂

  • Jane says:

    No one seems to have yet discussed the “I” “we” issue in songs. e.g.’I exalt thee’ can so easily be turned into ‘we exalt you’ etc. Corporate worship is a great time to use we.
    The need to sing loads of songs over and over in order to ‘connect ‘with God seems odd as God is with us always. A simple, non performance worship song can often lead us into His presence in a moment.

  • Craig says:

    Completely agree with you Andrew. Music is a powerful tool for teaching b/c it passes the lyrics right past our frontal lobe. that’s why people say stuff like, “I just like the music” but they know all the lyrics.
    I actually was part of a worship band for years and I had trouble playing and singing numerous songs. Some theology found in the old hymns is just as foreign to scripture as the newer Jesus is my boyfriend blather. I used to teach my students that if you don’t believe it and wouldn’t teach it, don’t sing it just b/c that’s what is expected of you at a given time during the service.

  • I am really struck by all the negativity and the candor of all these replies, but this one in particular caught my attention. With all the concern over people being swayed by the lyrics of a song over what is written in the bible, I looked at Bible Gateway at every translation and found this passage reads almost exactly the same way every time:
    Romans 8:28, New Living Translation:
    “28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
    And now the song lyrics: “You make all things work together for my good.”
    I am confused. If the passage says God will take everything that happens to those who are called out for His purposes and manipulate it for the good in the end, would it not be fair to assess that, in the end all things will work together for my good? I am a believer and called out. I live my life for His purposes. If a truly horrible event takes place, can’t I depend on God to make the final outcome good? And since I am in Him, as He is in me, a good outcome would be serving His purposes, which would be good for me as someone who wants to see His will fulfilled.
    These are weak arguments over semantics from followers who should be less concerned their own personal taste in music, and more concerned over the distasteful and negative light they are shedding on believers by splitting hairs over such things in a public forum for the whole of the unbelieving world.
    I urge you to think carefully before being pulled into such debates publicly. Is this the discussion you would have with a non-believer in your presence? Of course not. But I am sure it has been seen by plenty of them at this point.
    For anyone reading this commentary who is a non-believer, please allow me to apologize for the quibbling you are witnessing on this site. Many Christians are not this negative or legalistic. In fact, I found this article while trying to find a song that would transition nicely from “Mighty to Save,” and found my stomach being turned by what I read.

  • Penny, you just made my day!

  • Yes, and amen, Nathan!

  • When the older songs were written, I doubt many people saw the error in the writing either. Some of the great writers of the past were shunned for their music (not the words, mind you, but the music). People were more concerned in times past about moving from chant to polyphony, and from congregational unison to four-part harmonies, and from organs to pianos, and of late to bands. Such was the case even within the last 100 (give or take) years. Fanny Crosby (of “Blessed Assurance” fame) was often spoken poorly of because her songs were too personal, and not from the tradition of hymns that mainly recounted the truths of the bible.
    I can agree that there are some contemporary songs that have little significance in the annals of Christian music. There were just as many in the past. All of us are at different points in our walk. Some need a glass of warm milk, while you seem to prefer a meaty steak. I pray you will not wink and smile at those who are not at the same place you are in your walk, or worse, refuse to sing with them. Some day you may find yourself listening to a song you once found great comfort and meaning in only to find someone else winking and smiling.
    We walk a tenuous line when we think we have it all figured out and it’s the rest of the people who could learn something from us. Jesus did not have very much patience for that kind of thinking.

  • Love it. We need to find a way to celebrate and discuss what God is doing in our lives, or where we are struggling, in a way that is more ordinary and comfortable. This is not unlike the Celtic philosophy of worship. You should read about it. Sounds so new and hip, but it is quite old.
    There still needs to be a time though of coming together in unison before God and expressing our praise, thoughts, and emotions of gratitude, passion, healing, and dependence as a community. It should be done in a way that isn’t too flippant or common.
    But I think what your group is doing is fresh and commendable. It sounds like the early church to me.

  • Agree with you, Craig. Those who join a church community only because of the worship are like those who marry only for sex. The excitement of physical intimacy will soon become common and stale without a spiritual intimacy to go along with it. I see many people come and go looking for their next “hit” on the worship crack pipe. Next thing you know, they are strung out looking for the next leader who will get them excited again. It’s never quite enough, and everything gets old in time. What they need is a heart fix, not a quick fix. I know SOMEONE who runs a great detox program. Sure you do too! 🙂

  • deanna says:

    just read this today – totally laughing out loud… I just saw a teen tweet the other day “You make all things work together for MY good” and was completely annoyed by that as well! My dad being the Baptist church organist, however, I happen to love well written worship music, but mostly I’m a hymn lover. Now I’m off to move a mountain or two! 😉

  • Talitha says:

    HAHAHAHAHA!!
    This cracked me up!!!
    I am attending and worship leader at a pentecostal church.
    I just love how straight up you are about the whole thing. I was a little offended at first. But as I kept reading I could see and grasp a little bit of how you were feeling.
    HAKUNA MATATA THEOLOGY!!
    CRACK UP!! So true though. It’s easy to get lazy. Just expecting God to take care of everything. All we have to do is ask. LAZY THINKING!
    Hakuna matata. hahahahaha
    YOUR FUNNY!

  • sandra says:

    if you don’t like certain worship songs b/c you aren’t dow n with the lyrics….me thinks you should pen your own…and try and get others to sing them en masse….at mass….seriously….if you were half as offended by poverty, racism and injustice as you are fired up about ambiguous wording in worship music….you would make an excellent slave of christ jesus….

  • Denim says:

    Growing upsinging hymns and worshipping with great worship songs in the 80s, i totally feel the current song are poorly-written musically and lyrically. Those ‘party’ songs written by amateur church musicians of Hillsongs hardly evoke any feeling nor are they worshipful.
    As an experience church musician who played for 30 years , i feel these songs are monotonous, repeatative, lyrically-shallow and not memorable at all. You can’t even remember their tunes after singing it. They are like hotdogs compared to the fine cuisine of the 80s.
    It is no wonder the congregation are no longer singing during worship. These ‘party’ songs just do not resonate with the people.

  • Andrew Diprose says:

    Useful food for thought

  • Matt says:

    My first chance, today, to really listen to the song. As I was listening I kept hearing “she” as opposed to “he” as written. Not only on my MP3 player but also on my computer. Tell me the singer has a bit of a lisp or is it “she” that is being said as opposed to “He”. ex: For my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save

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