Using a portion of Calvin R. Stapert's book, A New Song for an Old World, in my last post, I discussed how our worship, and especially the music we use in worship, has become characterised by a singular expression of something approximating joy. It raised the question of why we have become unable to express many of the feelings and emotions that are part of the worship of Scripture.

From Stapert's perspective, the problem is that we have become confused about the purpose of music in worship. He writes,

While suppressing the 'doleful' countermelody leads to a trivialization of the joy theme, a tendency toward a pagan kind of epiclesis¹ leads to a perversion of it. Those misled by this kind of epiclesis think – or at least act as though – 'we convene ourselves [for worship] and then wait for God to show up because we have said the magic words or cranked up enough volume in our praise.' They also inevitably blame the music when they feel worship to be joyless and spiritless. They see music as a stimulus to rather than a vehicle for the expression of joy, an enticement for the Spirit's presence rather than a grateful response for it, as though the Spirit were at the beck and call of our music. Granted, the border between a response and a stimulant is obscure. In addition, as Augustine and other church fathers attest, music can be a legitimate stimulant for 'inflaming' our piety and devotion. Nevertheless, it is as important for us as it was for the church fathers to keep the distinction clear, and to remember (1) that response, not stimulation, is the fundamental role of worship music; (2) that 'inflaming' can easily degenerate into manipulation; and (3) that not all that is called 'spiritual' is of the Spirit, or, as Plantinga and Rozeboom put it, 'not all that moves us is of God.' I am convinced that there would be a marked and salutary difference in the church's music and worship if we would maintain the central focus of our 'new song' to be a joyful response, offered in humble gratitude, not a stimulant 'to excite every nerve...and to create as many...synthetic passions as possible' (to quote Thomas Merton) [202].

If you have a conversation with evangelicals about worship, most of the time the debate centres around which style of music they like best. Besides the problem of such a narrow definition of worship, which sees it as nothing more than the music, it also proves Stapert's incisive observation – we want worship to be a stimulant, to make us feel something. If the music doesn't satisfy our own subjective tastes, we believe that somehow the Spirit won't be present in our corporate worship; indeed, we believe we haven't worshiped.

So how do we get the congregation to understand that worship is fundamentally an act of response?

In the first place, we need to make our worship gospel-centred. I know that this is one of evangelicalism's many buzzwords, but it is true. A proper, holistic understanding of the gospel must be at the centre of our worship. Too often the gospel is stripped down to mean nothing more than the fact that Jesus has saved us. Well, yes, of course. But saved us from what? We need to understand the counterpart, the state we were in before Jesus saved us. Praising God for our new life in Christ means very little if we don't understand our old life.

The most obvious way to do this is to saturate worship with Scripture. Don't just have Scripture read before the sermon, but take your call to worship from Scripture. Have call and response readings and prayers based on Scripture. Very important here as well is to ensure that the lyrics of the songs you sing in worship are Scriptural. In his latest book, Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns, T. David Gordon writes about his efforts as a pastor to keep the songs used in his church theologically accurate. To that end, he went through the church's hymnal, which contained more than 700 hymns, and found over 500 of them to be lacking. Needless to say, it is remarkably easy to pen careless or even unorthodox lyrics when your primary concerns are things like rhyming, or evoking warm feelings in those singing your songs.

This is, I think, one of the biggest problems with contemporary music as well. Too many songs give the pretense of being Scriptural, using phrases here and there from the Bible, but often they are carelessly constructed. I could give a number of examples, but there is a twofold point to be made here. First, the church confesses what it sings, so biblical and theological accuracy are vitally important to the music of worship. Second, and related to this, is the fact that one of the easiest ways to memorise something is when it is set to music. At the end of the day, the congregation will be walking away from the worship service singing the music. Every effort must be made to ensure what they are singing is true to Scripture.

In addition to making worship gospel-centred, we need to have a structured liturgy if we are to teach people that worship is an act of response. For this, we need to ensure that a number of elements are present in our worship. A call to worship reminds the congregation that we don't come to worship to feel good, but because God calls us into his presence, to assemble before his throne. In response, we should sing songs of praise to him, recognising that he is the almighty God. Coming before his throne also requires that we lay our sins before him and seek his forgiveness and assurance of pardon, corporately and individually. In response, we should sing songs of lament for our sin, that seek his forgiveness, and that remind us of his grace and mercy. After hearing God speak through his written Word and the preached Word, a song of response should follow that fits with the theme of the message. In the Eucharist, the gospel is made visible and grace is imparted to us, and our song should be a song of praise to the Lord for his salvation and his faithfulness to us. When we hear the benediction, we are hearing God himself bless us, and so our song can be nothing more than a resounding 'Amen!'

David Watson, in his book, I Believe in the Church, writes, 'It is...God himself who initiates worship. It is simply our response to all that God has shown us of himself and done for us in our lives' (181).

God initiates, we respond. It is a pattern that cannot be reversed, for when it does, it ceases to be worship. Our concern that worship be joyful, then, is wholly contingent on our recognition of who God is and what he has done for us. But when we begin to grasp on to that, to truly start to understand the reality that the Lord of heaven and earth has called us to be his own, our worship will take on dimensions that we never expected, and we will say with the Psalmist, 'Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation!' (Psalm 95:1).

Music certainly plays a very important role in our worship. In fact, it is one of the unique aspects of Christianity that our faith evokes from us a response of song. But we need to do a better job of thinking carefully about the music of our worship. The so-called 'worship wars' have missed the point, to a degree; the issue is not so much the style of music used in worship, but the role that music plays in worship. Using Stapert's terminology, is it a stimulant or a response?

Incoherent as these ramblings are, I thought it fitting to conclude by citing R.B. Kuiper, who in his book, The Glorious Body of Christ, had this to say about worship:

When God's people assemble for worship they enter into the place where God dwells. God meets them, and they meet God. They find themselves face to face with none other than God himself. Their worship is an intimate transaction between them and their God.

If the church were fully conscious of that truth, what dignity and reverence would characterize its worship! (347)

May that indeed be true of all our worship.

¹Epiclesis is the Greek word for 'invocation'. In worship, it refers to the invocation of the Holy Spirit.