The Importance of Lyrical Quality

OK, so it's been WAY too long since I wrote or shared something for the old blog here. Chalk it up to the busy-ness of the fall ministry calendar, two young kids and the Phillies playoff run - but enough is enough. It's time for something new on this page!

I've been thinking off and on about the importance of lyrical quality - and "quality" encompasses several things (beauty, theological accuracy, depth, avoidance of cliches). It seems obvious to us that the songs we use for our worship services ought to have quality lyrics (OK, most people would agree with that statement). Gordon Fee, a NT scholar, has said this with regards to the worship music of the church: "Show me a church's songs and I'll show you their theology."

What really brought this truth home for me was a conversation I had at a recent Intro to Living Word class. A woman who has been coming to Living Word for a few months remarked to me (she knew I was a worship leader) that she makes a point of really remembering the lyrics of the songs we sing on Sundays. She says she hums the songs we sing during the week - in other words, they really stay with her (I hope this means that our songs our somewhat memorable!). When she said this, my immediate thought was, WOW - she really is tuned into the words of these songs...and that's good! But upon further reflection I wondered to myself, are the songs in our repertoire lyrically rich, varied, and theologically sound?

This is a good question to ask yourself, not just as a lead worshipper, but as a congregant: If our songs were my sole means to understanding God and my relationship to Him and His Church, what I would know about him after worshipping at LWCC one year? Or five years? Or twenty years? Bob Kauflin, worship director for Sovereign Grace Ministries (and whose blog. Worship Matters, you can check out to my right), says "We remember what we sing, and nothing is more important to remember than God's Word."

We can say we value the lyrical depth and quality of our songs but sometimes (I'm as guilty as anyone) we get enamored with the tune, the melody, the sound...and only think secondarily (or worse yet, not at all) about the lyrics. May we all take another look at the words we sing and strive to sing songs that tell the story of redemption in beautiful, truthful and powerful ways.