They are a bunch of pretty down to earth guys who are talented musicians – but what I love is the way they express what they are trying to say in a song. They sing about things in ways that I’d never think of – and it takes me aback when I hear a new song they have written. They are a worship band primarily, but not the type of worship you’d sing in church (although they did write I can only imagine – which is sang a lot these days).

Such an occasion happened yesterday when I googled them and spotted one of their videos on YouTube. Fantastic song and quite a cool video too. And once again, the lyrics blew me away. Check it out…

However, I do get increasingly frustrated at the number of worship songs there are out there – and especially new worship songs – that are still using the same chords as all the others. For me as a creative chap it really gets in my way as it comes across as lazy and of the attitude of ‘I know this works, so I’ll just do it again’. Harsh? Possibly.

Lets get technical for a minute and have me back this wild accusation up with some evidence here. The chord sequence that seems to be used the most in all Christian worship songs is the I, V, VIm IV chord sequence (i.e. the root chord, the 5th, the minor 6th and then the 4th chord). If you were in the key of G, this would translate to G, D, Em, C (or for a minor variation the V chord sometimes has the major 7 in the bass – i.e. G, D/F#, Em, C). If you are a guitar player, go get your guitar and play those chords and they will probably sound familiar. Why? Because they are so overused!

There may be some people out there who would suggest that in a worship song, the only thing of real importance in the lyric – as long as they are sound, then who cares what the music is doing as long as it is not distracting from the theologically correct words. There is some truth in this I’ll admit – as a worship song with great music and poor words is not really going to serve any purpose expect to make ‘Songs of Fellowship‘ Volume 97 slightly fatter. But I believe music is something that can engage not only our intellectual with the words, but also with our emotional through the music. A great worship song needs to be equally balanced with fine music and awe inspiring lyrics – and when this is executed by superb, God-fearing musicians then for me it allows me to do what Jesus intended us to do – and that is to worship God freely.

In everything I do at the moment, I am constantly reminded of this word excellence. I don’t want to do anything half-heartedly but want everything to be the best it can be empowered by God. In the same way, when we write worship songs lets not settle for the same old chords, the same tired phrases but let us use the creativity God has placed within us to craft new sounds for God’s glory.

I read something which struck me today. In the cover notes of Paul Baloche’s album A Greater Song the president of Integrity music, Michael Coleman, has written an introduction to this CD (which is an excellent CD I might add). Something he said really hit me:

“There is one thing we do on earth that we will continue to do in Heaven. That is to praise and worship God. That is why we view life on earth, for those who live Jesus, as choir practise for Heaven. To say that praise and worship is the most important category of music is an understatement. In light of that fact, there is no more important activity of the human heart that to praise and worship God.”

I often get quite bogged down with how many Christian worship leaders there are out there – wondering if in fact they are just doing it because they really just want to be a pop-star or in a famous band; there are so many worship songs out there – and I wonder if the authors of those songs are just doing it to be amongst the top Christian artists. And yet when I read the snippet above it makes me see that perhaps I am being overly cynical about the whole worship music movement.

Michael Coleman is right: there is no more important music than music that honours and worships God. So isn’t it right then that there are stacks of people out there wanting to write Christian songs? And isn’t it also right that there are stacks of bands out there wanting to play Christian music? The devil really has his way when it comes to music most of the time and it is about time we stood up to that and used this most powerful tool even more to praise and worship our God in heaven.

Yes of course – if you write or play Christian music then do it with the heart that wants God to be lifted up more than anything else. But shouldn’t people like me be encouraging others more to get out there and lift up the name of the Lord with music? I think I should. I think I should be flexing my writing muscle even more. So what if there are a million others doing it – the most important music on earth is music that lifts God up and if I can contribute to that and get in on that, even in a small way, then I want in.

I’ve actually got a couple of songs on the way that I’ve been working on. As soon as I get chance to whack them down, I’ll pump them up here…