I’ve started using the word “praise” to describe what we do when singing in church, instead of “worship”.

It’s not really such a big deal. And there are any number of things you can call it! Perhaps most significantly, I’m not saying that worship is not what we’re doing when we are praising. Of course singing is worship! Christian worship that doesn’t involve praise and adoration in singing is probably a bit stifled. And what’s more, when you bring the people of God together, the things they do to the glory of God ARE worship. It’s just that worship is more than singing.

I guess I’m a bit wearied by the prohibition by some people of the word “worship” in relation to the Christian gathering. The argument goes like this: since worship is something that believers need to do in all of life, therefore to talk about the gathering as being the place we come “to worship” is misleading. The parallel has been made with breathing. Since breathing is something that you do in all aspects of your life, you wouldn’t say that you go to church to breathe. It just wouldn’t really describe or differentiate the act of going to church, since breathing is something that is not limited to going to church.

The problem is, worship IS something that describes church and differentiates the gathering from the normal hum-drum of life. When we gather together under the word of God, we metaphorically (and often physically!) get on our knees together, expressing our place as a body before God. Now this is exactly what worship is: bending over or bowing down before God. That’s what we go there to do! To submit ourselves not only in our day-to-day private lives, but also importantly in our lives together. We go as a group to worship.

Now, having said that, the way in which we bow before God in church almost always involves serving one another. And so you could say that you go to church to serve one another. That doesn’t mean that you don’t serve each other when you’re not at church. It’s simply saying that serving one another is one of the reasons you go to church, and this is a perfectly legitimate way to use purpose clauses!

So why have I given up using the word worship, then? Surely I’ve just argued for the importance of that word in relation to the gathering…

I guess it’s because this has in some quarters become a very distracting argument!! I’ll quite freely say let’s stand and worship God as I’m leading singing. But I know there’ll be people who want to correct my language! And that’s for good reason: they’re wanting to make sure we don’t use language carelessly. But I don’t want to have to make a theological justification every time I use the word! Instead, I tend to use the word “praise” now more often, because you can’t really argue with that.

You may be thinking, this is no way to deal with a theological debate, to sweep it under the carpet! That is certainly on my mind. However, my hope is that in time, as we are able to continue to clarify the debate, there will be less tension. As a matter of fact, this year in the EQUIP music training program at Holy Trinity, I led a whole course on the question of worship and how it relates to music. I do think that it is a major topic for musicians and pastors to have clear in their heads. But there is also a time with just getting on with praising the Lord! Sometimes our theological questions actually need to be parked temporarily, while we get on with the crucial business of responding to God himself, the great King who has made us his friend!

Psalm 92:1-3 It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, 2 to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, 3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

Isaiah 42:10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.

It’s interesting how often the Bible urges us to sing a NEW song. Yet I find that it’s something a lot of churches don’t do very often! I wonder why it is that the songs need to be new?

Perhaps it is not that the songs need to be new. There are many more references just to singing in general as there are to the particular place of singing new material… And clearly if all we did were new songs, we’d struggle to build a repertoire with familiarity that could therefore be sung with gusto. Searching for the next notes in an unfamiliar melody can sometimes be distracting from the task of reflecting on God and his gospel…

But there is something beautiful about a new song. The music charts are evidence of this. The music people buy most is new music. That is no doubt followed in popularity with older music that has the ring of becoming “classic” music. But a distant 3rd would be music that is not very new, and not very good. Have you ever bought one of those compilation albums of past hits with a few familiar tracks, but a majority of tracks you’d previously been unaware of?

I think these Bible passages are tapping into something that is true of people in every age: new music can excite us in new ways. It can be focused on all the same subjects. On the radio this might be romance, unrequited love, partying, dancing, and so on. In the Christian gathering, it is the old, old story of Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of every one of God’s promises. But because it is communicated in a new melody, it brings new enthusiasm, new perspectives, new reminders.

So then, how much is enough?

Everyone has their wardrobe full of clothes that really need to be given away. It’s the same with our song repertoires. For contemporary youth services, I reckon if there’s not a new song in the program every month, it’s probably sounding stale. The evidence will be the enthusiasm with which people sing the songs. Sure, the minister might believe this is the truth that we should sing to each other every week. But perhaps a new tune and a re-wording would bring freshness.

But the other thing to keep in mind is that a new song is an unfamiliar song for a period, until people get to know it. It can take 2-3 sings for a congregation to get into it. And then it might last for another 10 sings, or another 20, or 30, depending on how good the song is, and how small the gaps are between sings.

I reckon if you find a really great song, don’t flog it to death!! Do it a couple of weeks in a row, then rest it for a couple of weeks. Then stagger its use so that it is not ruined by overuse!

At Holy Trinity over the last 2 years, we’ve averaged 15-20 new songs per year. This is quite a lot, I know. But we’ve worked hard at making sure that songs are properly taught, consolidated, and then spaced. If you have 5 songs per service, you can have one brand new one, one that was learnt the previous week, one that was learnt 4 weeks ago, and then 2 well-known favourites. Other weeks might be focused on consolidation. But that’s ok. You’ve got 52 weeks!

There are so many great songs being written these days – make the most of them!!