Styles

Newer music…
… is too repetitive
… are just love songs
… can be sung to any God, or to your boyfriend/girlfriend
…is light praise
… is irreverent
… is “of the world”
…is mindless
…is 7/11
… is pabulum

Hymns…
… are boring
… are hard to understand
… are for the elderly
… are musically choppy
… are culturally irrelevant
… are fit for funeral dirges only

All of the above statements are based in ignorance.  I often find that those who bad mouth newer songs, simply don’t take the time to find the gems in this genre or have been taught that all worship music has to have dozens of lines with meaty lyrics (but in scripture we see the angels singing simple repetitive phrases in Isaiah 6 and again in Revelation) and those who bad mouth hymns usually haven’t really taken the time to fully comprehend the depth of the lyrics that they are singing.

Style isn’t what matters.  God matters.  Our worship matters.  And the state of our hearts and minds, as we worship Him matter.  It does take a village.  One size does not fit all.  His kingdom needs to benefit.  The church needs to benefit.  God needs to be glorified.

It is a very dangerous thought to think that God prefers only one style of music or one accompanying instrument.  The fact is, God is the creator of variety.  If He didn’t like variety, we would have only one type of tree and one type of bird.

The fact of the matter is that…

Hymns…
… have withstood the test of time for a reason
… cover more scriptural topics than any other musical form, short of the Psalms
… are sung with great confidence
… have been comforting generations of worshipers for centuries – some for millennia
… are easy to sing in a corporate setting
… are worshipful
… let the word of Christ dwell in us richly
… are moving
… have historical meaning
… are our heritage

And newer music …
…is heartfelt
… through the work of the Holy Spirit has taken a role in revolutionizing worship
… is easily understood, even by the unchurched
… is culturally relevant
… exudes praise and love toward God
… uses repetition effectively to dwell on important aspects of God and our praise towards Him

Both hymns and contemporary music have God’s fingerprints all over them.  Both can be useful.  Both can be worshipful.  Both can be reverent.  Both can be profoundly biblical.  Both are needed.  Both are important.

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