Contemporary or traditional?

Today I’ll attempt to bash out an answer for the age-old (or not) question: Which is better for church, contemporary or traditional music?

Let’s take a look at…grammar, of all things. Specifically, pronouns. Everyone remember what those are? He, her, our, we….etc. Worship has always been about the community, right? We gather together in a house of worship to lift up our prayers as a community of believers. So logically, our community worship (songs) should be about us and we, right?

Most (not all) hymns use lots of plural pronouns (our, we, etc.). A good example is the classic “We Gather Together.”

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing
He chastens and hastens His will to make known….

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant
and pray that thou still our defender will be….

Sounds nice. Lots of community, and extolling God’s greatness. Link to the hymn lyrics

On the other hand, we have “King of Glory” by Third Day, which goes:

Who is this King of Glory that pursues me with his love
And haunts me with each hearing of His softly spoken words
My conscience, a reminder of forgiveness that I need
Who is this King of Glory who offers it to me

While it has a few good qualities (the Lord offering forgiveness, etc.), there are no plural pronouns, implying that God is offering forgiveness to me alone, to the exclusion of all others. Furthermore, the first two lines sound suspiciously like a secular pop song…just substitute “my boyfriend” or “that cutie” for “King of Glory” and you’ve got a pop song. Link to lyrics

Yes, He loves you, but songs shouldn’t make Him out to be like this.

We’ll have more fun later. See you!