Worship Wars?

By Caitlin

So although we have a lot in common as Presbyristas one thing thing that we sometimes have to agree to disagree on is this thing called "contemporary worship music." Some of us admit to liking it at times, others are more suspicious.

 I think we all agree that there can be some serious downsides to the contemporary worship style such as: fad music that fails to talk about God at all or does so on a very surface level, music that is overly personal instead of communal, volume that is way too loud and makes worship seem like a rock concert instead of a group of voices and instruments joined in praise, and finally annoyingly fake worship leaders.

And at the same time we agree on a lot of good potential for exploring new music styles. The use of more varied instruments in worship (drums, flutes, brass, and even...gasp, guitars!) and more culturally rich worship music from around the world allows us as worship leaders to be more creative in our planning and to create worship that is more varied and expressive.

So that being said, I wanted to share the work of one of our fellow seminarians who has always believed in the power of our traditional hymns and combined that with his passion for a more contemporary style of instrumentation. Find his two new recordings here and tell us what you think! I like the doxology recording... it is like Taize meets contemporary. Are we at a place where traditional doesn't have to be at war with contemporary but maybe they can be mutually indebted to one another with new styles breathing life in to stale hymns and beautiful, theologically sound lyrics adding some depth to newer sounds? What do you think?