I would not be surprised if your church has sung it or had it sung in a service. It charted #2 on Billboard, is currently a top ten song on the major “church use” lists (Lifewayworship, Praisecharts, and CCLI), and was nominated for 2019 Dove Award. I would be very surprised if you don’t immediately know which song I am talking about. The Unintended Misdirection of “Raise a Hallelujah” Is there a point in time in your worship service when the song leader says something like “let’s worship God together” or implies that you are all about to worship God? Assuming as much, shouldn’t that mean that what follows is worship? I say it should, which is why I say that worship leaders should make certain that it does. This leads to the purpose of this article. But I have had to explain all three of those songs to individuals in my church (namely the object-jumping), and I have come away with the same worry: “what was going through your mind while you were singing that song after I had told you we were using it to worship God?”. If you have a group of Christians who think about the texts and can actively translate those lyrics into their own heart’s worship of God, then everything is fine. Matt Redman’s popular “10,000 Reasons” does a variant: the song is sung to God, but it mixes in “my soul” as a “you” in the chorus. Kari Jobe took “Be Still, My Soul,” a text by Katharina von Schlegel sung to our souls about God’s sovereignty, and added a chorus sung to God-“you” goes from meaning “my soul” to “God” and back without warning (the only indicator would be a capital “You” which I’m noticing more and more typists ignore, but that’s for another day). Whether or not I like it as a technique, it is not uncommon. “How Great Thou Art” opens up a subcategory in which the text jumps back and forth (verse 3 is about God, the rest of the song is to God). And that’s fine! Either category can be defined as a worship song. To be sure, my church uses plenty of songs sung to God, like “Living Hope,” “Speak, O Lord,” and “How Great Thou Art,” but they are in the minority. In fact, looking through the songs my church enjoys singing, many of them are not actually sung to God but are rather sung about God. But none of those songs is actually directed to God. All of those songs are clearly about a biblical attribute of God, which is a good mark of a worship song. “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” is a song to be sung by Christians to remind each other about God’s incredible love.ĭid you notice anything about that list? All of those songs really only make sense when sung by a Christian, which is a good mark of a worship song. “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” is a song to be sung by Christians both to other Christians to celebrate God’s grace and to non-Christians to invite them to experience God’s grace. “Jesus Messiah” could be sung by anyone to make objective declarations about Jesus and salvation in Him. “His Mercy Is More” is a song to be sung by Christians to one another to celebrate God’s mercy. (Please note that I’m talking about corporate worship in this article personal and private worship opens many unique, and separate, possibilities.) Can we agree to use that definition for now? Now consider those four songs I mentioned above. How would you define a “worship song”? I define it as a song that is either to or about the Triune God, sung in such a way that encourages corporate participation. There are countless ways this can happen, but I want to focus on the surprisingly common scenario in which we fill our “worship service” with songs that are not “worship songs.” Sometimes, perhaps regularly, song leaders try to use a song in a way other than its text intends. Finally, because this article is being written to pastor theologians, review the text to evaluate how the song was intended to be used. For example, I used “His Mercy Is More” as an opening declaration of praise, “Jesus Messiah” to introduce a Lord’s Supper service, “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” during a time of confession, and “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” as an invitation to commitment. What songs did your congregation sing? Some of the songs from my church’s past few Sundays include “His Mercy Is More,” “Jesus Messiah,” “Grace Greater than Our Sin,” and “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” Then, ask how each song was used. Think about your past few worship services. If you are any kind of pastor theologian, you should be interested. Let’s start with a basic assumption: you are interested in what happens in your church’s worship services.
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