Top Down Worship

Recently, I had a conversation with someone about a particular church practice for our corporate worship. It was an honest question, not intended to challenge my pastoral authority or create some kind of dispute or division. The person was asking a question with a genuine desire to understand. I appreciate those kinds of questions. Questions…

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Why a Piano and Not a Praise Band?

Is there a reason that we use a piano instead of a praise band? You’ve asked a good and (in my estimation) important question. I should start by defending the proposition that music even matters. Some want to argue that for Christian singing, only the words matter, and that discussion about music simply isn’t important.…

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Resource Recommendation: Patch the Pirate

If you take a ride in the Schaal minivan, you will most likely hear it. It’s like our soundtrack for road trips. Our children have most of the songs memorized. My wife and I even joke that we have gone several minutes on a date night before remembering to turn it off because it’s so…

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Let the Little Children Sing

From the time Emily and I first knew we were expecting, we sang “Jesus Loves Me” to our daughter Evelyn. She heard it in the womb, then in the first few moments after delivery, and even now she hears it every evening at bed time. Next, we immersed her sister Kyrsten in the tradition. We…

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What Camp Meeting Choruses Teach Us About the Gospel

“Let’s sing that chorus one more time!” the worship leader calls out. You sing it again, this time louder and with more energy, “amening” the truth of the song with your voice along with everyone around you. In today’s music world, the best part of a song is often imbedded in the chorus or refrain.…

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Entertained or Edified?

Recently I watched an intriguing YouTube video by bass player and composer Adam Neely called “Learning to Like Contemporary Christian Music (the music I hate).” Adam takes us on a interesting journey as he studies the style and form of some of the big names in modern contemporary worship. I agree with much of what…

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“We” or “Me” in Church?

Americans have always placed a premium on individualism. But, in the Coronavirus pandemic, we have carried individualism to a new level. To avoid going out, some people are trying to get “off the grid” by generating their own power, planting their own gardens, or doing anything else imaginable. We see this same problem in our…

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The Harvard Reformers: Learning to Sing Again

You’re standing to sing in a new church. The worship leader gets up to lead the first song, with the words on the screen behind him. Then you realize you can’t sing the song because you’ve never heard it. Did the worship leader write it? Who knows. But you’re left standing there, with about a…

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What Happened to the Singing?

In 1640 the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony printed the Bay Psalm Book. It was the first printed book in North America. The original title was The Whole Booke of Psalms Faithfully Translated into English Metre. That title highlights the Puritan desire for a psalm book that clearly reflected the original Hebrew poetry of the…

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