Exploring new themes?

[PatrickH]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who's ever hit this point, so I'm looking for advice/ resources, as our worship teams are trying to find new material..

Our teams have recently been spending a lot of time looking at our lyrical content, and are finding that the vast majority of our songs seem to say the same thing... We do a lot of the modern standards, a lot of Chris Tomlin, Redman, passion etc...

It feels like, if it is an upbeat song, we are praising God's awesomeness/splendor, and if it is slow we are wanting the holy spirit to "come down on us", or we are singing about forgiveness... (all important things to sing about)

But where are the upbeat, joyful holy spirit songs? Where are songs of repentance, of sorrow/mounring/or suffering? When I flip through an old hymnal I see sections dedicated to "The militant church", why are we missing that?

Many, many theologans over time have felt that people learn more theology from the songs that we sing than from anything else. So as worship leaders, we need to be finding songs that not only engage our congregations, but that shepherd them and help them come to a new understanding of God...

It's a difficult thing that I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated by... If only I could write songs that were congregationally singable...

Anyway, has anyone else been faced with these issues? What new songs are people doing that lyrically take us somewhere new?

Thanks. Pat

[RainCaster]

Pat,
I understand completely. I was so excited to be back home for Pentecost Sunday. Bought a new flaming guitar strap, spent loads of time pouring through our library of music... Desperately looking for some great songs appropriate for that Sunday. Must be easy enough to teach our congregation, not solo pieces. End result- a new flaming guitar strap and the same old few songs about the Holy Spirit.

I found a few songs that were ~close~ in our Alpha music books, but nothing really spoke to me. Please- anyone care to open up a few new song sources?

[PatrickH]

yeah, it was especially noticable to me this week, with penticost sunday... It seemed so backward to put in our normal "holy spirit" songs, since they were all slow - yet penticost would have been incredibly exciting! The apostles were filled with the spirit and immediately left the place they were and went out preaching the gospel and 3000 people came to Christ that day!

[kewlpack]

You know what - get that old hymnal out and rearrange some of the lyrically strong ones. There are tremendous songs in there that would be great to sing regularly again!

"You never mentioned him to me"
"I'm not ashamed"
"Unclouded Day"
"Praise Him Praise Him"

Man the list would be a thousand songs long...

I MISS the old songs. More because of the content than the style. I am very tired of the "maranatha praise" style choruses that say the same thing 30 times in a row. Those songs have their place... but I want some meaningful lyrics that make me think and worship in a deeper sense.

Hey - maybe that's something we could do around here... rearrange some of those and put it down on paper (or in Word!) with mp3 samples for whoever wanted to grab it.

Think think think... :-s

[leecow]

Reseting and writing new hymns is 'the thing'. An awful lot of the current tunes in rotation either lack depth of message or the theology is suspect.

There are a couple of recent re-arranging examples that were very effective. "The Wondrous Cross", "Oh God Our Help In Ages Past", "Before the Throne" and "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" come to mind and I'm sure there are others floating around.

One thing that's not too difficult is creating a chorus so that the hymn can be restructured into a more contemporary flow.

[Crunchyriff]

But where are the upbeat, joyful holy spirit songs? Where are songs of repentance, of sorrow/mounring/or suffering? When I flip through an old hymnal I see sections dedicated to "The militant church", why are we missing that?

Ooohboy you just hit the ball outta the park, brother!!!

[Teleguy]

...many theologans over time have felt that people learn more theology from the songs that we sing than from anything else. So as worship leaders, we need to be finding songs that not only engage our congregations, but that shepherd them and help them come to a new understanding of God...


You're right, y'know?!!!

[PatrickH]

Quote:
But where are the upbeat, joyful holy spirit songs? Where are songs of repentance, of sorrow/mounring/or suffering? When I flip through an old hymnal I see sections dedicated to "The militant church", why are we missing that?


Ooohboy you just hit the ball outta the park, brother!!!

How so? Sorry, I just don't understand whether your comment is meant to be good or bad (silly text - always missing emotion)... Hopefully I'm not getting into too much theology on this or stepping on anyone's toes, as that's not my intent...

[Wally]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who's ever hit this point, so I'm looking for advice/ resources, as our worship teams are trying to find new material..

You're not - even in the CCM world, what was old is becoming new again as folks return to the hymnals as a source of "new material". Jars of Clay and Ashley Cleveland both released really good CD's recently of old songs, many with new arrangements.

Our teams have recently been spending a lot of time looking at our lyrical content, and are finding that the vast majority of our songs seem to say the same thing... We do a lot of the modern standards, a lot of Chris Tomlin, Redman, passion etc...

It feels like, if it is an upbeat song, we are praising God's awesomeness/splendor, and if it is slow we are wanting the holy spirit to "come down on us", or we are singing about forgiveness... (all important things to sing about)

One of the strongest criticism of modern music is that it lacks the depth of the old hymns and does not cover the entire spectrum of theology... I think that just like a few of the old hymns that have stood the test of time, a small percentage of the modern songs that we are singing so much now will survive.

But where are the upbeat, joyful holy spirit songs? Where are songs of repentance, of sorrow/mounring/or suffering? When I flip through an old hymnal I see sections dedicated to "The militant church", why are we missing that?

Many, many theologans over time have felt that people learn more theology from the songs that we sing than from anything else. So as worship leaders, we need to be finding songs that not only engage our congregations, but that shepherd them and help them come to a new understanding of God...

I have focused a lot more over the past few months on finding songs that go with the day's scriptures and the sermon topic to reinforce the ideas presented there and in turn, broaden the scope of what the music is teaching. Not surprisingly, I find it easier to find hymns for this use (than I do modern choruses).

It's a difficult thing that I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated by... If only I could write songs that were congregationally singable...

This is the sticky point with returning to the older hymns - we quit singing them to begin with because they were supposedly "hard to sing"...

Anyway, has anyone else been faced with these issues? What new songs are people doing that lyrically take us somewhere new?

Thanks. Pat

I think one of the best resources for what you are describing is not new but old - many of the old hymns are lyrically rich, and one of the best resources for me is the Reformed University Fellowship, which has a web site dedicated to old hymns, many with new arrangements:

http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/hymns.html

There are chords, lead sheets, and sound clips for the songs which will give you an idea of how to play them (I often use their arrangement but play the guitar accompaniment differently than the samples).

Another source, of course, is the hymnal - most modern hymnals have a guitar edition available. We do a lot of hymns using the orginal arrangement from the hymnal and they work out fine. One thing that I have noticed about current hymnals is that many of the old hymns have been shortened and they do a better job of teaching in their original form. I use www.cyberhymnal.org to find lyrics as the site usually has all of the verses instread of just 3 or 4.

[kewlpack]

Hey stephen...

Put those resources in the LINKS forum bud. So they don't end up hidden in an old thread. :)

[Ascension]

Charley Hall is one of my favorites of the current writers and frequelently leads for the Passion conferences.I don't think his Porch and Altar album for example would be in any way called "light". Here is an example--Wake up you sleepers ,wake up you preachers,join with the prayers of saints and marters for two thousand years .The Lord of the harvest,and the angels in the clouds.See that the earth is white ,and it`s time to swing the sickle down.And make straight the path of the Lord (From the song Make Straight).Oh how about --I see the Watchman climbing up the wall I hear the intercessiors groaning I see the martyrs dying for the truth I see the glory of the Lord upon the earth ( from the song King of Glory). Try JoAnn Mc Fatter or Morning Star . What about Zadoc , Lindell Cooley or Sion Alford ?? It's out there if you look but understand what you are asking for will COST you to walk in but is worth the price!!! Find and read Bob Sorge's book GLORY When Heaven Invades the Earth or The Worship Warrior by Chuck Pearce sometime .What you are refering too is the lost art of the Lament and while it was prevalent in the Psalms of David it is a totally foregn concept to the selfcentered, I'm comfortable in my mediocrity;don't rock the boat, bless ME NOW lord I deserve it ,apostic Church of today. We go there in my team a LOT in prophetic psalm but be prepaired to be challenged and changed if you choose this path.