Worship music for the head and the heart

Using Chris Tomlin as an example, John Stackhouse argues that we need much better lyrics in contemporary worship songs:

.... We are the most educated Christians in history, and yet our lyrics are considerably stupider than our much less educated Christian forebears—the people who sang lyrics by Fanny Crosby or Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts.

And please note that I didn’t say our lyrics are “simpler.” Simple can be good. Simple can be beautiful. I’m not arguing with simple. ....

This is serious business, friends, and I don’t apologize for ranting. For we spend the days after we’ve gone to church humming and recalling the words from the songs we’ve sung a lot more often than we recall the words of the Scripture that was read, the liturgy that was recited, or the sermon that was preached. Let’s do all we can, then, to make sure our heads and hearts are full of something good. [more]

The post elicited much comment.

Chris Tomlin’s Worship Songs: We Have Got to Do Better « Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog