Praise and worship going too far?

Described as the thank you that refuses to be silenced, praise and worship plays an essential role in churches.

In fact, like the message (the Word of God), worship has its own session in each service, whether on a Sunday or Saturday.

However, it is now the view that the usual praise-and-worship sessions no longer serve as a congregational event of which everyone can take part, but has, over time, transformed into a spectator's event being led by the highly esteemed 'praise team'.

Online research has shown that the congregation no longer knows the majority of the songs that are used in the session and that some of the songs are too high in range for the average worshipper.

Pastor of the Grace Missionary Church and chairman of the Missionary Church Association in Jamaica, Reverend Teddy A. Jones, also shared concerns over the direction of praise and worship in the Caribbean.

CUTURAL RELEVANCE

Among his concerns are that too many churches are merely seeking to follow the trend, there are too many imported songs and not enough local songs leading to a lack of culturally relevant expressions of worship.

Sharing an excerpt from a paper he wrote on the topic, Jones referred to contemporary praise and worship as cultic in some circles.

According to him: "There was a time when the singing in our churches was led by the chorus leader. The songs were a careful blend of hymns and choruses that were solid and deep in their theology and served as an important link between the various elements of the overall liturgy. The songs reflected the realities of the lived experience of the worshippers; they embodied the struggles and hopes of the people."

However, he posited that some songs used in today's sessions lack theological depth or are not biblically sound in doctrine.

"It is quite evident that the praise-and-worship movement bears the marks of postmodernism such as hedonism (pleasure as an ultimate pursuit) and relativism (no absolute truth).

"I recognise that some excellent songs are being written, and I am convinced that much contemporary music enables worshippers to honour God.

"However, with the dominance of music, I'm concerned that other important forms of worship are not being developed, creativity is diminishing, non-singing worshippers are offered few resources for worship, and some songs are becoming too complicated musically for unfamiliar worshippers.

"To put it bluntly, contemporary worship is in danger of becoming single-faceted and boring. A preponderance of songs has lessened the opportunity for the creativity that God expects in our response to his revelation," Jones said.

To be continued.

Shanna kaye Monteith familyandreligion@gleanerjm.com