Several of my friends are quite critical of modern worship songs. Or, perhaps I should say modern worship choruses. The repetition of the words, the lack us substance, the lack of focus on God and Christ, and, they feel, you have music (often not to their liking) and words that don’t speak to them, don’t feed them, and don’t lead them to worship. And, the lyrics of modern choruses don’t contain doctrine, they say, making them less effective for worship than the old hymns, which do contain doctrine.

I must confess to being somewhat in this category myself. I don’t listen to Christian radio because they play the latest songs, and I don’t like them. They come into the church fairly quickly after they appear (or so it seems to me), and I don’t like them any better live than I did on a recording. My reasons are more music and instrumentation related, not totally the lyrics—although some of them have lyrics that leave me cold. I understand the church has to keep itself relevant to those who will be around longer than I will, so I haven’t troubled myself too much over music. The third or fourth time a new song is sung I generally get it and sing along too. Blessing follows.

So today, when I walked into early service just a minute and 28 seconds before it was to start, and saw some people on the platform, ready to lead in worship, that I didn’t recognize, I was concerned.  The youth pastor was there too, and a couple of other people I recognized, but not the two in front. As service started, they say a song I didn’t know. Very modern. Somewhat repetitive. Not very fulfilling. I didn’t sing along, nor clap. At the end of the song the youth pastor told the congregation that this was the youth praise band, and who the two “strangers” were.

Based on the first song, I wasn’t optimistic. However, the next one (I think it was the next one, or was there another before that?) was a wonderful song, “In Christ Alone“.  This has been a favorite of mine for a number of years. I figured it was an old song, but once I got home I looked it up, and see it was copyrighted in 2001. Okay, for me that’s not old; that’s new. This song was wonderfully done. The combination of words, tune, instruments, and the voices of the praise team and the congregation gave us a wonderful worship experience. Two segments of the song particularly speak to me:

And as he stands in victory,
sin’s curse has lost its grip on me.
For I am his and he is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ.
…
No power of hell, no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from His hand.

So full of meaning, and poetry, and worship.

They finished up the singing part of the service with the song “Cornerstone“. I knew this was a newer song, but wasn’t sure how new. Found it when I got home however: 2011. Now that would count as new in anyone’s book, I should think. This is another wonderful song, with tremendous meaning in the lyrics.

The teen praise band sang both of these songs in a wonderful way. All the instruments blended, yet I could pick each one out. The drummer played the song to enhance and supplement the other instruments. We weren’t overpowered by the booming of the drums, which can all too easily happen.

The result was an exceptional worship experience. When Pastor Mark got up to speak, I was in great expectation of what he would say, and I think most of the congregation was. What a wonderful time. “Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”