Functions of Congregational Song (3/3)

James wrote to the young church, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." Faith leads to action. So, some congregational songs are meant to call us to action.

The songs of God's people can be found throughout God's story, and they continue to be a vital part of worship. These songs not only give verse and melody to our response to God, they also instruct and develop us as followers of Christ. There are five ways congregational songs shape our worship and shape our hearts. I was first introduced to this idea by Dr. Constance Cherry's book The Worship Architect. In it, she writes that songs in a worship service can be: Prayer, Exhortation (encouragement), Praise, Proclamation and Call-to-action. The last two Sunday's blogs (here and here) focused on the first three functions. Today I'll focus on Proclamation and Call-to-action.

Proclamation - Songs that proclaim a truth about God or about faith in Christ are proclamation songs. On Sunday we sang "This I Believe." The song has a subtitle "(The Creed)" because it closely resembles the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed, both of which proclaim what we believe as followers of Christ:

I believe in God our Father, I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit, our God is Three-in-One
I believe in the Resurrection, that we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus

Proclamation songs tell God's story. They also teach us God's story. They are an important part of our spiritual development.

Call-to-action - We closed the service on Sunday singing "Burn Like A Star," a song by the Irish band Rend Collective. It is a great example of a call-to-action, as are many songs by Rend Collective. A call-to-action song prompts us to do something. It might draw our attention to an injustice that needs to be corrected. It might help us focus on sharing Jesus with the world or with our neighbor. There are a variety of ways a call-to-action can call us to action; the common theme always relates to James 2:14-26, where James talks about a faith demonstrated in works or deeds.

Interestingly, I've had a hard time finding contemporary call-to-action songs for us to sing. A few examples would be "Build Your Kingdom Here," "Changed," "The Time Has Come," and perhaps "Take My Life," though that one is more of a prayer song.

I use an online planning tool called Planning Center Online, and one feature lets me look at the top songs used each week by all churches using Planning Center. Looking through this list of songs each week, I've noted that the most used contemporary worship songs seem most focused on Prayer (singing to God), Praise (exalting God) and Proclamation (singing about God). Songs of Exhortation (encouraging each other) and especially Call-to-action are less sung. Why is this the case?

Perhaps it is because we are more prone to focus inward as a society today than we were in the past. We are obsessed with learning our own personality traits, strengths, weaknesses. We are interested in finding inner peace. We workout to improve our self-image, our self-esteem, our self-worth. The Internet and data connectivity give us more opportunity to stare at a screen, instead of looking around at the world. Social apps tend to be more about expressing ourselves than socializing with others. We are told, "treat yourself," and "have it your way," and to "trust no one" besides ourselves.

And so, in worship today we see trends toward a worship service that helps the individual focus on God. Low lighting helps us block out the "distractions" of other believers around us. Songs use singular pronouns (I, me, my) more frequently than plural pronouns (we, us, our). If we're not careful, our relationship with God can give us tunnel vision. It can be a sort of faith without deeds, which James calls "dead." We might feel a closeness and intimacy with God, but we keep it to ourselves.

That's why call-to-action songs are so important. They should point our hearts outward and remind us that God has called us to be more than just a happy and healthy Christ-follower. As Tim reminded us on Sunday, we are to be salt. We are to be light. We are to live a faith that "makes its dwelling" in the neighborhoods around us.

When Sunday comes around, pay attention to the song God has given you. What is God's call-to-action for you? For your family? For your small group? For our church?