a question of accessibility
January 2, 2007
Back in Nov., I got an insightful email from a congregant about a phrase we sang in a song during our weekend church services. The song was “Give Us Clean Hands” by Charlie Hall.
See if you kind find the phrase in question. Here are the lyrics:
Give Us Clean Hands
Charlie HallVerse
We bow our hearts we bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idolsChorus
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
And oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face oh God of Jacob
And oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face oh God of Jacob©2000 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing); sixsteps Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
What was the phrase in question?
The answer is “God of Jacob.” My friend wanted to know what that meant. Here is what I said to him:
Great question! Quick history lesson: Jacob was the third Biblical patriarch. His father was Isaac, and his grandfather was Abraham. Jacob, together with Esau, was born to Isaac and Rebeccah after 20 years of marriage, at which time his father was 60 (Genesis 25:26), and Abraham was 160 years old.
During Rebeccah’s pregnancy, “the children struggled together within her” (Genesis 25:22). Rebeccah questioned God about it and learned that she was going to give birth to two children. They would become the founders of two very different nations. Jacob would be the father of the nation that God would bless, Israel.
The phrase “God of Jacob†is a type of technical phrase used as a general designation of the God of the patriarchs [as mentioned before: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob]. Some references speak of the “God of my [your, thy, his, their] father†without mention of a particular father, while other references include the name of a particular patriarch [i.e. God of Jacob]. So the Bible uses the formula to emphasize continuity between the God who is revealed to Moses and the God who guided the patriarchs.
It is important to note that under the new covenant, in the New Testament, this formula is transformed to mark the continuity between historic Israel and Christianity [that’s us]. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is the same as the God revealed to the patriarchs. The promises made to Abraham established the concept of a people descended through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who would be in a special historical and spiritual relationship with God.
So in the song, when we sing “God of Jacob†we are recognizing that we are from a long line of descendents that have a special historical and spiritual relationship with God. It’s pretty powerful!
I hope that makes sense. Thanks for probing…
Upon reflecting on this answer recently, I realized that there is a follow-up question that begs to be asked. Is it beneficial to sing songs with phrases that need that much explanation? Don’t we want songs to be more accessible?
Well, yes and no.
Yes, we want songs to be accessible. The idea of corporate worship is that a local body of Christ-followers can come and worship together. Most congregants aren’t musicians, so it is important that most songs [note most] are memorable, in good keys, don’t extend the vocal range too much, and are easy to learn on the first listen.
But no, if accessibility is the only criteria by which we choose worship material. Of course it depends on how you define accessibility.
As I mentioned before, melodic accessibility is very important. That is where good keys, melodic range, etc. comes into play. But what about lyrical accessibility?
I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist church in the 70’s and 80’s. We sang from the hymnal. Fanny Crosby was our musical hero. Albiet there was a thing called the Jesus Movement happening on the left coast that would influence the worship music landscape in the near future, most of America in the 80’s were singing “Blessed Assurance” with a piano and organ [unless you were in the Church of Christ...acapella only]. All of this is to say that lyrical accessibility was not considered much because it was accepted that those who came to worship God were believers and could understand the theological depth of the text.
In the 80’s and 90’s, lyrical accessibility became a high priority. Since there was a high premium on engaging the seeker, worship leaders everywhere combed through lyrics to make sure there wasn’t a term or phrase that could confuse. And I think worship songwriters noticed this trend and wrote to that end. Sadly, much of the worship music from this period will not endure because it erred on the side of ’safe.’
But here in the 2000’s, there is a growing [and promising] trend that I have noticed within the worship music spectrum related to this issue. Progressive mainstream worship songwriters like Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Brenton Brown, etc. have alot of depth to their lyrics. The reason I say mainstream is three-fold: 1) under-the-radar people like the folks at Indelible Grace have been doing this type of thing for some time now and 2) if more mainstream writers are moving in this direction, it signals a shift in what is acceptable and accessible in lyrical content and 3) younger generations are more tolerable of broader lyrical content.
So practically speaking, I think in the area of lyrical accessibility, it is important to have a balance of those songs that say one thing very simply, those that are deeper in nature [particularly theologically-which includes updated hymns], and then songs that marry both.
One of the best examples of the latter is Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God.” The verses of “How Great…” are some of the richest ‘hymnlike’ lyrics I’ve seen in a while ["The splendor of the King, robed in majesty...] but the chorus is the repetitive and very accessible title of the song.
As for songs that have more depth, one of the benefits, as seen in my interchange with one of our congregants, was it challenged him to not just sing words he didn’t understand, but to seek more understanding after the worship service. And I know what your next thought is and no, I don’t think this he is the exception.
My impression is that our congregants [and seekers for that matter] are smarter and more sophisticated than we make them out to be. That is why I think we need to embrace the shift in lyrical accessibility to include deeper content.
Here is the irony to me. For example, it is known that hymns, or theology set to music, have long been a vehicle for learning the deeper things of God. Isn’t that what worship is about? Jumping headfirst into the mystery and beauty of God? Yet, we have waffled on the issue of lyrical accessibility for almost two decades. And honestly, the depth of our worship is malnourished.
So back to the follow-up question: is it beneficial to sing songs with phrases that need explanation? The answer is yes. If it is kept in balance, there is nothing wrong with singing the phrase ‘God of Jacob.’
In fact, it just might engage church-goers into a deeper worship experience.
Look for more worship-related content later this week!
Posted in church, editorial, music, planning, theology, worship
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January 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
nice post. needless to say, i agree.
i always really liked hall’s euphemistic selection in this song. well, that’s not true, the very first time i heard it, it seemed jarring, out of character with the rest of of the lyrics. but that made me think about the phraseology, and the reason hall selected it, and, in turn, the lyrics stirred more in my worship than, say “oh God who loves me” or “oh rock of ages” or “oh Lord of heaven” would have - these phrases have more or less decayed in their significance through usage.
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Good Thoughts on Lyrics…
I have been a big supporter of hymns if not for the sole reason of their depth. Brad, of relevintage, looks at the issues of accessibility and depth in contemporary worship.
relevintage :: a question of accessibility
Here is the irony to me. F…
January 5th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Greetings,
Enjoyed your thoughts here. How you developed the recent history of worship music songwriting was right on. One issue that I see is many people who strongly favor the lyrical depth side of things are still reacting to the seeker-songs of the 90’s and are resistant the more recent songs that are “marrying” depth and accessibility.
With regards to Hall choosing the particular phrase “God of Jacob”, is this whole song not a pretty direct quote of portions of Psalm 24?
Blessings,
SEZ
January 5th, 2007 at 10:49 am
well, no wonder they are such great lyrics.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:24 am
scottyz: you are right! i totally forgot to mention that…which proves that Hall has a high view of Scripture and putting that Scripture to song is probably the main reason that he kept that phrase in…
January 5th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
[...] Is it beneficial to sing songs with phrases that need that much explanation? Don’t we want songs to be more accessible? Yes and No… [...]
January 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
It is definitely true that there has been a vacuum in deep, theologically-driven worship lyrics for a couple of decades. I wanted to escape from the maddeningly simple “contemporary” lyrics in favor of the weightiness of hymns, notably rewritten by groups such as Indelible Grace, Red Mountain Music, and the myriad RUF groups across the country. Not surprisingly, the “best sellers” music list at goodtheology.com point to the drive towards the older, more profound words among purchasers of music from that site. (not to say that it is a good gauge of the whole of christians everywhere)
But something that I have discovered is that “hymns” are not what I am (or others are) particularly driven towards. It’s that I am driven towards songs that are incredibly deep in their words, that strike my heart and my mind, that cause me to meditate on the profound mysteries of our faith, that elicit thought on so many aspects of doctrine. Our God is massive, sovereign over all creation, beyond the bounds of time itself. Why are we singing lyrics that are so egocentric and basic that it makes my mind die?
Thanks for your thoughts, Brad! I appreciate you putting them on the blog.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
[...] Is it beneficial to sing songs with phrases that need that much explanation? Don’t we want songs to be more accessible? Yes and No… [...]
January 8th, 2007 at 12:18 am
[...] a question of accessibility [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
[...] I had a great comment of note from my 01.02.07 entry about the accessibility of lyrics. I would like to reprint it here for your edification… [...]
March 26th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
[...] Brad was picked up for his post, “a question of accessibility,” where Brad argues for more depth in songs as a way to facilitate deeper worship. [...]
March 26th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
[...] relevintage :: a question of accessibility Here is the irony to me. For example, it is known that hymns, or theology set to music, have long been a vehicle for learning the deeper things of God. Isn�t that what worship is about? Jumping headfirst into the mystery and beauty of God? Yet, we have waffled on the issue of lyrical accessibility for almost two decades. And honestly, the depth of our worship is malnourished. [...]
March 26th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
[...] Brad was picked up for his post, “a question of accessibility,” where Brad argues for more depth in songs as a way to facilitate deeper worship. [...]
March 26th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
[...] relevintage :: a question of accessibility Here is the irony to me. For example, it is known that hymns, or theology set to music, have long been a vehicle for learning the deeper things of God. Isn”t that what worship is about? Jumping headfirst into the mystery and beauty of God? Yet, we have waffled on the issue of lyrical accessibility for almost two decades. And honestly, the depth of our worship is malnourished. [...]
April 6th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Wow, this has given me something to think about. I grew up with the hymns, but a lot of our ministry right now is in prisons with relatively new believers. I try to mix it up, playing old hymns with a new kick (”This song was popular in the ’60s…the _15_60’s”) as well as newer songs. On that note, i’ve never particularly liked the song in question here…more of a theological question is whether it’s the Spirit’s job to “make us humble”, or whether we are to humble OURSELVES under the mighty hand of God.
Great website and resource…I’m sure I’ll be back. :)
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