Depth or Depression?

I’ve been reading a lot of articles, blogs, etc. about worship; what it should be, what it isn’t and all that good stuff.  People my age are crying out that they want more depth and meaning to worship.

I was at a conference recently where 5 recording artists were sharing new worship songs they had written and one of them stopped to thank the panell for writing songs that “finally had some depth.”

Now I understand what they’re talking about and certainly I think there is a whole lot about God and worship that we haven’t even scratched the surface on, but do we really need to have candle lit vigils where we sing about deeply theological concepts every week?  Are we really thinking that we need the word propitiation in a song?  Try making that rhyme!

At Clovis Hills, we’ve gotten comments that suggest we are going deep enough in our worship; that we play 3-4 upbeat songs and call it a day.  But let me ask you this; should we be planning worship sets that are what the American Church “needs” or should we be singing songs that meet the needs our community.  In the Fresno/Clovis area, people work really hard.  They generally do pretty well financially and they are pretty churched, though not always living that out to the fullest.  Shouldn’t we do songs that breathe life into people like that? 

So many people want to return to this liturgical style of worship and let me tell you, I grew up Catholic.  I’ve had about enough of the repitition of the liturgy.  Who wants to chant when we can raise our hands, move around a little bit and sing at the top of our lungs.  To me, that’s life and that’s worship.

what do you think?