Fake Worship Is a Problem Everywhere

It’s a thoughtful article. A lot of good points.

Is it biblical to say emotions are “incidental” though? Like the author, I’ve seen some worship music disasters (from my point of view) that resulted from “emotions-first” assumptions. Worship as a feeling, etc.

But since my personal musical reboot a few years ago, I’ve been thinking a bit differently. Why is there music at all? Why are worship poems set to music and sung at all? One seemingly obvious answer is that singing unites text with beauty and feeling. So, worship is not a feeling, but we are supposed to feel when we worship—especially during the singing part. And if emotion is inherent in the purpose of setting words to music, emotion is more than incidental.

What I actually do as a worship leader, though, is sort of choke back my own emotions. I tend to be suddenly overwhelmed, which doesn’t go well with leading. So I’m pretty sure I indirectly feed a ‘cognitive over emotive’ vibe. I don’t know how to avoid that.

But theologically speaking, I’m not persuaded that ‘cognitive over emotive’ is really what God had in mind for worship music.

(Is it just me, or are the Psalms frequently very emotional? It’s clearly emotion tethered to truth, driven by truth, though.)

It’s clear from scripture that man expresses emotions because God made us in his image, and he expresses emotions. And, I agree with Aaron that music adds emotion to the text. It’s probably a tough balance to not lead with emotion, but with the truth. However, there’s a reason we are saved when we “believe in [our] heart that God hath raised Him from the dead,” not believe in our heads. The will is more important, but emotions follow. Salvation and worship are not purely intellectual exercises.

I haven’t led music often, though I do sing regularly in the choir, and like Aaron, I do have to detach somewhat from the emotion in the song to avoid getting choked up by the emotional expression. I worry about that less when I’m in the congregation or any other setting where I’m not helping to lead the music.

I also find the Psalms to be very emotional, sometimes surprisingly so. Even though they end with truth, there are a lot of places where frustration or despair come out first.

First, it's important to remember that there are at least two sets of Hebrew/Greek words for "worship"; one meaning to prostrate one's self, the other meaning to serve. We might do a lot of good if we differentiated the two; I'd argue that what we're doing when we sing in church is primarily praise, not prostration. Let's let our language reflect this.

Second, and related to the first, we need to understand what is going on as we sing; it is partially praise to God, and partially didactic. And so a key test for music in the church is whether it coherently allows those in attendance to return praise and have the Word of God imparted to their hearts and minds. That would defuse a lot of the debates over old music/new music right there, IMO.

And good points by Aaron and Dave about the emotions that ought to arise as we reflect His Word in song. We can get overcome, but at the same time, we ought not be totally afraid of our own emotions.