This strikes a chord, but some of the notes are discordant.
The emphasis on our emotions in worship music disturbs me too. The emphasis should be on God and His character.
But He is not only strong, powerful, sometimes war like, He is merciful, compassionate, self sacrificing. He is the way maker, miracle worker, light in the darkness. He rescues us. We are told to “put on the full armor of God,” to resist the Evil One.
Our God is an awesome God. He is awesome in how He heals the broken hearted and goes after the lost sheep, rejoices over one sinner who repents, runs to meet the returning prodigal.
Very well written and explained. The church is certainly different nowadays than it used to be. It's missing so much worship that gets lost in the razzle-dazzle of today's feel-good ministry.
I generally agree with you. However, the lights and the style of music create the tone of worship. How something is conveyed is as important as what is conveyed. You cannot have serious masculine worship while having your worship in the style of a rock concert. We are embodied beings and no matter how theologically sound the lyrics are, if the medium is irreverent and casual, our hearts will not be inclined to revere God.
What a blessing this article is, Virgil! Effeminate men are such a problem in today’s church. And not just men who literally carry themselves softly like a woman, but also the lazy men. Laziness is a form of effeminacy, bc it is a man refusing to pursue holiness by defaulting to whatever feels good. We have 50 and 60 yr old grown babies in the faith due to laziness. We need strong, bold, active men who don’t tire of pursuing God.
I love this article. You touched on one of my hot-buttons with today’s churches. At least the ones I’ve joined or visited. Somewhere along the way we forgot that there’s a difference between hymns and songs. Most worship leaders rely on songs, not hymns, for the worship portion of Sunday service. Predictably, they don’t lead worship. They perform, complete with heads raised, eyes closed, arms outstretched, creepily looking like those classic artists renderings of the crucifixion. Worst of all, the lyrics of dozens of songs are wimpy, effeminate, and unscriptural. I know I’m probably insulting some readers, but my experiences with modern worship have created a barrier I haven’t been able to scale. I’m looking once again for a church that embraces the kind of worship you’re encouraging here.
Virgil, I am feeling your passion on this. I even started a playlist for Masculine Worship on my Amazon Music, but now I’m on Spotify so I’ll move it over. Thanks for the rally cry! I echo you in my first Substack!
“We’ve turned the worship of a holy, sovereign King into the emotional soundtrack of a middle school breakup.”…..this had absolutely broken my heart as I see more church’s adopted this way of “soft” worship 💔💔💔
A part of it is the elephant in the room that many churches are unwilling to address, to be a worship leader, in the current iteration of the American church, you don’t need to be a Christian you just need to be talented and able to play the part. They’re willing to play along because they want a stage and an audience and the u.s. church provides them with that. There are many worship leaders in some of the most notable Christian worship “groups” and they’re not Christian and choose life choices that are antithetical to the Gospel. You now have these same people taking the pen on the latest worship songs and, let’s be honest, most churches will incorporate elements of trendy worship songs (be it the whole song or the bridge). So the reach extends well beyond just their audience.
excellent article , hits the nail o the head ….keep it up!
Thanks for checking in, Gavin.
Amen and Amen!
🙏🙌✝️❤️
This strikes a chord, but some of the notes are discordant.
The emphasis on our emotions in worship music disturbs me too. The emphasis should be on God and His character.
But He is not only strong, powerful, sometimes war like, He is merciful, compassionate, self sacrificing. He is the way maker, miracle worker, light in the darkness. He rescues us. We are told to “put on the full armor of God,” to resist the Evil One.
Our God is an awesome God. He is awesome in how He heals the broken hearted and goes after the lost sheep, rejoices over one sinner who repents, runs to meet the returning prodigal.
Great words. I completely agree.
Very well written and explained. The church is certainly different nowadays than it used to be. It's missing so much worship that gets lost in the razzle-dazzle of today's feel-good ministry.
You are correct, Mr Walker.
This is such a problem, I wrote a hymn to combat it 😂
https://open.substack.com/pub/lancecashion/p/worship-is-our-warfare-a-battle-hymn
I generally agree with you. However, the lights and the style of music create the tone of worship. How something is conveyed is as important as what is conveyed. You cannot have serious masculine worship while having your worship in the style of a rock concert. We are embodied beings and no matter how theologically sound the lyrics are, if the medium is irreverent and casual, our hearts will not be inclined to revere God.
Oh so good! Truth spoken. I hope that churches are listening.
What a blessing this article is, Virgil! Effeminate men are such a problem in today’s church. And not just men who literally carry themselves softly like a woman, but also the lazy men. Laziness is a form of effeminacy, bc it is a man refusing to pursue holiness by defaulting to whatever feels good. We have 50 and 60 yr old grown babies in the faith due to laziness. We need strong, bold, active men who don’t tire of pursuing God.
Thanks for reading Andrew and the feedback.
Women are okay saying “Jesus is my boyfriend!” For guys it is gay.
I love this article. You touched on one of my hot-buttons with today’s churches. At least the ones I’ve joined or visited. Somewhere along the way we forgot that there’s a difference between hymns and songs. Most worship leaders rely on songs, not hymns, for the worship portion of Sunday service. Predictably, they don’t lead worship. They perform, complete with heads raised, eyes closed, arms outstretched, creepily looking like those classic artists renderings of the crucifixion. Worst of all, the lyrics of dozens of songs are wimpy, effeminate, and unscriptural. I know I’m probably insulting some readers, but my experiences with modern worship have created a barrier I haven’t been able to scale. I’m looking once again for a church that embraces the kind of worship you’re encouraging here.
Virgil, I am feeling your passion on this. I even started a playlist for Masculine Worship on my Amazon Music, but now I’m on Spotify so I’ll move it over. Thanks for the rally cry! I echo you in my first Substack!
“We’ve turned the worship of a holy, sovereign King into the emotional soundtrack of a middle school breakup.”…..this had absolutely broken my heart as I see more church’s adopted this way of “soft” worship 💔💔💔
So waiting for that to cone back to the house…
A part of it is the elephant in the room that many churches are unwilling to address, to be a worship leader, in the current iteration of the American church, you don’t need to be a Christian you just need to be talented and able to play the part. They’re willing to play along because they want a stage and an audience and the u.s. church provides them with that. There are many worship leaders in some of the most notable Christian worship “groups” and they’re not Christian and choose life choices that are antithetical to the Gospel. You now have these same people taking the pen on the latest worship songs and, let’s be honest, most churches will incorporate elements of trendy worship songs (be it the whole song or the bridge). So the reach extends well beyond just their audience.