Modern Praise Music

[WampusCat]

Oh, I know it is considered a children's hymn. I just think it's amusing that it could be misread as encouraging children to be fierce wild beasts.

[Primula Baggins]

Mr. Prim used to love singing "Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear." And "Bringing In the Cheese."

[axordil]

Real praise can only come from a heart sufficiently humbled to offer it. I think the bigger the music gets, the harder it is to maintain that level of humility.

[JewelSong]

And "Jesus Loves Eve and Me."

[Maria]

I wonder how much of the negative assessment of praise music might be because of its essential nature. The purpose of it is simple praise of God, not insight into human pain or complex exploration of emotion or theology. Just praise.

I can only speak for myself- but I was an atheist from childhood to my late 30s -- and rejection of any mention of religion is the default reaction for me, whatever the media. I understand now that there is beauty in many religions and the art forms that are inspired by them- but it takes a significant effort for me to see it. I will never understand the need to sing about how much you love something- but that's just me. I'm not musically inclined at all.

[River]

So I listened to some more Safjun Stevens. He sounds a lot like Gregory Alan Isakov (linky is to a favorite song of mine....who can't love a lyric like "I threw stones at the stars but the whole sky fell"??) though I'm not sure Isakov's stuff could ever be classed as praise music. But maybe it could. A fair amount of religious imagery flies under my radar - you'd basically have to get up and sing "Jesus is my buddy" to alert me. This is probably in no small part because the Abrahamic religions have had such a profound and pervasive impact on our culture and the images and metaphors are just there, all the time. I would not have put U2 in the praise music category, for example, though I love their lyrics. I just never keyed in on any religious aspects of their work as religious, if that makes any sense.

[axordil]

Go listen to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" again.

[WampusCat]

Some local Episcopal churches have had U2-charists (Eucharist -- i.e. Mass or Communion) using U2's music.

[Alatar]

Take My Life

The Wonderful Cross (That's a collaboration with Matt Redman, who is awesome as Pearly Di mentioned.)


Alive Forever Amen, Travis Cottrell Strong gospel feel, which I normally don't like, but I can't help but get into this song. (Fun to play! I play a gospel organ sound on the keyboards.) This version has a funky tag ending, but hey. Whatever your church can manage! Ours is definitely not funky enough to handle this!

Praise to the Lord the Almighty Arranged by Travis Cottrell.


Father, Spirit, Jesus (Wicked fun to play!)

Thanks Lali, some really good ones in there. I'll check out Praisecharts also.

[Pearly Di]

Some local Episcopal churches have had U2-charists (Eucharist -- i.e. Mass or Communion) using U2's music.

I've heard of that and I'm not quite sure what I think about it. Some U2 songs could work really well in that context, I agree. But a whole service with nothing but U2 songs ... not sure about that. I mean, I love U2, and I've even played one of their songs to my church when I was leading worship once (it was 'Grace') but that would seem like overkill to me.

I would not have put U2 in the praise music category, for example, though I love their lyrics.

I wouldn't either. It's not music which is specifically written for a worship service.

I just never keyed in on any religious aspects of their work as religious, if that makes any sense.

Yes, it does. The spirituality is definitely in their work but it's subtle.

I love the lyrics to Grace. It's a clever song, because to a Christian listener that song is definitely about the Holy Spirit (using 'she' rather than 'he', which can be justified theologically) but it's not in your face.


I'm against worship being 'hip' and 'cool' for the sake of it. (It's not like the church could keep up with that anyway. ) Worship should be about God, not us. But it makes sense for a worshipping community to express their worship in an accessible and relevant way and in a language and medium they can understand. So I am a big defender of Christian contemporary music.

After all, John and Charles Wesley used popular opera tunes for their splendid hymns and they copped a lot of criticism for doing so at the time from certain stuffy quarters. Same old story.

Lali, I like that rendering of 'Praise to the Lord the Almighty'. It's one of my favourite hymns and it lends itself beautifully to a more contemporary musical interpretation.

I'll check out your other links now ...

[yovargas]

Liked that Gregory Alan Isakov song, River.

[River]

Thought you might, yov.

[Lalaith]

I was trying to think of some more CCM artists that I like.


Seventh Day Slumber, Innocence (A song about sexual abuse, actually.)

Seventh Day Slumber, Awake

Day of Fire, Run

The Fray, You Found Me

Ginny Owens, Be Thou My Vision

Ginny Owens, Free

(I really like her song, Symbol of a Lost Cause, but I can't find it online. I'll send the audio link if anyone wants it.)

Grits, They All Fall Down (A little rap for y'all!)

Phil Wickham, Cannons

Phil Wickham, True Love

(These two I'd classify more as praise music, since they are easily adapted to corporate worship; we've played them both.)

Okay, I'll stop for now! I could name more that I like: Jeremy Camp, Todd Agnew, Relient K, Jennifer Knapp, Toby Mac, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, Caedmon's Call, etc.

[Lalaith]

Well, I successfully killed another thread.

Anyway, Alatar, I thought of another song that your band might like. Have you tried How Great Is Our God ?

(It has that same "our God" thing, but I don't think it's as "our God is better than yours" as the other song you didn't like.)

[Alatar]

We're playing that one already Lali! I like it a lot.

Currently learning "I will sing". Starts about 2 minutes into this clip.

[Lalaith]

That is very pretty, Alatar!

I'm not really familiar with it, even though I've been to a worship seminar with Don Moen. (If he sang this song, I do not remember it.)

[Pearly Di]

Seventh Day Slumber, Awake

Not quite my cup of tea I don't listen to much rock, let alone Christian rock, but those guys are hot. In a 'good' Christian way, of course.

Ginny Owens, Be Thou My Vision

One of my favourite hymns, naturally. She has a lovely voice.

That Phil Wickham guy is good.

Okay, I'll stop for now! I could name more that I like: Jeremy Camp, Todd Agnew, Relient K, Jennifer Knapp, Toby Mac, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, Caedmon's Call, etc.

Wow, out of that lot I've only heard of Jeremy Camp, Jennifer Knapp and Caedmon's. I don't really follow contemporary Christian music, tbh, but there are lots of songs I enjoy singing as part of worship.

One I really like, 'Consuming fire' by Tim Hughes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEkZDbKN-Ps

[Pearly Di]

Got some more ...

Good old Casting Crowns 'Who am I', simple, profound and lovely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q

'Does anybody hear her' -- powerful message and well-made video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOJW4Uw ... re=related

And I love this one (I don't know the artist), 'Am I worshipping God for only me?'

http://godspace.wordpress.com/2010/02/0 ... r-only-me/

[Lalaith]

Wow. That's a powerful one!

It looks like the artist is someone named Shirley.

"Consuming Fire" is a good one, too. I've never heard of Tim Hughes (I don't think).

Thanks for the new ideas!

[JewelSong]

Philippa, that last song really hits home. Very powerful and thought-provoking and I imagine might make some people feel a teensy tiny bit uncomfortable.

Which is good, I think.