Change: Worship Wars

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!” -Psalm 96:1

Have you heard of the “worship wars?” Maybe you haven’t heard it by that name but you’ve experienced it. Let me reword the question. Have you ever been caught up in an argument about traditional versus contemporary music in worship? Or maybe an argument over choir versus praise band? Or organ versus guitar? These arguments are all part of what people are now calling the “worship wars.”

Well, I’m calling us to put a stop to it once and for all! These things drive us apart. Organ is no better for worship than guitars. Nor is a praise band better in God’s eyes than a choir.

For those of us promoting traditional worship only and denying the change to praise band music, let me say this: change is necessary. God is always the same and always new. We should sing new songs to him, even if the style in which they are sung is uncomfortable to us. There is great value in stepping out of our comfort zones into something new and uncomfortable and finding the significance of these new worship forms.

For those of us promoting contemporary praise and worship only and denying the rich traditions of the church, let me say this: there is great value in the foundation set for us by our mothers and fathers in the faith. To deny this tradition would be to separate ourselves from a part of who we are as a body of believers.

So as we press on, let us embrace old and new, clinging to the fact that our God is both old and new. Change is necessary, but let us change in light of what has come before us.