Those of you who know my opinion on praise & worship music ([1] 1, [2] 2) will think this falls into a similar vein, but the credit for the topic is actually not mine, but a good friend.

We were sitting over a cup of coffee and he brought up the fact that when we sing contemporary praise songs, we end up just repeating the word as though it were some sort of talisman, a mantra, something with multiple mystical meanings to describe a feeling: “Oh God we praise you!, Lord, praise be to your name!”

Now, that’s all well and good, but when do you get to the actual praise? What has the Lord done? Who has He revealed Himself to be to you? Who is He outside of your own personal (exceedingly finite) experience? THAT is praise, not repeating the word “praise” over and over. Thanks, Christopher, for the good reminder.

Those of you who know my opinion on praise & worship music ([3] 1, [4] 2) will think this falls into a similar vein, but the credit for the topic is actually not mine, but a good friend.

We were sitting over a cup of coffee and he brought up the fact that when we sing contemporary praise songs, we end up just repeating the word as though it were some sort of talisman, a mantra, something with multiple mystical meanings to describe a feeling: “Oh God we praise you!, Lord, praise be to your name!”

Now, that’s all well and good, but when do you get to the actual praise? What has the Lord done? Who has He revealed Himself to be to you? Who is He outside of your own personal (exceedingly finite) experience? THAT is praise, not repeating the word “praise” over and over. Thanks, Christopher, for the good reminder.