Note: this is the first of what will be a semi-regular feature of this blog going forward, the “song of the day”. Sometimes I’ll post just the lyrics, sometimes some discussion of the source verses or imagery contained in the song.
I recently came across a Christianity Today interview (ignore the incorrect Web page header and title) by Dick Staub with Harold Best, author of Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts. In the interview, Best discusses several items related to worship, including the persistent nature of worship through our daily lives, not just the 15-20 minutes of songs before the offering and sermon, and the need for a unified musical worship instead of fragmenting services by worship “style”, e.g. traditional, contemporary, youth, etc.
Most importantly, Best argues that when the music service is treated as the object of worship rather than God, we have made an idol. In the interview, he tells the following anecdote about the song, The Heart of Worship:
Matt Redman lives in England, and his church was growing by leaps and bounds. The music was very important as to the reasons why it was growing, but Matt and his colleagues took a very courageous decision and said, “We have created an idol with our music. We are going to cease and desist all music in our corporate worship until the Holy Spirit clears us of our conviction about idolatry.” Essentially, he said, we’re going to put each other out of work.
So the music stopped, and the church continued to grow. And then after much prayer and discernment, they decided to bring music back in. Matt wrote The Heart of Worship as a response to that. In the middle of it, he says. “It’s not the music, it’s you.”
That is something that a lot of churches need to do. They need to cut out the music and give the Holy Spirit a chance.
I’ve ordered his book and will review it once I’ve had a chance to read it through.
The Heart of Worship (When The Music Fades)
Words and Music by Matt Redman
Verse
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart
Bridge
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
Chorus
I’m coming back to the heart of worhip
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
Verse
King of endless worth
No one could express
How much you deserve
Though I’m weak and poor
All I have is yours
Every single breath
Bridge
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
Chorus (2x)
I’m coming back to the heart of worhip
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
Bridge vamp
I’ll bring you more than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
More than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
You’re looking into my heart
Looking into my heart
You’re looking into my heart
Into my heart
I’ll bring you more than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
I’ll bring you more than a song
I agree with you, ElShaddai, but not everyone does. There was quite a discussion about this song a few months ago, to which I responded.
Matt Redman seems to be an amazingly humble guy, in person as well as in the songs he writes. Last month when he put in a guest appearance at Soul Survivor when I was there he was greeted like a rock star, yet refused to acknowledge it at all. His friend Mike Pilavachi told the story of how when Matt had his big break to lead worship at a gathering of 25,000(?) Christians, when he had finished the leader tried to present him to the congregation and thank him only to find that Matt had disappeared off the stage. The next day he was putting his heart into leading a small band doing an outreach in his local shopping mall, as if nothing had happened the night before. If only every Christian leader had the same self-effacing attitude, while also having the confidence to lead.
That’s a great story about Matt Redman, Peter, thank you for sharing that. The worship arts pastor at my previous church was very emphatic that all members of the praise band were worship leaders and that our hearts needed to be on God, not our being on stage in front of everyone. I constantly pray that God will close my physical eyes to the congregation and let my playing speak for Him.
The first verse I thought of when I heard this song, and then especially looking at the lyrics of the bridge section, was Psalm 51:
[...] Worship, part 2 Preface: see here and here for earlier posts in this [...]
[...] arts Tags: authentic, best, continuous outpouring, theology, unceasing, worship Preface: see Introduction, Part 1 and Part 2 for earlier posts in this “book review” [...]