I've listened to a couple hundred hours of praise music of various sorts, looking for material to use in our weekly service. There are some good songs in that genre, and I always hate to see it bashed here at Mudcat because some of my best MudBuds play it at their churches, and they report that they have a good experience with it. But I have found better material, in general, in the older gospel musics such as oldtime, Carter, bluegrass, southern, black (various subgenres in each of these sorts of gospel), and hymnody of various time periods and denominations.

It seems to me that it boils down to this-- a lot of the praise music has the wonderful, heady effect of making people feel madly in love as they sing it or hear it, and if what they are in love with is the Lord, I suppose that's a good thing. But real love in action is not a feeling, it's a decision and a series of actions. It needs strong underpinnings and persistence based on reasoned faith-- not a goofy grin.

Praise music has an addictiveness to it-- many of the pieces are not memorable enough to "stick to your ribs" after you leave-- the feeling is so transitory, and may not provoke ongoing thought or prayer as the week unfolds. People feel like they need to come back for a "fix." And so the church grows with people who say they are getting a lot out of the worship experience via the music. But I want people to leave our services toes tapping, phrases coming back to them all week long. I want to feed them from ALL the food groups of music, not just the dessert that should follow a good strong sermon and their prayerful response to it....

I don't want our congregation to need to come to church for a fresh fix, I want them to have and share, with others, what is never-ending and bottomless. I want them to come to church celebrating what they have been able to give, in the Lord's name, all week long, and I don't want them to need a refill from ME-- it's a neverending refill from the Lord through the Holy Spirit, available all the time, anytime, in song or in silence.

~Susan