“Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.†Psalm 33:2-4 (NIV)
I have to admit, I am one of those gals that enjoys contemporary Christian music. I love to worship my Lord with guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and tambourine. Sometimes I feel really lonely in my congregation. Yes, I like to raise my hands and sway with the music. Oh, don’t get me wrong – I like traditional hymns too (my favorite one is “Were you there when they crucified My Lordâ€). But oh, contemporary music is my joy. And my favorite group to listen to: Third Day!
Many older members of my congregation don’t agree with my taste of music, because it is not teaching you anything. I beg to differ. Third Day is teaching the Trinity in “You are so Good to Meâ€. Sometimes I get so frustrated, because we are so close minded. I hope that I don’t step anyone’s feet right now. I have talked to so many un-churched Christians and why they do not attend church. It is too stuffy for them. Some traditional hymns are wonderful teaching instruments, but they usually do not have very easy melody lines. For as with contemporary Christian music – oh yeah! I have seen people dance out of church with the closing song. Isn’t that what we want? People leaving church with a light heart and are ready to witness to the world. I know I do!
I remember the first time we had done “Grace Like Rain†by Todd Agnew. Oh my! Sure we had some positive comments, but mostly not so positive. People could not understand why you put the words from a traditional hymn to ‘ROCK MUSIC’. At the end of this post you have the chance to listen to a different version of “Amazing Graceâ€. All I am asking is that you listen to it with an open heart. It ROCKS!!!! I listen to it as I write this post. I hardly can contain myself. All I want to do is dance before my Lord and shout “Hallelujah – Grace Like Rain – all my stains are washed away†– Glory to God!!!!! Oh, how I wish we could listen to it together and raise our hands toward heaven and praise His Holy Name! He is an awesome God. Saved me by His grace – nothing I can do but just accept His precious gift to me. I hope and pray that today is your day to accept that precious gift.
“God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.†~ Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
“Grace Like Rain” – Todd Agnew [audio:https://eph2810.com/audio/Grace%20like%20Rain.mp3]
There is still time for you to sumbit your Carnival entry to Blair. Deadline is Tuesday, April 25th, 3pm Eastern Time. To get all the guidelines regarding the Carnival of Beauty, please visit Sallie at Two Talent Living. I hope you will share your thoughts on the Beauty of Art. For me it is music – for you? Writing, music or paitnings?
I love contemporary Christian music. It makes me feel good and inspired. I tend to gravitate towards Point of Grace, my girls too! I had never heard “Grace Like Rain” before but thoroughly enjoyed it…thanks for sharing!
I also wanted to thank you for the inspiring words you sent my sister about our little brother! We suddenly feel a calmness in our lives and I’m sure it is from all the prayers going on for him. So please keep it up! We are both new to the “blogging” world and cannot believe the support she got from everyone! I read your’s quite often and always seem to glean something each time. So thanks for being an inspiration, because you are!
It is so cool that I find this song to listen to it on your page… I have grown to love this song. We sang it in church today as a matter of fact. I am one that is very spiritual …hopefully not religious at all . I know we have talked about that before. Any type of music that gets me up and dancing or singing to worsip my Savior I am all for… I listen to contemporary Christian music just about exclusively…I love it to say the least!!! I do pray that the Lord’s church and I mean that as the body of Christ as a whole will become less “stuffy” and open thier hearts and mind to worship our precious Lord and spread that light to the world with the love we show to others through him… Great post as always… You always get me thinking and I love that. I love the way you share your faith with us all .. You are very special…
In his Love, Stormii
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE contemporary Christian music and it is the only thing besides talk radio or audio books I listen to in the car, BUT I don’t like contemporary worship services that much. There is something about the reverence that makes the service more special for me and the hymns are nostalgic. (BTW, I’m only 38.) I support the idea of contemporary services and would be happy to help one get off the ground at my church, but I don’t want to go to it every Sunday. Usually I feel like I went to a youth retreat instead of church. Great and fun, but not all I need.
I love Grace Like Rain. Amazing Grace is my favorite Hymn (yeah, I know…I say that about a lot of hymns) so the arrangement Todd Agnew does makes that hymn fall on me afresh!
I am like Nancy, I like contemporary Christian music, but I don’t like contemporary services. I used to go to a non-denom church that was pretty charismatic and wild — at times I didn’t feel that it was uplifting to the Lord. Some of it was just plain wordly, and frankly I wanted to escape the world when I came to a church service to worship.
I grew up in church listening to hymns. When our church started a contemporary service, and my wife wanted to go, I was horrified. Needless to say, I not only grew to accept it, but to enjoy it as well. I would have a very difficult time going back to a traditional service. We actually do a “blended” service now. Truth is, there is no wrong style of music. If you are truly there to worship our Lord, the music doesn’t matter. I have worshiped in Africa and Central America, where sometimes it was a stretch to even call what we were singing to music, and I have learned it is not the music, but the Praise that counts! Does this make sense?
Oh, by the way, I’m with you, in that Third Day is my favorite group also!
I love it too Iris! In any setting! Our church does blended, but it mostly has that contemporary sound, even the hymns, which I still love dearly too. I loved your post above too about your escape. Escaping is so good for the soul…..*wish there was one soon for me!*
I love this song! And I’m a big Third Day fan, too, Iris. I think there’s room enough in God’s kingdom for all kinds of musical expression. Praise God that He gave us the gift of music, and the precious gift of life through His Son! \O/ Dancing!!
Girl – I LOVE Third Day! It’s my son’s favorite group. He listens to their “Offerings” CD as he goes to sleep at night. I really like this song (listening as I type this up lol). I’m with you on the music. It’s funny but when these hymns were written they were written to secular melodies to draw the lost in. They were controversial in their day lol. And now, churches cling to them like the gospel. I love upbeat music. I do love a good hymn every now and then but my favorite styles have a whole lot of “beat” and are typically loud lol.
I truly love our church – they are so cutting edge with music. My kids beg to take friends to church. Being a part of a non-traditional church has really blessed our lives in ways we never dreamed “church” could. Thank you for this post Iris – I do know people who would be offended by it lol. I have a post called “Jesus was a Radical” that kind of touches on some of these same points so I was “Amening” throughout your post :o)
http://blog.atih.com/archive/2005/10/13/2193.aspx
((HUGS))
I think there is beauty in all kinds of songs, and that any song, hymn or spiritual song that turns our hearts toward God and lifts Him up in praise is appropriate in our worship services. If the motive of our heart is love toward God, His Spirit will be felt. I have been in traditional services filled with love, and some that were dead. I have been in contemporary services filled with love, and some as shallow as the world. We need to do all things out of love for Christ and one another, for they will know we are Christian by our love, not our hip (or traditional) music.
Thank you for this great post. My DH is a praise leader in our church, so we’ve discussed this topic at some length. Third Day is great. City on a Hill is another favorite of mine. Newsboys have some good praise music too.
Ok….I’m gonna go against the flow here. Worship is about the words. Not the music, not the performance, not those performing, but about the words we offer to God. No where is the focus on the words more clearly shown than in hymns. ANd there is such depth to the words. I fully understand that non christians would prefer that type of music, but that is beacause it is so similar to the entertainment of the world. I do not doubt the sincerity of those who write and perform modern christian music, I have no problem with people listening to it in their own homes, but I find no place for bands and beats and individual performance in the public worship of God. There, said it! Won’t go on here cos its not the place.
I LOVE this song – it is one of my favorite praise songs. A wonderful post too – I am trackbacking to it.
May every voice and every generation sing a new song to the Lord.
Love, love, love this song, I always listen to it when i go running!!!
We at Blythe Towers love Third Day too. My music taste is the full range. I do love the old hymns but I also like the modern stuff. There is just some music that stirs up my heart in praise to the Lord. I love Paul Wilbur’s stuff for that. I remember weeping listening to Carry My Cross by Third Day as I was driving along. It was just the thought of my Lord carrying all my shame…Ok I’m weeping again.
I totally believe that we that are the sons of God must him in Spirit and in truth. Don’t you agree. It’s scriptural. Worship is powerful! “Grace Like Rain” Is worship falling fresh on the LORD’s people. when I first heard it, I thought what the scripture declares-sing unto the LORD a new song. And thats what “Grace like Rain” is. fresh worship music. God bless brother Todd.
Andrew