Conflict in Worship Music

Ask any good screenwriter, playwright, or author, and they will tell you that two of the most crucial things you need in your story are as follows: a) contrast between how things are and how things should be, and (b) a central conflict arising from the story’s lead characters discovering that things are not as they should be and subsequently resolving to make things right. This often results in a conflict between good and evil, or right and wrong. It is the same with song writing. Too many songwriters in the church are afraid to properly address conflict, despite the fact that the Psalms as well as the rest of Old Testament poetry is filled with laments and other such writings that reveal the author questioning God, crying out to Him, and otherwise being undone. Whether it be your average Christian pop song that puts on a fake smile and pretends all is fine in the world when in reality we as Christians should be more often restless and dissatisfied with the injustice and hopelessness in the world (and resolute to do something about it… recognizing that things are not as they should be and doing something to make it right), or a worship song that should be our sincere, honest prayer to the Father, we are far too afraid to speak out to God when all is not right. Let alone speak out to other Christians, with whom we are more concerned with impressing with our personal holiness than with allowing them to see the holes in our armor (even though they’re not any more perfect than we are!).

This results in Christian songs, and specifically worship songs, that have a fake feel-good lyric rather than a personal and genuine one. This can be rectified by including conflict and resolution in the songs that we write. What better way to express the real joy that we possess than to show what depths that Christ has lifted us from? Often times my own songs include dark themes that are ultimately resolved by pointing to the One that we worship. I feel that not only are such themes not out of place in a worship setting, they are often times necessary, particularly with any song dealing with the Cross or otherwise with God’s mercy. For how can we understand and appreciate the redemption of the Cross without seeing it within the context of the fall of man? The healthy do not need a doctor (Matt. 9:12). If we simply gloss over the reality of sin, it robs the Crucifixion of its power and meaning. The glory of the gospel is that we were once wicked, but now we have been washed, sanctified, and justified by Christ and his Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:9a, 11). We must understand the depth of our depravity to grasp the fullness of His redemptive sacrifice. Only in doing so will we be able to approach a proper understanding of our relation to God and the need for us to worship Him.