Truth and Honesty

Today at work I had my iPod on shuffle. I made a playlist of songs for work, it's about 21 gb of music (9days) and ranges from Sigur Ros to Oh Sleeper, from Rihanna to David Crowder, from Johnny Cash to Daft Punk. The guys I work with are a little confused because my music just jumps around from one extreme to the next. But I love good music, and good music can be anywhere from old country to new hardcore and everything in between.

So while I was listening I heard 2 songs back to back that made me think. First it was a song from one of my all time favorite bands, As Cities Burn. The song that followed was from another one of my all time fav's David Crowder. They were very different songs and I loved them both, but for very different reasons.

First of all, one the reason's I love As Cities Burn so much is because of their honesty. They say so much with their lyrics and they are willing to say things that alot of Christians aren't willing to say or are to scared to say. I love the raw honesty of these guys and I don't think I'll ever get sick of them.

Then David Crowder came on, and I realized that I loved these lyrics for a different reason. I love the truth in his lyrics, the scriptural truth about God. It's the same reason I love hymns, they are so rich in truth about God's character and His mercy and love.

I'm not saying that there wasn't truth in the honest lyrics of As Cities Burn, or that there is a lack of honesty in David Crowder's lyrics. I'm just trying to point out the differences between the two. Truth and Honesty often go hand in hand, but they aren't the same thing. We can be honest about the way we feel, but it doesn't mean that we are speaking the truth.

This thought made me think about corporate worship. I think that quite often we get confused in church and we think that because a song is honest it will make a good worship song. But I think it's the truth that makes a good worship song. Consider the difference. If I wrote a song about the way God makes me feel, it could be the best song in the world but I don't think that it would necessarily be appropriate for corporate worship in church. Not everyone around me is going to feel the same way I felt the moment I wrote that song, not to mention that no matter how honest I'm being, my feelings might not be true. I might feel that God hates me. If I wrote a song about it, it would be honest, but not true.

It's the truth that needs to define our worship, and in that truth there needs to be honesty. Consider this... If I wrote a song about the goodness of God, or the greatness of God, or the majesty of God and it's based on scripture, that is a song that is based on truth. It is a song that every Christian can sing no matter what they are feeling. It doesn't matter if you had a terrible day or a great day, your day does not define the splendor and majesty of God Almighty. That to me is what defines a great corporate worship song. A song that is based on truth, not necessarily honesty.

I think that we have made it to common to sing songs in church that are subjective and based on feelings. They may be honest songs, but they aren't based on the truth of God. And if we are singing songs based on OUR feelings and OUR experiences, who are we really worshiping?

Take a look at the songs you sing in your church. How many are based on feelings? Is the most common word in the song "I" or "Me" or "We"? Or are the songs based on scripture? Are they about God and to God and for God? I challenge you to look and if they aren't scripturally based or based on truth, maybe you should ask someone why you are singing them in church.

Maybe I'm wrong. But then again, maybe I'm not.

Sunday January 23, 2011 (Setlist)

At The Gate we do our worship in two separate set's. One is at the very beginning of the service with 4 songs to start. The second is after the preaching with 3 songs to finish off the service. We found this is a really good way to bookend the morning with worship beginning and ending the service. We also have communion every Sunday, so having 3 songs of worship after the preaching is a great way to flow from preaching to communion. Worship just seems like a natural response to what we just heard from the Word.

In our band we basically have 3 worship leaders; Greg who leads off guitar, myself leading from the piano/synths, and Austrian who is our female vocalist. Today Austrian couldn't make it to church, so I led a couple of songs that she was going to lead. I'm not the most confident singer in the world, but I'm trying to stretch myself and lead more songs to become a better leader. Austrian's absence was a good push to step into that lead role. I've always thought that it's funny that God gifted me as a musician but decided not to stretch that talent into my vocals. I'm not a terrible singer, but I'm definitely not the best. I think with some training I'll become better and with more sundays like today where I'm forced to take more songs I will grow as a vocalist.

So here was our setlist this morning...
Great In All The Earth (Starfield) (Greg lead)
Holy Is Our God (Starfield) (Greg lead)
You're Everything (David Crowder Band) (Steve lead)
Beautiful (Phil Wickham) (Steve lead)
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White As Snow (Jon Foreman) (Steve lead)
Sweetly Broken (Jeremy Riddle) (Greg lead)
What A Miracle (David Crowder Band) (Greg lead)

Worship went really well today. I sort of worry a bit about the really synth heavy songs like What A Miracle. I worry that the music will detract from the actual worship and overtake the lyrics of the song. This is the third time we've played What A Miracle, the other 2 times we did it as the first song in the first set but this time we did it last and it seemed to go over better. By the second set the congregation usually seems to be in a more worshipful attitude. By doing it first the last couple times it was a good way to introduce the song as a sort of "opener", but now that we've done it a couple times and people are more used to the song we did it as a closer and it went great.

I feel really blessed to be a part of such a great Christian community. Our church is so open to creativity, and I love that we can push those musical boundaries without worrying about people complaining. In our church it's quite the opposite. It seems like the more creative and interesting the music, the more people like it.

Good sunday.

Eighteen Inches

My name is Steve Birss and I am an elder at my church, The Gate. I also lead worship in a band every other week. I am a carpenter and a father of two young girls. I've been married to my beautiful wife Kindra for five and a half years. I have been a Christian my whole life, and I am trying my best to figure out what that means. I'm a sinner, just like you. Sometimes I swear to much. Sometimes I think terrible thoughts. Sometimes I wonder why God would ever love a sinful wretch like me. Most days I feel that I failed as a Christian. I don't say this to seem self defeating or falsely humble, I say it so that you know that I'm just like you, someone who is doing the best they can with what they've got. Eighteen inches is the distance from my heart to my head. It seems like the longest distance I can possibly travel. All I can do is trust that the Holy Spirit is working in me making me more into the image of Christ. And lately I've been feeling like I'm falling in love with Him all over again.

My church has gone through some rough times over the past few years. A major church split, and 2 fallen pastors left The Gate in shambles, and for awhile it felt like we'd never stop picking up the pieces. But we've now come to the place where we are a healthy church, looking forward instead of back. We are looking to Christ for our direction and I'm excited where He's leading us.

The Gate used to be full of some of the most creative people I've ever met. We had so many musicians and artists we didn't know what to do with all of them. But because of circumstances and time, most of our congregation has gone in different directions. In the middle of the hardest time for our church, we had 2 worship teams, but we only had one drummer. So we did what anyone would do in our situation, we started doing electro worship. I've been making electronic music for about 10 years, and with the absence of a drummer, it really only felt natural to fill that spot with drum loops. So that's what I did, I started programming loops for worship. Our worship team consisted of 2 people, myself and Greg. I've been writing and playing music with Greg for about 14 years. We've been in countless bands together and recorded probably 10 cd's together at least. So Sunday morning would be me behind my piano with a couple of synths and my iPod, and Greg on Guitar. I was really nervous the first sunday we did it, but the congregation really seemed to like it. At first I was very cautious about the loops I wrote. I didn't push boundaries much, but over time I've gotten more and more creative with my worship loops as The Gate has gotten more used to it. We now have 7 people on our band but we're still doing electronic worship, just because it's SO fun! What started out as necessity has turned into something that our church really responds well to. I love electronic music, but I know that not everyone does. I never really thought that synth heavy hymns with a distorted hip hop beat would go over well in church, but apparently I was wrong.

I want to make this blog a resource for the loops I create for my church as well as a place to talk about God and worship and synthesizers. I am going to upload my loops in the future as well as talk about techniques I use to create my sounds and loops. I am also planning on recording some worship EP's with Greg and some other musician's from The Gate, so when those are done, they'll be up here as well.

I hope this is a helpful and encouraging blog for all you's out there on the interwebs!
- steve birss