Celebrated in some Christian communities and despised in others, praise music is
being created for Christian worship in many places and in a variety of styles. Those
who favor praise music contend that classical music is too old fashioned to help the
church reach new believers. More traditional voices dismiss praise music as too trite
to fairly reflect a rich faith life. The
General Board
of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church has a variety of resources to
help leaders in local congregations develop worship events that reflect our
tradition and connect with the faith needs of contemporary society.
Praise music is often scripturally based. However, a good share of it has little to
say about God’s reign of justice, despite the presence of the theme of justice
throughout the Bible. Too often our worship is filled with music that is self-centered
to the exclusion of others. The Christian community must proclaim a faith consistent
with our biblical roots, affording compassion for the hurts of our world and calling us
to action to transform suffering into hope. One of the ways this is approached
artistically in the music found on this website is in the use of inclusive language.
Inclusive Language
Often debunked as weak-kneed political correctness, inclusive language is an
important aspect of community life. Our words shape the world in which we live.
When our culture routinely uses images of war metaphorically (“That show really
bombed” or even the use of “bullets” in PowerPoint slides), we grant acceptance to the
violence of our world.
When a description of whiteness routinely represents purity while blackness represents
evil, we subconsciously reinforce racist attitudes in ourselves and others.
More specifically related to worship, when we limit ourselves to a few biblical
images of God, we put God in a box that we can control. But the truth is that God is
bigger than anyone can fully understand. Exclusively male images of God, like Father,
Lord, and even the use of the pronoun "He", all limit our appreciation of the vastness
of God's nature. Scripture is full of a wide variety of images for God, if we will only use them. See the box to the left for a sample list.
In addition, music for praise and worship too often is centered only on the personal
experience of God. When we worship together our music should reflect the body of Christ,
"we" rather the simply "I".
Artists reflect the world around them, including its brokenness and pain. But
artists also point to a better world. The artist’s responsibility to be truthful does
not mean that the transformational nature of art must be ignored. The use of inclusive
language is one technique for Christian artists to lead the church into a new way of
living that more fully loves God and neighbor.
phil carver
JUSTICEpraise is a Web site dedicated to music for worship in a contemporary style with themes of God's justice, featuring music written by 
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